Alphabetic Understanding, Phonics and Word Study This publication is based on K-2 Teacher Reading Academies, ©2002 University of Texas System and the Texas Education Agency, which has been reprinted and modified with their permission.

Survey of Knowledge Orthography Phonics Rime Sight words Sounding out Decoding Decodable texts Graphophonemic knowledge Instructional level Irregular words Morphemes Orthography Phonics Rime Sight words Sounding out Syllable

Components of Effective Reading Instruction

Kentucky State Standards: Program of Studies Reading (1.2) Arts and Humanities (2.24, 2.25)   Meaning of Text: Read materials that rhymes, is predictable, and has high frequency words Vocabulary: Use auditory and visual strategies to understand words and their meanings. Employ sight word vocabulary to make sense of text. Use word identification strategies, including prediction, context cues, and phonetic awareness, to read and understand unknown words. Concepts of Print: Make sense of reading materials through using word-by-word matching, punctuation, sentence structure, and the understanding that letters make words. Experience with Text: Use syntactic (word structure) and semantic (word meaning) cues to make sense of text.

Kentucky State Standards: Core Content RD-E-x.0.1 Use word recognition strategies (e.g., phonetic principles, context clues, structural analysis) to determine pronunciations and meanings of words in passages.   RD-E-x.0.2 Use knowledge of synonyms, antonyms, homonyms, and compound words for comprehension. RD-E-x.0.3 Know that some words have multiple meanings and identify the correct meaning as the word is used. RD-E-x.0.4 Recognize the meaning of a word when a prefix or suffix has been added to a base word.

Learning to Read and Spell . . . requires students to remember exact letter patterns and sequences that represent speech sounds progresses from understanding letter-sound correspondences and spelling patterns to understanding meaningful units Meaning Morphemes (smallest meaningful units) Alphabet Letter-sound correspondences Pattern Spelling patterns (rimes) and syllables

Alphabetic Understanding and Phonics Focus on teaching the letters of the alphabet and letter-sound correspondences The goal of phonics instruction is to help children understand the alphabetic principle: the sequence of letters in written words represents the sequence of sounds (or phonemes) in spoken words. Alphabetic Principle 1

Letter Recognition Recognizing, naming and writing the letters of the alphabet Identifying and distinguishing both uppercase and lowercase letters

Letter Recognition Activities Alphabet Mats and Alphabet Arcs Help children learn: Letter names The sequence of letters in the alphabet

Letter-Sound Knowledge and Phonics Letter-sound knowledge involves learning the common sounds of letters, letter combinations, and spelling patterns Explicit and systematic phonics instruction teaches students a carefully selected set of letter-sound correspondences and spelling patterns that are organized into a logical sequence

Standard Pronunciations Because we co-articulate, or blend, individual sounds together when we say words, it is sometimes difficult to isolate individual sounds.

Phonics and Word Study Students should come to understand: Sounds can be represented by single letter or combination of letters Some letters can represent more than one sound Different letters can represent the same sound Different word study strategies can be used to decode and read unknown words Generalization (or rules) may help determine the correct pronunciations of words but may not apply to every word 24

Decoding Explicit and systematic phonics instruction includes teaching students how to decode words. Effective phonics instruction teaches students a carefully selected set of letter-sound correspondences, letter combinations, and spelling patterns that are organized into a logical sequence.

Decoding (cont.) Single letter-sound correspondences and letter combinations that represent a particular sound or sounds in words are usually introduced in lower primary Consonant blends, consonant digraphs, vowel combinations (or vowel pairs) and letter combinations are the primary focus of phonics instruction in the third year of primary In upper primary, exploration and reinforcement of several different kinds of decoding strategies are used and practiced; the emphasis begins to shift from letter- by-letter decoding to more elaborate study of word pattern and rules

Decoding: What About Irregular Words? contain some letters that do not represent their most commonly used sounds tend to be high frequency words that students encounter often in their reading and writing can be partially decoded are sometimes referred to as sight words

Sight Words Sight words are words that are recognized immediately The ultimate goal is for all words, regular and irregular, to be read automatically with little effort

Making Analogies Helps students remember words with sounds or spellings patterns that they already know and apply this knowledge to read and spell unknown words Include explicit teacher modeling

Word Study Strategies Identify and blending together the letter sounds in words Recognizing high frequency and irregular words Using common spelling patterns Using common syllable patterns Using structural analysis Using knowledge of context and syntax to support pronunciation and confirm word meaning

Making and Sorting Words Lessons Provide opportunities for children to make, sort, and read words that consist of letter sound correspondences they are learning Focus on individual phonemes in words, spelling patterns, and blending sounds together to read words

Making and Sorting Words Activities Activity With a partner, use the letter cards at your table to practice the lesson on the handout “Reviewing Letter Sounds to Blend Sounds and Read Words”

Open Sort Activity Place the blank heading cards across the table Shuffle the deck of word cards Sort the words by commonalities Create your own category for each set of words Label the heading cards after you’ve determined the categories

Making Analogies: Common Syllable Patterns Closed syllable (CVC) ends in at least one consonant; the vowel is short Open syllable (CV) ends in one vowel; the vowel is long Vowel-Consonant-e (VCe or CVCe) ends in one vowel, one consonant, and a final e; final e is silent; the vowel is long has an r after the vowel; the vowel makes an unexpected sound Vowel + r syllable has two adjacent vowels; each vowel pair syllable must be learned individually Vowel pair syllable has a final consonant-l-e combination or a nonphonetic but reliable unit such as -tion /shun/; accent usually falls on the preceding syllable Final stable syllable

Teaching with Word Walls Group words in different categories to help students learn to read and spell words independently Select words from a variety of sources Limit the number of words that are added Categorize words in a variety of ways Provide many opportunities for word-wall practice

Structural Analysis Helps students analyze words, or break them into parts they already know, to help them read and spell unfamiliar words Compound words Base (or root) words Inflectional endings Prefixes Suffixes

Consider Diversity: Limited English Proficient Students Help children use phonemic awareness and their understanding of the alphabetic principle to decode words. Teach children how to transfer what they know in their native language to English Teach letter combinations and sounds that do not occur in a child’s native language.

Monitoring Students’ Progress Regularly monitor children’s knowledge of letters and letter-sound correspondences and their ability to decode as they read words and text Administer reading inventories Regularly monitor students’ phonics and word-study knowledge Listen to students read aloud instructional-level texts

Taking a Closer Look Review the elements of effective phonics and word study instruction on the handout “Elements of Effective Instruction: Phonics and Word Study Find a lesson that focuses on phonics or word study Complete the handout “Taking a Closer Look” Discuss the lesson and its elements

Phonics Continuum Our experiences, and those of many teachers, suggest that once students are phonemically aware and have a grasp of the alphabetic principle they begin organizing knowledge of letter names and letter-sound correspondences in coherent and systematic ways. This systemizing of knowledge may not correspond to the neat, additive phonics progression described in a reading program, and it may proceed at a pace that lags behind or outruns the progression’s suggested time frame.

Phonics Continuum (cont.) We argue that students are at risk of developing superficial and piecemeal understandings rather than coherent and orderly knowledge of the alphabetic principle if teachers impose systematic phonics instruction without monitoring how students organize the information. Similarly, we reason that students are at risk of becoming disenchanted with the world of print if teachers require them to spend significant time in activities that reinforce what they already know but simulate few, if any additional insights.

Remember . . . Explicit and systematic phonics and word study instruction is an important component of a beginning reading program. “The goal [of systematic phonics instruction] is to enable learners to acquire sufficient knowledge and use of the alphabetic code so that they can make normal progress in learning to read and comprehend written language.” —National Reading Panel, 2000, p. 2.99