5 Strategies for Teaching Phonics Tanya Tankersley

PURPOSE: The goal of this presentation is to provide strategies for teaching phonics in an elementary classroom Each strategy will be used in the context of the book The Cat in the Hat

1. “Working with Words” Sessions 2. Guided Reading 3. Making Words 4. Writing with Invented Spelling 5. Using word you know THE STRATEGIES

STRATEGY #1: “Working-with-Words” sessions Direct teaching of phonics is necessary because “regardless of the type of instruction they receive, [students will] learn about letter-sound correspondences as part of learning to read” (Stahl, 1992, p.619) –“To become fluent readers, children must learn the common sounds for vowel patterns” (p.93) –“Children need to learn sequential decoding” (Cunningham & Cunningham, 2002, p.92) –“Because morphemes provide meaning clues as well as decoding and spelling patterns, learning how to use the morphemes in large words helps you build your meaning vocabulary” (p.96) –It is often helpful for children to “look at words in isolation at times so that they can examine the patterns in words without the distractions of context” (Stahl, Duffy-Hester & Stahl, 1998, p.342) Teachers should help students recognize and “make sense of patterns noticed within words” (Stahl, 1992, p.620) “Effective phonics instruction helps children… by first drawing their attention to the order of letters in words, forcing them to examine common patterns in English through sounding out words, and showing similarities between words” (Stahl, 1992, p.622)

“Working with words” in The Cat in the Hat BEFORE READING: Introduce the short “a” sound by showing students words that take a short “a” and having them practice the sound aloud as they pronounce short “a” words Have students brainstorm more words that use short “a” IN THE READ ALOUD CONTEXT: Help students decode and recognize the short “a” sound in the text Point out the rhyming words that share the short “a” sound such as “cat” and “hat” Keep a chart size list of the short “a” words found in the text, adding them as you read

AFTER READING: Drill the short “a” pattern by allowing students to practice spelling short “a” words with manipulative letters When students feel comfortable with the short “a” pattern of the words in the book, help students add short “a” words not found in the text to their original list –Creation of new rhyming short “a” words such as “Aristocrat,” will help to build student vocabulary as well as phonemic awareness To demonstrate further the understanding of the phoneme, have students in small groups create silly sentences with their new list of short “a” words; they can also illustrate their sentences “Working with words” in The Cat in the Hat

STRATEGY #2: GUIDED READING “It is important that children read words in stories or short pieces of expository text. The purpose of reading is comprehension. Reading words in stories may allow children to apply their phonics knowledge to task that allow for comprehension of a message as well as to sounding out words” (Stahl, Duffy-Hester & Stahl, 1998, p.342) “Guided reading instructional time provides students with guided practice in applying the phonics skills they are taught through the working-with-words sessions” (Cunningham & Cunningham, 2002, p.97) “Predictable books work especially well for beginning word recognition” (Stahl, 1992, p.620)

Guided Reading of The Cat in the Hat In small group settings have the students “whisper read” the book while you listen to the one student read a section aloud Ask questions about rhyming words to encourage phonemic awareness Help students pronounce unfamiliar words and use context and the illustrations to determine meaning of the new words Help students make connections as the story progresses, since the reading goal is still comprehension, though phonics one individual literacy skill

STRATEGY #3: MAKING WORDS Making words is “a manipulative activity in which children learn how to look for patterns in words and how changing just one letter or where a letter is placed changes the whole word” (Cunnigham & Cunningham, 2002, p.98) There are three parts to the strategy: –Manipulating letters to make words –Sort words into patterns –Learning how to transfer phonics knowledge by using rhyming words they have made to decode and spell some other rhyming words

Making Words in the context of The Cat in the Hat Allow students to use manipulative letters to spell out words from the text Let students sort the words into patterns (since the short “a” appears more than any other sound, there should be a number of words with this sound pattern) Have students create more rhyming words by changing the vowel sound to a short “u” (ex. cut, hut…); after playing with vowel sounds, allow students to practice creating other consonant sounds that change the original words

STRATEGY #4: WRITING WITH INVENTED SPELLING Invented spelling is “the practice of having children invent their own spellings in their writings, using what they know about letters and sounds” (Stahl, Duffy-Hester & Stahl, 1998, p.343) Invented spelling “has its greatest effect on children’s phoneme awareness and knowledge of letter-sound correspondences” (p.343) “Practice with invented spelling does improve children’s awareness of phonemes, which, as discussed earlier, is an important precursor to learning to decode” (Stahl, 1992, p.623)

Writing Responses with Invented Spelling After reading The Cat in the Hat, have students respond in a journal-type format Ask students to think about what it would be like to interact with the Cat from The Cat in the Hat for one day; allow them to brainstorm aloud before beginning to write. Instruct students to do a journal response that imagines their own adventures when the Cat comes to their own house for the day Have students create a visual picture of something that happened in their journal response Conference with students to allow them to explain their visuals and ask questions about their stories

STRATEGY #5: USING WORDS YOU KNOW “Using words you know” is “an activity designed to help students learn to use words they already know to decode and spell many other words” (Cunningham & Cunningham, 2002, p.101) “Develops cognitive clarify as students see how paying attention to the patterns in words helps you decode and spell many words” (p.103) Helps students learn rhyming patterns and practice analogy decoding strategies Can be differentiated for more advanced learners to use multisyllabic words

Using words you know with The Cat in the Hat Students make four columns and list each of the following words in one column: cat, tub, ring, fun Have the students list rhyming words under each column, ensuring that the created words share the same spelling patterns the word at the top of the column (see example on next slide) ; teacher modeling this process will be beneficial. This can be done individually or in small groups; at the end have students compare their words to the rest of the group A fun twist: Have the students compete to see who can come up with the most rhyming words in a given time

Example of “using words you know” CATTUBRINGFUN Hat Sat Bat Rat Mat Chat Cub Stub Rub Sing Thing Wing Bun Sun Gun Nun

References Stahl, S. A. (1992). Saying the "p" word: Nine guidelines for exemplary phonics instruction. The Reading Teacher, 45 (8). p Duffy-Hester, A.M., Stahl, K. A. D., & Stahl, S. A. (1998). Everything you wanted to know about phonics (but were afraid to ask). Reading Research Quarterly, 33 (3). p Cunningham, P.M. & Cunningham, J.W. (2002). What We Know About How to Teach Phonics. What Research Has to Say About Reading Instruction, 3rd edition. p