Phonics

OVerview

Phonics is an important part of first grade! We learn about so many building blocks (44 to be exact!) to read and write so many new words. We study the sounds in words and the letters we can use to write them. The fancy terms are phonemes and graphemes. ;-)

We study all of the "secrets" to decode and encode (read and write) these sounds. We use a multisensory approach with reading and writing and a variety of strategies to help solidify these concepts to strengthen our reading skills.

Science of reading

Back in the 1950s students learned through a whole word approach. They were taught to memorize words as a whole. We have come so far since then and have learned through the Science of Reading of what has proved to be the most effective way to study language. Science of Reading is Scientifically-evidenced research about how reading is developed and processed including effective instructional practices that support learning to read and write. The components of the Science of Reading include a comprehensive and integrated, structured literacy approach when teaching. This includes instruction in phonemic awareness and phonics to develop automatic word recognition, along with fluency, vocabulary, and language comprehension. (Heggerty.org)

To make sense of the visual above, The blue strands represent our reading program and the red strand represents our phonics program.

What does it look like?

Our phonics program is built on techniques that include whole group and small group instruction, partner and independent exploration, as well as games and drills.

Our routine may include auditory drills, visual drills, segmenting and blending, studying syllable types, practice with snap words that are regular and irregular, reading real and nonsense words, growing fluency, and even tying in vocabulary.

Auditory

Auditory Drills- Phonological Awareness practice is a set of drills that can be done with your eyes closed. In other words it is completely oral.

Examples:

Rhyming Words (Same middle and ending sounds): ex. Which word rhymes with red? bed of bus?

Initial sounds: ex. What is the beginning sound in the word "part?" /p/

Blending: I will give individual sounds and you blend together. I will then chop the sounds and swipe them

Ending sounds: ex. I will say a word and you listen for the last sound.

Alphabet Cards

Visual

You can use these digital alphabet cards at home to practice your letter sounds. Once you go through the alphabet, you'll also see included digraphs and vowel teams that we will cover this year as well.

1) Say the letter

2) Say the keyword

3) Say the sound

*If the letter makes more than one sound, repeat the process with the other picture and sound.

ex. "A apple /a/" and "A acorn /a/"

Copy of 11-Visual Drill Cards-June (no picture support)

Once students have mastered the letter-keyword-sound, it is imperative that they practice JUST the letter sounds in a "snap."

Here are some example drill cards created by a fellow teacher to help you practice by my phonics pen pal.

Students may not have been exposed to every sound YET, but they will by the end of this year! :-)

Copy of CVC+ Blends-Visual Blending Board-Summer Fun!

Blending

Once we practice our individual sounds we practice sliding them altogether. We call this blending. We may start by blending two letters or graphemes together and working toward building words and nonsense words. Here is a summer blending file created by a fellow teacher for extra practice.

Syllable Studies

Every word has at least one beat known as a syllable. Each syllable has at least ONE vowel. When a word has more than one syllable we call it multisyllabic. We have 6 syllable types that we talk about this year (7 if you separate vowel teams and diphthongs.)

We start our year working with open and closed syllables, then spend a large portion of the first months working with the silent e. From there we jump to vowel teams and r-controlled syllables. We briefly touch on consonant-le as well.

As we explore each syllable we discover how letters behave in relationship to one another. During this part of phonics we are learning new skills.

high Frequency Words & "Snap Words"

High frequency words, are the words that show up most often in our language. The goal is to have enough exposure to these words that students can read them in a "snap," This means that they can recognize them immediately. Some students may recognize a word in a snap after being exposed to it as little as 6 times and other as much as 60 times. Because this gap is so large it is important to know that more exposure the better. Solidifying snap words early on can help strengthen fluency, allowing the readers to focus more on the big words that arise. Any word can become a snap word, as long as it can be read automatically. The more snap words a reader has, the more fluent they become guiding toward better comprehension.

We call words with irregular spellings "heart words." In these words there is a piece (or pieces) of the word that does not follow the rules. For example the word could have a silent letter (ex. know) or a schwa sound (ex. was) so we draw a heart on the part we just need to know by heart.

Ways Develop Snap Word Recognition:

Study a Word Look closely at a word and notice the letters and patterns within the word.
Look, Say, Cover, Write, Check! - After looking at and studying a word, say it aloud, cover it up so you cannot see it and write it down somewhere. Check to see if it is correct. If it is not, cross it out and try again.
Body spell your letters (Reach your arms UP for letters that touch the skyline, squat DOWN for letters that dip below the grass line and JUMP for letters with dots or for apostrophes. Dab, or make a pose, when you repeat the word.)
Spell down your arm (Put your hand on your shoulder and pat down your arm as you say each letter, making your way to your wrist. Slide your hand down when you repeat the word) You can also do this with sounds of the word.
Pound it (Pound your fist into your hand as you say each letter. Clap when you repeat the word.)
Skywrite it (Reach your writing hand in front of you with two fingers pointing, and your opposite hand supporting your straight arm. Trace each letter, writing your word in the air. Slide your finger as if to underline it as you repeat the word)
Handwrite it (With your finger on your palm, spell each letter. Underline the word as you repeat the word)
Say it, spell it, say it, use it (in a sentence!) One you have practiced spelling it, it is SO important that you practice using the word. Try and say sentences using the word.

Write on Paper, with pencil, paint, crayons, or markers. You can rainbow write your letters by tracing a word in one color then going over it in another color etc.
Play-doh can be used to shape letters and words
Magnetic letters, (or make letters out of paper) can be used to create words
Shaving cream is a sensory tool where you can spell words with your finger
Chalk is an outdoor tool that can be used to write words on blacktop
Magicdoodle or aquadoodle board are easy tools to use and reuse over and over again.
Ziplock bag that is semi-filled with paint (sealed tightly!) using your finger can be used as a sensory friendly tool

Capp First Grade Snap Word Slide

You can present this slide right on your phone and scroll through to review some kindergarten and the entire set of first grade words as well!

(These can be printed as well set to multiple slides to a page!)

Snap Words List

Organized By Unit

UOSPH_G1_SnapWordsList (2).pdf

Here is a printable version of our snap words.

Alphabet Chart

Here is the full alphabet with the keywords we will be using most in class.

Blends and Digraphs

Blends are when consonants come together and keep their individual sound. (Under the s, r, and l column.)

Digraphs are consonants that come together to make a whole new sound. (Under the h column.) ck is another digraph we use often that says /k/ right after a short vowel.

Trigraphs are touched upon as well in first grade. This is when three letters come together to make one sound. (ex. "tch" and "dge."

Vowel Sounds

Vowels can make two different sounds. They can be long (when they say their name, or they can be short when they say their "sound.")

In an open syllable the vowel is at the end and can shout its name.

When the vowel is closed in by a consonant creating a closed syllable (closing the door) the vowel can only say its sound where the vowel is short.

When you add a Silent e to the end, it makes the vowel long again. Ex: "Cap," has a short a sound, and "cape" has a long a sound.

Glued or Welded Sounds

Sometimes vowels and consonants come together to make a whole new sounds. Here are the welded sounds we will be working with this year.

Vowel Teams

Vowels and semi-vowels come together to make vowel teams. Here are some we will be studying.

Letter Pathways

Having a consistent letter formation is key to helping writers get their thoughts down onto a page quickly and most efficiently. If bad habits are formed it is never too late to drop that one and pick up a new one! Feel free to use these letter pathways for reference.

Page updated

Report abuse