How Is Phonics Taught?

Question

Children of all ages are taught to recognize the sounds of the individual letters , before being encouraged to blend these sounds together to form words. I use a discovery-led approach rather than pencil and paper. For example the students are encouraged to trace letters, make letters out of clay, fine tuning their fine motor skills.

Any fine motor skills will aid their overall phonics learning and the development of reading skills.

Answer 1

Phonics is taught as a method for helping students understand the relationship between letters and sounds, enabling them to decode (read) and encode (spell) words. Here’s how phonics is typically taught:

1. Letter-Sound Correspondence

Introduction to letters and sounds: Students are first introduced to individual letters and their corresponding sounds. For example, they learn that the letter "m" makes the /m/ sound.

Consonants and vowels: They are taught the basic sounds of both consonants and vowels. Short vowel sounds are usually introduced first (e.g., /a/ as in "cat").

2. Blending Sounds

Once students know individual sounds, they are taught to blend them together to form words. For example, blending the sounds /c/, /a/, and /t/ to say "cat."

Teachers often use sound boxes or phonemic blending activities where students practice putting sounds together.

3. Segmenting Sounds

Segmenting is the reverse of blending. Students practice breaking words down into their individual sounds (e.g., "cat" becomes /c/, /a/, /t/). This helps with both reading and spelling.

4. Decodable Texts

Students practice reading with books or passages that contain only words with phonics patterns they’ve learned. This reinforces the phonics rules in a context and boosts confidence.

5. Teaching Phonics Patterns

CVC (Consonant-Vowel-Consonant) Words: After learning individual sounds, students move to CVC words like "bat" or "dog," focusing on short vowel sounds.

Consonant Blends and Digraphs: They learn to read blends (e.g., "bl" in "black") and digraphs (two letters that make one sound, like "ch" in "chip" or "th" in "that").

Long Vowels and Silent E: As students advance, they are taught more complex phonics patterns, such as long vowel sounds (e.g., "cake" with the silent "e") and vowel teams (e.g., "ea" in "team").

6. Word Families

Teaching students word families (e.g., “-at” words: cat, bat, sat) helps them recognize common patterns in words, making decoding easier.

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