Fingertapping is a kinesthetic technique designed to aid in isolating sounds and groups of sounds and remembering them so the student can write them correctly.  Fingertapping is for phonetic words only and is introduced in Phonic First instruction when the first dictation begins.  Students always use the hand opposite the writing hand to pound and tap.  This ensures they are ready to write as soon as they have sequenced the sounds. 

*Right handed students tap with the left hand starting with the pinky and touching a finger down for each sound (or sound unit) in the word. 

*Left-handed students tap with the right hand starting with the thumb and touching a finger down for each sound (sound unit) in the word.  

Tapping is always done in the reading/writing direction from left to right.

One-Syllable Word Dictation

Teacher:  "cat"

Student: pound/say: "cat"

Student: fingertap/write: /c/ /a/ /t/ 

Two-Syllable Word Dictation

Teacher: "catnap"

Student: pound/say: /cat/ /nap/

Teacher: first syllable?

Student: pound/say: /cat/; fingertap/write first syllable: /c/ /a/ /t/ 

Teacher: second syllable? 

Student: pound/say: /nap/; fingertap/write second syllable: /n/ /a/ /p/ 

The information provided above was taken from The Course Manual - Level 1 and Syllabication Guide which are teacher manuals from a district approved program called Phonic First, Brainstring Educator Academy (Brainspring, 2019).

8 Syllable Types 

Closed- a short vowel sound with a consonant after the vowel 

                at, bit, not, pic/nic, hel/met 

Open- a long vowel sound with a single vowel and no consonant after the vowel 

she, no, o/pen

Magic-E (Silent-E)- a silent vowel that jumps over one consonant and makes the single vowel say its own name

bake, mis/take 

Consonant-le- an unusual syllable that doesn’t contain a sounded vowel (the e is silent, but when the syllable is pronounced there is a distinct schwa /u/ or short sounds before the l). 

table, uncle, bundle, rifle, giggle, sprinkle, maple, title, puzzle 

Vowel Teams- two letters that work together to make a long vowel sound. (“When two vowels go walking, the first one does the talking.”)

weed, seat, pail, day, coat, toe 

Bossy-r- vowel-consonant pair also known as “r-controlled” because the “r” controls and obscures the vowel immediately preceding it. The vowel does not make a long or short sound. 

her, girl, burn, star, torn

Diphthong- a pair of vowels making a new sound, neither long nor short. 

cow, ouch, paw, haunt, oil, boy, pool, good  

Schwa- syllable that occurs in an unstressed, unaccented syllable. The vowel (often but not exclusively the a) makes the short /u/ sound when the word is pronounced. 

ba/nan/a (ba = schwa; nan = closed; a = schwa)

The information provided above was taken from The Course Manual - Level 1 and Syllabication Guide which are teacher resources from a district approved program called Phonic First, Brainstring Educator Academy (Brainspring, 2019). 

Rules for Syllabication 

Syllable Division Pattern 1:  VC/CV

-When encountering this pattern, divide between the two consonants

jum/bo, prob/lem 

-When more than two consonants fall between the vowels, look for blends or digraphs and keep them together! 

pil/grim, dish/pan

Syllable Division Pattern 2: V/CV and VC/V

-Divide this pattern before the consonant (first choice) or after the consonant (second choice).

cu/pid, blem/ish 

Syllable Division Pattern 3:  V/V

-In some instances two vowels are divided because they do not make one sound. 

po/et

Key:

V= vowel

C=consonant

The information provided above was taken from The Course Manual - Level 1 and Syllabication Guide which are teacher resources from a district approved program called Phonic First, Brainstring Educator Academy (Brainspring, 2019). 

Key Terms 

Phonological Awareness-  the ability of an individual to...

-Understand language components independent of meaning (hear the sounds that make up words)

-Attend to sounds in the context of a word (understand relationship between sounds)

-Manipulate component sounds (alter and rearrange sounds to create new words) 

Phonemes-  the sounds of a language 

Graphemes- the symbols used to denote those sounds; there are two main types of sounds: consonant sounds and vowel sounds

The information provided above was taken from The Course Manual - Level 1 and Syllabication Guide which are teacher resources from a district approved program called Phonic First, Brainstring Educator Academy (Brainspring, 2019).