EDRD 7715 Dr. Alice Snyder

Suggests that there is a 1 to 1 correspondence between phonemes (sounds) and graphemes (letters) such that each letter consistently represents one sound; however, English is NOT a purely phonetic language! There within lies the problem!

Alphabetic Principle, cont. 44 phonemes in English ‘c’, ‘q’, and ‘x’ do not represent unique phonemes [‘c’ can say /s/ or /k/ and combined with ‘h’ in the digraph ‘ch’ to make another sound Over 500 spellings to represent the 44 phonemes! Consonants are more predictable and consistent than vowels Did you know there are 14 different ways to ‘spell’ the long ‘e’ sound?

Alphabetic principle, cont. The way a word is spelled depends on several factors, two of which are… -the location of the sound in the word -whether or not the word entered English from another language Only about 50% of the time are words spelled phonetically- Non-phonetic spelling of many words reflects morphological information (morpheme is smallest meaningful part of a word)- ex. Sign and signature- if ‘sign’ were spelled phonetically, it would be ‘sine’ but ‘sine’ doesn’t carry the semantic information needed to understand signature

Phonemic Awareness Children’s basic understanding that speech is composed of a series of individual sounds and is the foundation for breaking the code-[emphasis on the sounds of spoken words, not reading letters or pronouncing letter names!] Phonemic Awareness is NOT sounding out words for reading nor using spelling patterns to write words— rather, it’s the foundation for phonics Phonemes are smallest units of speech and are written as graphemes (letters of alphabet) Children who reach this understanding (phonemic awareness) have accomplished a great thing because phonemes are abstract language units, they carry no meaning- Also, phonemes are NOT discrete units in speech because we often slur sounds together or clip them in speech

Components of Phonemic Awareness 1. Identifying individual sounds in words -being able to recognize the same sounds in different words 1. Matching/categorizing sounds to words -identifying words that begin or end with a particular sound/identifying sounds in words that don’t fit with others 2. Isolate a sound in a word -being able to isolate an individual sound at the beginning, middle, or end of a word 3. Blend individual sounds to form a word -blend 2, 3, and 4 individual sounds to form a word 4. Substitute sounds in a word (deleting and adding) -removing a sound from a word and substituting a different sound, either at the beginning, middle, or end; adding sounds at beginning, middle, end of words 5. Segmenting a word into its constituent sounds -breaking a word into its beginning, middle, and ending sounds THESE 6 COMPONENTS ARE ALL STRATEGIES USED TO DECODE AND ENCODE WORDS, NOT KNOWLEDGE

Teaching Phonemic Awareness Create a language-rich environment Songs, chant rhymes, real aloud word play books, play games In addition, Ters must plan instruction in phonemic awareness- 3 criteria 1. Activities should be appropriate for 4, 5, 6 year old children [riddles, rhymes, wordplay books, nursery rhymes, songs]-good because they encourage playful experimentation w/oral language 2. Instruction should be planned & purposeful, not just done on a whim- must have an objective in mind, based on assessment and observation 3. Activities should be one part of a balanced literacy program & integrated with comprehension, decoding, vocabulary, writing, spelling activities-children must perceive connection between oral & written language

Wordplay Books Using wordplay books… -1 st reading- focus on characters, plot, other interesting things in book -2 nd reading-focus children’s attention to the wordplay elements, how author manipulated words & sounds by making comments, asking questions “Did you notice how___and ___ rhyme?” etc. Incorporate wordplay books, songs, games into minilessons

Sound-Matching Activities Children choose one of several words beginning with a particular sound or say a word that begins with a particular sound Ters use familiar objects & pictures of familiar objects Children can identify rhyming words as part of sound-matching-STs name a word that rhymes with a given word or identify words in a book, song, or poem that rhyme Dr. Seuss books excellent for this! Picture Sorts- “Words Their Way” text has great emergent spelling and letter-name spelling stages picture sorts Other word sorts with simple words sorting by beginning, middle, or ending sounds Rhyming- “Rounding Up the Rhymes” activity

Sound-Isolation Activities Ter says a word & children identify the sounds at beginning, middle, end or Ter isolates sounds as they sing familiar songs The Intruder—trays of objects & children choose the one object that doesn’t belong because it doesn’t begin with the sound Alliteration and beginning sounds Ex: I Spy: “I see something that begins with /b/.”

Sound-Blending Activities Blend sounds together to combine to form words “What am I thinking of?” game- Ter gives several characteristics of an object and then says name of item articulating each sound slowly & separately- children then blend sounds together & identify the word using phonological & semantic information Ex: “I’m thinking of a small animal that lives in the pond when it’s young. When it’s an adult, it lives on land and it’s called a /f/ /r/ / ŏ/ /g/. What is it?”

Sound-Addition and –Substitution Activities Sts play w/words and create nonsense words as they add or substitute sounds in words in songs or in books read aloud to them Substitute or add sounds at beginning or ending of names & classroom items, ex., substitute beginning sounds in names for the /ch/ sound Ex: Making Words (using basic phonemes)-see example using a, d, D, n, s, t

Sound-Segmentation Activities Very difficult phonemic awareness task Children isolate the sounds in a spoken word To begin, Ter may draw out the beginning sounds in a word, like m-m-mud Elkonin Boxes good for segmentation- see example Glass Analysis-see example handout **Some level of phonemic awareness is a prerequisite for learning to read!!! It is a pre- requisite AND a consequence of learning to read! Important to explicitly teach phonemic awareness, especially sound blending & segmenting, but do it in meaningful ways in language rich environment

Guidelines for Phonemic Awareness Activities Use oral activities Emphasize experimentation Plan group activities Read wordplay books Teach minilessons Connect reading and writing Allow for individual differences

Guidelines for Beginning Sound Picture Sorts 1. Start with meaningful text & choose 2 contrasting sounds (like /f/ and /b/) 2. Make sorts easier or harder as needed-add 1-2 more sounds to sort 3. Use a key word and a letter as headers-upper & lower case letters together 4. Begin with directed sorts in which Ter models 5. Use sets of pictures that are easy to name & sort 6. Correct mistakes on the first sort but wait after 7. Vary the group sorting-face up, face down, some up and some down, etc. 8. Plan plenty of time for individual practice 9. Plan follow-up activities-cut, paste, draw, label 10. Encourage invented (temporary) spelling