Why Explicit Phonics Instruction is So Important

phonicsorg on March 6, 2024

Explicit phonics instruction is vital to literacy development, especially when it’s time for kids to begin reading. With the variety of phonics instruction methods and opinions in education today, it’s important to understand what works and why.

Let’s start by acknowledging the reality that children learn at different rates. Some students quickly adopt the skills they need to become readers; others require thorough instruction, effort, and repetition to grasp basic concepts and skills. 

Explicit instruction has proven to help even the most struggling readers. Let’s look at why explicit instruction is so important for all learners!

The Most Effective Method of Phonics Instruction

According to the science of reading, effective phonics education must be two things: systematic and explicit.

Systematic

Whether a child grasps reading concepts earlier than the rest of their class or struggles with literacy development due to a specific learning disorder, systematic teaching serves a crucial purpose.

Systematic instruction works by guiding students through a step-by-step process. You begin with the simplest, most foundational concepts and build upon them sequentially up until the most complex. 

In the same way you wouldn’t build a bridge without a carefully planned blueprint, thorough site preparation, and solid foundation, you can’t expect a child to read without first teaching them the core principles one after the next. 

Explicit 

Effective phonics instruction must be explicit. This means that teachers provide direct, structured, consistent teaching through modeling and examples, ensuring students comprehend the material before moving forward. 

Also known as direct phonics instruction, explicit teaching follows a clear scope and sequence, meaning you have a framework of what to teach (scope) and when to teach it (sequence). 

Explicit instruction is intentional, evidence-based, and practical. For example, an explicit, systematic phonics approach teaches similar letters together, focuses on short vowel sounds first, and introduces consonant-vowel-consonant (CVC) words.

Imagine throwing a child into the deep end of a pool. You would first need to help them prepare so they don’t drown! First, are they comfortable entering the water? Have you distinguished the shallow side versus the deep areas of the pool? Can they float? Have you taught them how to swim? The same analogy applies to reading and phonics. Explicit, supportive, and demonstrative instruction prepares kids with the knowledge and skills they must practice with a teacher until they can do it on their own.

Explicit, Systematic Phonics Instruction Meets Individual Learning Needs

Children who have difficulty with learning certain concepts may need an adapted approach. For early readers, adaptive teaching still uses the systematic, explicit method but may require:

  • A greater number of repetitions when learning a new skill (for example, some children learn a letter sound after only a few practices; others need hundreds of repetitions)
  • A different setting, such as learning in a group of readers at a similar level instead of learning surrounded by more advanced classmates 
  • Further one-on-one teaching with a specialist in addition to classroom instruction

Assessing a Reader’s Strengths and Weaknesses 

To teach phonics in a way that meets a child’s learning needs, you first need to know where they’re at in the developmental process. This not only identifies areas of weakness but also informs you of the child’s current capabilities and strengths.

Reading assessments provide information about a person’s reading skills and progress, as well as what instruction they need most. Assessments cover the core reading concepts including:

  • Letter knowledge
  • Phonemic awareness 
  • Decoding
  • Fluency
  • Comprehension 

The Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS) is a common reading assessment in education today. It’s reliable, research-based, and free to access.

A quality phonics assessment typically includes a child’s ability to read “nonwords.” These are simple words that aren’t in the English language but can still be sounded out at appropriate reading levels; for example: ‘noz,’ ‘taf,’ and ‘voth.’ Nonwords allow educators and specialists to differentiate between words a child has memorized and what the child does when trying to read a new, unfamiliar word. 

Once educators assess and understand a child’s reading abilities, they can facilitate progress through a direct phonics instruction approach.

Using the Response to Intervention Model in Reading Education 

When students are at risk of failing to learn crucial literacy skills, parents or teachers often arrange a reading intervention. Sometimes schools use a Response to Intervention (RTI) model to determine the intensity and duration of a child’s reading intervention. This RTI model has three tiers:

  • Tier 1: A whole-class instruction that all students receive.
  • Tier 2: Some students who aren’t making progress from whole-class instruction may need additional small group instruction to catch up to their peers. 
  • Tier 3: Children in need of the most intensive reading instruction require ongoing one-on-one support with specific interventions to help them improve their literacy skills. 

In all instances of Response to Intervention, instructors and specialists use explicit, systematic teaching methods. By focusing on the most basic skills a child needs to learn and then building upon that structure, RTI programs can successfully help children learn to read. 

Explicit Phonics Instruction: The Key to Lifelong Literacy 

No matter a child’s current reading level, they deserve the literacy skills they need to become learners for life. These skills are set in stone thanks to direct phonics instruction.

At phonics.org, we provide teachers and parents with the resources they need to help kids become empowered, literate individuals. With nearly 67% of U.S. fourth graders currently reading below their grade level, explicit instruction must be adopted early to prevent this statistic from growing. 

We’re here to make sure every child has the phonics essentials they need to succeed. To join the effort in raising strong readers and writers, reach out to us today.

Additional Resources:

Explicit Instruction (Dr. Anita Archer): A book that informs teachers about effective instruction for special needs learners.

DIBELS Tests for K-3: Standardized individual assessments for early literacy students. 

At a Loss for Words (AMP Reports): A thorough exploration of effective vs. ineffective reading instruction, including examples of student outcomes and various observations from teachers.

Fun Phonics Games for Kids: Activities to Try at Home 

phonicsorg on February 28, 2024

Kids need to master basic phonics skills before they can become proficient readers. While practice with systematic phonics instruction in the classroom is necessary, many children learn best through play! To help you encourage your child to strengthen their literacy skills at home, here are some fun phonics games to try together.

Letter Recognition Activities

Letter recognition and letter sounds are the first skills children need to learn when entering phonics instruction. The alphabetic principle, or the ability to correlate letters with the sounds they make, is a crucial skill in reading and writing. 

Here are some games to help your child learn letter-sound recognition.

Letter Bingo

For letter bingo, make some bingo cards with uppercase letters, lowercase letters, and several objects in the squares. Get some tokens or small figurines your child can use to place on the bingo spaces they match with the item called.

How to play:

Give each player an alphabet bingo card. Choose a literate person to be the host of the game, calling out different letters, corresponding letter sounds, or objects with specific letter sounds. Players will use their tokens to mark off the matching letters on their bingo cards. The first person to fill out an entire row wins “Bingo!” and then gets to be the leader for the next round.

Alphabet Scavenger Hunt

Go on an adventurous treasure hunt with your child to find letters and letter sounds! To set up the game, create index cards with different uppercase and lowercase letters written on them. Secretly choose some small toys, treats, or everyday objects that match the sounds on the index cards. Hide the index card with the item that has its corresponding letter sound. For example, hide the letter <H> next to a helicopter toy, hairbrush, or hat. 

How to play: 

Explain the rules of the treasure hunt. Give your child clues and then have them search for prizes that match your clues. You might give a directional clue (“This treasure is near something wooden”), a letter clue (“This item starts with <B>”), or a letter sound clue (“Look for something that has the sound, /sh/”). If they find enough treasures, let them choose a prize.

Whack-a-Letter

This is a fun phonics game for beginner readers who love physical activities. You (or another family member or friend) will collect wooden or foam toy letters to arrange on the floor. Give players something to “whack” the letters with. A fly swatter, toy paddle, or plastic baseball bat will do. 

How to play:

Explain that you are going to spell out words on the floor with the toy letters. The child’s job is to whack a letter! When he or she knows the sound of a letter, they have to whack it and sound out the letter only one time. If they get the whole word correct, celebrate with a quick dance party or some other physical activity your child loves. Make it fun and exciting like a game of whack-a-mole. This game often results in laughs and lots of fun!

Games to Practice Blending and Segmenting 

Blending is the sounding out of letters to form full words. Segmenting is the breaking up of spoken words into their sounds. Both are important skills required for reading, writing, and lifelong learning.

Fishing for Phonics

Go phonics fishing with your kids using only a few household supplies. You’ll need:

  • Construction paper
  • Markers
  • Paper clips
  • Magnets
  • Craft string

Create a makeshift fishing rod by attaching a magnet to a string. Cut out paper fish and write graphemes of words on them (for example, /sh/ /i/ /p/ for ‘ship’). Choose words that are appropriate for your child’s skill level.

How to play:

Lay out the paper fish in no particular order. Explain to your child that they’ll “fish” for words you say to try to create the whole word. Call out a word and then pay attention to how your child “catches” the letter sounds to blend. Offer guidance and encouragement if they get stuck.

Carnival Blend Cups

This is a fun carnival-style game for kids learning consonant blends and digraphs. To set up the game, get a stack of plastic cups and a few ping-pong balls or coins. On each cup, use a permanent marker to write a consonant blend (/bl/, /tr/, /sm/, /gr/, etc.) or digraph (/sh/, /ch/, /ph/, /th/, etc.). Arrange the cups at random at a reasonable distance so your child can throw something into the opening. 

How to play:

You can sound out one of the blends of digraphs, such as /sh/ or /tr/. Alternatively, you can say a word that starts with that blend or digraph. Then, your child tries to toss the coin or ball into the correct “blend cup.” Switch it up as your child progresses their phonics skills and scramble whole word segments they have to find before the time runs out!

Sound Train

This game doesn’t require any materials—just your attention, imagination, and voice. It’s a fun way to strengthen phonological awareness, memory, and comprehension. 

How to play:

The goal of this game is to create a spoken sound train with your child. Take turns saying individual letter sounds and then coming up with another letter sound to add to it until you make a word. For example, you say /m/, your child says /i/, you say /s/, and your child says /t/. Then, your child tries to identify the whole word: ‘mist.’ You can make it more challenging after you create a train: see if your child can spell the word on a piece of paper. Get creative and try to see the longest word you can make together. 

Rhyming Games

Rhyming helps kids identify similarities in different words. It also strengthens listening skills, vocabulary, and phonemic awareness in early phonics instruction. Here are a few activities to try with a group or children or one-on-one.

Rhyme Relay Race

This is a great activity that gets kids working their bodies and minds at the same time. You don’t need any materials for this phonics game—just six or more players, a field to run, and positive attitudes.

How to play:

Separate players into teams of two or more. Have players spread out along the course in a designated relay order: the first person at the starting line, the second person farther ahead, and so on. Establish a finish line at the very end of the field. Explain that the relay race winners will be those who can think of rhymes that match your starting word.

Choose a starting word (let’s say it’s ‘craft’). Call out, “On your mark, get set, ‘craft!’” The first player at the starting line must think of a rhyming word. When they call out a correct rhyming word, they run up to their next relay teammate and tag them. That teammate calls out a different rhyming word and goes up to the next teammate, and so on. The first team to get to the finish line wins!

Two-of-a-Kind Rhymes

If your child is younger and you want to play a rhyming game one-on-one, “two of a kind” is easy and can be played anywhere.

How to play:

Say three words out loud, two of which rhyme and one that does not. For example, ‘sat,’ ‘snail,’ ‘mat.’ Have your child guess the two that rhyme. You can make it more challenging by adding words that have slightly similar sounds but aren’t technically rhymes, such as, ‘cow,’ ‘clown,’ and ‘rainbow.’ Use this as a fun learning experience, talking through why each pair of rhyming words go together and going over any mistakes. 

More Fun Phonics Games for Kids and Parents

Looking for more phonics games to play with your child at home? No matter what stage of phonics instruction your child is in, there are many activities to support his or her learning. Check out phonics.org for useful and fun phonics resources that work!

10 Tricky Phonics Rules to Understand 

phonicsorg on February 24, 2024

The more advanced children become at reading, the more complex certain phonics rules become. It can be frustrating (not to mention confusing) when kids learn core phonics rules only to encounter situations when there’s a different, more complex rule that may have exceptions. This is because the English language has a deep orthography. This means there are many different pronunciations for the same spelling patterns. The orthographic complexity of the English language shows the importance of studying complex phonics rules. 

As a parent or educator, understanding the complex and unusual rules in phonics can help you support your child as they strengthen their reading and writing skills. Continued phonics education builds kids’ fluency and comprehension while empowering them with the literacy skills they need for life. 

To better guide your student or child through more advanced learning, here are some of the most common “tricky” phonics rules to understand. 

1. Rules of the Schwa Sound (ə)

“Schwa” is the name for a special speech sound in the English language. It’s the most common vowel sound we use, although not the most common vowel letter. Therefore, it’s often a big source of confusion when kids try to read and spell on their own. 

  • Schwa Rule #1: The schwa sounds like a lazier version of the soft /ŭ/. Examples: ‘the,’ ‘away,’ ‘of,’ ‘if,’ and ‘‘animal’.
  • Schwa Rule #2: It can be represented by any vowel letter (a, e, i, o, u, and sometimes y) or no letter at all (for example, the sound before <m> in ‘rhythm’). 
  • Schwa Rule #3: In some cases, -or and -ar may say a schwa sound, /er/. Example: ‘factory,’ and ‘dollar’.

Fun fact: the schwa sound gets even more attention in phonics instruction of different dialects, such as Australian, British, or Caribbean English.

2. Diphthongs 

Diphthong means “two sounds”. It is when two adjacent vowels in a syllable make new sounds. A diphthong starts out as one vowel sound and glides into another vowel sound. The two most common diphthongs in the English language are the /oi/ sound in ‘boy’ or ‘coin’ and the /ou/ sound, like in ‘cloud’ and ‘cow’. Once children get to a certain place in their reading ability, model the sounds these vowels make when they are together and practice sounding out words with these sounds. 

Diphthongs are a rather complex aspect of speech and phonics as they vary greatly depending on which dialect is being used. For example, British English and Australian English are different from each other, and each of the two dialects is much different than American or Canadian English. 

3. Homophones 

Homophones are a fun rule in phonics. When two or more words share the same pronunciation but are made up of different spellings and contain different meanings, that’s a homophone. 

Common examples of homophones include:

  • To / Too / Two
  • Their / There / They’re
  • Hole / Whole
  • Bare / Bear
  • Sight / Site
  • Flour / Flower
  • No / Know
  • Right / Write

Teaching homophones can be tricky! Several phonics activities can help students remember which words are which. 

4. The Floss or FLSZ Rule

If a single syllable, short-vowel word ends with the letter <f>, <l>, <s>, or <z>, the final consonant letter is often doubled. The word ‘FLoSS’ is a mnemonic to help remember which letters need to be doubled. 

Examples: ‘pill,’ ‘fuss,’ ‘buzz,’ ‘fluff,’ and ‘mess.’

Fun Fact: The word ‘gas’ is an exception to this rule, as it is a shortened version of the full word ‘gasoline’. 

5. Vowel-Consonant-e (VCe)

For the VCe rule, when a vowel is followed by a consonant and then <e>, the vowel usually makes a long sound while the <e> remains silent. 

Examples: ‘cake,’ ‘mate,’ ‘rake,’ ‘shine,’ ‘stripe,’ and ‘write.’

6. Soft C and Soft G

When the letters <c> or <g> are followed by the vowels <e>, <i>, or <y>, the consonants make their soft sounds: /s/ for <c> and /j/ for <g>.

Examples: ‘cent,’ ‘gem,’ ‘circle,’ ‘gym,’ and ‘cereal.’

7. Hard C and Hard G

Conversely, when the letters <c> and <g> are followed by the vowels <a>, <o>, or <u>, they make their hard sounds: /k/ for <c> and /g/ for <g>. 

Examples: ‘game,’ ‘gut,’ ‘cup,’ ‘cow,’ and ‘cat.’

8. R-Controlled Vowels

When the letter <r> follows a vowel, it changes how the vowel is pronounced. Examples of R-controlled vowels include /ar/ in ‘cart,’ /er/ in ‘fern,’ /ir/ in ‘third,’ /or/ in ‘born,’ and /ur/ in ‘burnt.’ 

9. Longer Spelling After a Short Vowel

How do you know when to use -ch or -tch for the /ch/ sound? When should someone use -k or -ck for the end sound, /k/? Or what about -dge vs. -ge end-spelling?

Remember: Use the longer spelling option (-ck, -tch, -dge) if the sound is directly after a short vowel sound.

Whenever you hear the /ch/ sound at the end of a word (or syllable) and that sound follows a short vowel sound, use -tch. For example: ‘switch’, ‘botch’, ‘fetch’, and ‘latch.’ 

Conversely, in the words ‘couch,’ ‘finch,’ ‘church,’ ‘each,’ etc., the /ch/ sound follows a consonant, long vowel sound, or diphthong. These words use -ch instead of -tch.

The same rule applies to -ck vs. -k (‘snack’ vs. ‘shark’)  and -dge vs. -ge (‘dodge’ vs. ‘cage’).

10. When “S” Sounds Like /Z/

In the English language, the letter <s> represents the /z/ sound 70% of the time! 

When there are two vowels “sandwiching” the letter <s> in a word, the letter <s> is often pronounced /z/. 

Examples: ‘use,’ ‘music,’ ‘rose,’ ‘lose,’ ‘excuse,’ ‘those,’ and ‘these.’

The <s> as /z/ rule also applies when it indicates a plural of a word that ends in -ss (‘crosses’), -sh (‘wishes’), -ch (‘benches’), -o (‘videos’), -x (‘boxes), and -z (‘fizzes’).

Another rule that can apply for <s> as /z/ is when <s> appears before or after a voiced consonant. For example: ‘bags,’ ‘gums,’ ‘toys,’ or ‘spasm,’ ‘wisdom,’ and ‘cosmic.’

How to Learn (or Teach!) More Advanced Phonics Rules

Whether you need to brush up on your advanced phonics rules or you’re trying to find creative ways to teach these rules in a classroom, phonics.org will walk you through it.

Start by exploring our helpful resources for teachers and tips for parents. We also recommend taking a look at our phonics program reviews for extra insight!

A Guide to Teaching Letter Sounds Effectively

phonicsorg on February 14, 2024

Knowing the connection between letters (graphemes) and sounds (phonemes) is one of the first concepts your child will have to grasp as they begin their reading journey. Knowing which letters represent which sounds of speech (and vice versa) is crucial to overall literacy success.

What’s the best way to teach letter sounds and how can you help your child start learning the alphabet effectively? Discover some practical tips from phonics.org below.

How Children Learn the Sounds of the Alphabet

Before children can develop the phonics skills they need to read and learn on their own, they first need to implement the alphabetic principle. This principle is the knowledge of how individual letters and combinations of letters are used to represent sounds of spoken language.

This principle is most effectively taught when:

  • Instruction happens in a fun, positive environment
  • A structured, systematic approach is used
  • Children have developed some phonemic awareness skills
  • Letters are provided in context (in the classroom, at home, during play)
  • Each letter sound is taught in complete isolation (for example, <P> makes the /p/ sound, not /puh/.)
  • Letter-sound correspondences are practiced consistently with modeling, guidance, and feedback from educators

Some kids may pick up letter-sound correspondence quickly whereas others might benefit from a multisensory approach that suits their needs. 

A common example of these learning differences is that some children might have an easier time learning sounds (i.e., ‘truck’ begins with the /t/ sound), while others may find it more natural to identify letters first and then learn their sounds (i.e., this is the letter <A> which makes the beginning sound of ‘apple’).

If your child leans toward one process over the other, start there! But remember to be consistent, review previously learned letters, and cover all letter sounds.

Beginner Phonics: Letter Sound Activities for Kids

Learning English alphabet sounds involves more than just flashcards and verbal repetition (although that can be part of it). Children learn best when they use multiple senses, activating different parts of the brain during literacy development. 

Multisensory learning works well with letter-sound instruction. This involves sight, sound, and touch. Some activities may focus on one but often include multiple. All are important for the developmental process. Let’s cover some examples.

Tactile Activities to Teach Letter Sounds

Hands-on letter sound activities help your child engage in educational play using movement and touch, building a stronger awareness of the letters they’re learning. Here are some ideas.

  • Playdough letters: On a sheet of paper, outline a large, individual letter using paint or a thick marker. Tell your child what letter it is and ask them if they know what sound it makes. If not, show them and have them repeat. Give your child playdough to roll or squish with their hands and fill in the letter. While they fill in the letter, come up with words together that start with that letter sound.
  • Match items to their sounds: Arrange several toy letters on the floor. Grab a few of your child’s favorite items that begin with those letters and lay them out. Play a game with your child to see which items they can match to the corresponding letter sounds.
  • Finger tracing: Have your child trace a letter using their finger. This can be done using sand, finger paint, or on a touchscreen device.
  • Finger Cues: Use a simple, consistent finger cue in association with a single speech sound. Practice using the cue every time your child says the sound or sees the letter. 

Playing tactile letter-sound activities that are fun and personal can help your child stay engaged.

Auditory Letter Sound Activities

Teaching alphabet sounds requires verbal and auditory games! Kids need to hear, repeat, and experiment with the language sounds of each letter. 

  • “I Spy”: In addition to learning the names and sounds of letters in print, your child should practice matching letter sounds to items in real life. “I Spy” is a fun game that activates kids’ curiosity, imagination, and existing knowledge of the alphabet. Take turns using the “I Spy” prompt with your child. For example, say, “I Spy something that starts with the sound /f/.” Your child may identify things like fridge, flower, fork, etc.
  • Letter sound songs: Singing songs that help kids practice letter sounds is a classic and effective learning activity. The song Apples and Bananas is a popular example.
  • Words that share sounds: Share a letter and its sound with your child. See if they can come up with other words that begin with the same letter. For example, your word is ‘mat’. They can match the beginning /m/ sound with words like ‘mom,’ ‘milk,’ ‘mine,’ etc. 
  • Articulation: Children learn to pronounce different sounds at different developmental ages. Showing your child how to make a specific sound accurately will help them associate that sound with a letter. Consult a speech language pathologist if you are concerned your child isn’t meeting developmental milestones with the pronunciation of speech sounds.  

Verbal letter games can be played anywhere, any time. Make it fun and practice while at home, at the park, at the grocery store, and other everyday settings.

Visual Activities to Teach Letter-Sound Correspondence 

Children learn to visually identify letters at their own pace. By kindergarten, some kids might know the entire alphabet while others are just beginning to learn the letters in their names. Either way, give these visual letter exercises a try.

  • Alphabet books: There are many children’s alphabet books that help you practice letter identification and letter sounds at home. Look into age-appropriate books that support your child’s skill level including Eating the Alphabet and Llama Llama ABC.
  • Name the letter: Use posters or flashcards to help your child review letters and their sounds. You can start with cards with uppercase/lowercase letters and related illustrations (like a honey bee on the card for the letter <B>). As your child learns more letter sounds, remove the illustration component and review the letters themselves. 
  • Embedded Picture Mnemonics: Some evidence supports the integration of letters with a picture that begins with that word. For example, see the embedded picture mnemonics created by artist Cat MacInnes. 

Practice visual letter identification and letter sounds together. This is called Paired-Associate Learning. Repetition helps your child remember what they’re learning and build confidence in what they already know! Remember to switch things up and practice multiple activities that involve their other senses. 

More Activities to Teach Kids Phonics

There are many ways to help your child learn letter sounds as they lay a solid foundation for reading success. With evidence-based instruction methods, plenty of encouragement, and diverse learning opportunities, your child will grow into an empowered learner!

To discover more tips and interactive activities that support early readers, explore the resources at phonics.org.

Methods of Effective Decoding in Reading

phonicsorg on February 8, 2024

When children are learning to read, they must be taught how to “sound out” letters and blend them together to form words. If you’re a parent or teacher, for example, you’ll likely hear your child put together the word ‘dog’, saying /d/ /o/ /g/ … “dog!”

This process is called decoding. 

Decoding is an important practice in reading development and one that is required for literacy. By definition, decoding is the translating of printed words into speech by sounding out each letter to form the word. 

Some children pick up decoding quickly and easily, whereas others struggle to decipher new words. It can be a frustrating phase for a child but it doesn’t have to be. 

To help your phonics students master this crucial skill in their literacy journey, here’s what you should know about effective decoding in reading.

Learning Effective Decoding Strategies 

Decoding is an aspect of systematic phonics instruction. To understand these strategies, children should already have some phonemic awareness skills, including the ability to blend individual sounds into words. 

1. Letter Sounds

While not an explicit decoding strategy in itself, learning the alphabet and letter sounds is the precursor to decoding. Children must be able to identify letters in print correctly and correlate the appropriate sounds to each letter. If a child struggles with early decoding methods, they may still need to develop their understanding of how letter sounds (phonemes) are represented by letters (graphemes). 

2. Simple to Complex 

Begin decoding instruction by teaching children to read simple words and then move to more complex words. For example, many reading programs begin with consonant-vowel-consonant (CVC) words like ‘cat’. Once the child can read these types of words with ease, they can start to practice decoding words with consonant blends like ‘sand’ or ‘blast’. 

Introducing a complex word like ‘giraffe’ or ‘yacht’ when a child is just learning to decode can be frustrating! Building decoding skills in a step-by-step way helps children strengthen their competence and confidence when learning to read. 

3. Blending 

To make sense of new words, children combine letter sounds to form the full word. This is called blending. As an example, when a child sees the word ‘map’ for the first time, they must identify the letter and sounds in the word and then put them together to read the word ‘map.’

There are multiple methods of phoneme blending. The easiest way to blend is called continuous blending, or connected phonation. This strategy works well with continuous sounds like /m/ that can be held or elongated. Continuous blending is where the sounds are blended together without stopping in between. For example, reading the word ‘moss’ may sound like ‘mmmmmmmmoooooooooosssssssssss’. The sounds can be repeated and sped up to read words. 

Blending is used in early reading but remains an important skill for life! It’s one of the most empowering skills in literacy development. Even through adulthood, readers use blending to decipher advanced, unfamiliar words and expand their vocabularies. 

4. Chunking 

Sometimes children come across familiar parts of a word with a new prefix or suffix. A child may know the word ‘want’ but come across the word ‘unwanted’ for the first time. They may recognize ‘want’ but then segment the sounds -un and -ed to then blend the whole word, ‘unwanted.’ 

As readers learn more advanced words that contain multiple syllables, this strategy—called chunking—can be used as a way to help decoding. Building a child’s understanding of affixes will support their ability to break a word into its smaller parts. It can be used to help them demonstrate spelling patterns, read longer words, and notice root words.

5. Syllable Splitting  

Also called syllabication, syllable splitting helps children read longer words when decoding. The word ‘definition’ can be a complex word to decode for the first time, so breaking it down into syllables may make it easier to pronounce and understand: de-fi-ni-tion, pronounced /de/ /fi/ /ni/ /shun/. 

Some children may need help with syllables in the decoding process. Using lines or symbols to split syllables can help a student visualize the correct pronunciation.

Strategies to Help Kids Practice Decoding 

Like all aspects of phonics instruction, decoding should be taught explicitly and systematically while still being approachable and engaging for students. 

To build the necessary decoding skills for a child, try to make it fun! Use games, activities, songs, and interactive stories to instill these important reading techniques. 

As a teacher or parent, model correct decoding strategies for your child or students and don’t hesitate to guide them when they get stuck. For a hands-on learning experience that supplements classroom instruction, use an educational phonics app that includes fun decoding exercises or games.

Common Decoding Challenges and Mistakes 

Every child learns to read at their own pace, so don’t worry if a student faces decoding challenges. It’s expected that they’ll make mistakes, especially during early reading. As reading skills grow, many children may struggle with irregular words, digraphs, or silent letters at first. 

Reading is a sophisticated skill that takes time, explicit instruction, effective practice, and lots of encouragement. Acknowledge your child’s struggles and strengths. Let them know it’s okay to mess up and try again. Remind them that they’re still learning and celebrate their dedication to getting better. 

If a student really struggles or falls behind in their decoding skills, you can seek insight from a phonics educator or reading specialist who uses proven instructional methods. There may be an underlying issue that needs to be addressed before the student can progress in their literacy development.

Resources to Teach Decoding Skills in Phonics Instruction 

When kids learn decoding in a systematic way, they build foundational literacy skills. Mastering these skills at each new level of reading is an exciting, empowering experience that every child deserves. 

Whether you’re helping your kindergartener practice decoding at home or teaching a class of third graders more advanced words, you need to know how to provide explicit instruction in decoding. There are helpful resources available that equip children to take the next necessary step toward becoming literate, lifelong students. 

To learn more educational tips for decoding, reading, and writing, explore the resources at phonics.org!

What is Phonics? An Introduction for Parents and Educators

phonicsorg on February 7, 2024

Anyone who can read and write in an alphabetical language has mastered an important set of skills. They know the connection between letters and the sounds each one represents. They can decipher letter and word combinations when reading and encode which sequence of letters to spell when writing. Understanding these letter-to-sound principles is one of the most important aspects of literacy; a precious ability of human communication.

If you’re reading this, congratulations! You’ve already mastered these skills in English. You likely learned them through phonics instruction, although you may not remember how. 

If you’re an educator or parent who’s helping a child learn to read, you might find yourself wondering: what is phonics? And how should I be teaching it? 

In this guide, we’ll refresh your memory and explore what phonics instruction is meant to be. 

Phonics and the Reading Pyramid

Phonics is one of the foundational pillars of the reading pyramid. Once children understand the sounds of their language and how to verbally manipulate words (phonemic awareness), they can gradually move up the pyramid. 

With continued instruction, they move up the pyramid to build fluency—the ability to read with ease, accuracy, and expression. As they grow in fluency, children build their vocabulary. Eventually, they develop all the essential reading skills and can experience reading comprehension with little adult guidance.


How Phonics Works 

Phonics instruction builds knowledge about letter-sound correlations in reading and writing. It is simply, “the relationship between speech and print” (Beck, 2006, p.16).  It is an umbrella term for several important skills children acquire through development and instruction.

Learning the Sounds of Language 

Phonemic awareness, or the ability to hear, recognize, and manipulate the different sounds in language, develops in a child’s early years of life. It sets the foundation for spoken language. 

The more that children develop and engage in literacy activities with family members, they develop pre-reading skills. They learn things like concepts of print, rhyming, several alphabetical letters, and more. Soon, they’ll be ready for phonics instruction to begin. 

The Alphabetic Principle

Before kindergarten, children typically start learning the alphabetic principle. This is the understanding that words are made of letters. It’s the concept and practice of connecting letters with their corresponding sounds (otherwise known as a “grapheme-phoneme correspondence” or GPC). Children often learn the alphabet song and know that the letters make certain sounds, like the letter <m> representing the sound /m/. With early phonics instruction, they gradually learn, for example, that the letters <ch> make the /ch/ sound as in ‘chocolate’ and /th/ is the beginning sound of the word, “thanks.”

Blending Letter Sounds to Form Words (Decoding)

The more grapheme-phoneme correspondences a child knows, the more they can practice blending. Phoneme blending is combining individual letter sounds in a word to read the whole word. This can also be called sounding out or decoding. During instruction, a child might come across a new word. The child can blend the sounds such as  /m/ /a/ /t/ to read the whole word, ‘mat’. 

Segmenting Words into Letters (Spelling/Encoding)

Inversely, children learn segmenting in phonics instruction, which is the opposite of blending. Kids learn early spelling techniques when they can spell their names, loved ones’ names, and simple words based on the individual sounds that make up a word. For example, if a child wants to spell ‘skip’ but doesn’t know how, they can gradually segment the word into its individual phonemes from start to finish: /s/ /k/ /i/ /p/.

Types of Phonics Instruction and Their Efficacy 

There are four different types of phonics. Any phonics instruction for early readers is better than no phonics instruction at all. However, some methods do have more efficacious results than others. 

Regardless of the approach in the type of phonics, instruction should be explicit and systematic. This means determining a pre-established sequence or “scope and sequence” to directly teach phonics concepts. In this way, children can start learning with easier concepts and slowly increase complexity in different stages. 

Synthetic Phonics

Synthetic phonics teaches the association of individual language sounds (phonemes) to alphabetical letters (graphemes). Then, learners are explicitly taught to “sound out” each letter and then blend the sounds to form the whole word. For example: the letter sounds /s/ /a/ /t/ are blended to decode the word ‘sat’. 

There is research-based evidence that synthetic phonics is the most efficacious type of phonics to use when teaching children to learn to read. Moore (2021) says, “It is sensible to employ an approach that makes the systematic instruction and revision of sound-spelling correspondences most comprehensible for both teachers and students. Synthetic phonics offers the simplest way to achieve this” (p. 24). 

Analogy Phonics

Analogy phonics is a top-down approach. This means the instruction starts with whole words instead of individual sounds. In analogy phonics, common “word families” or “rimes” are used to

learn words instead of blending individual letter sounds. It starts with a word a child already knows (sat), breaks them down into the onset and rime (s-at, c-at), and then introduces similar words in that pattern (mat, fat, rat, pat, etc.).

Analytic Phonics

Also known as implicit phonics, analytic phonics teaches kids to process a new word by “analyzing” its parts (phonograms) and relating them to previously learned words. For example, a child may know the words cat, sad, ran, and mat. When presented with the new word, rat, they must sift through what they know— c/at/ + m/at/ + /r/an— to conclude /r/ + –at is ‘rat’. 

An analytic phonics approach may not be effective for all children. Typically children perform better on reading and spelling with a synthetic phonics approach. 

Embedded Phonics

The embedded, or incidental, phonics method provides reading instruction using whole texts. It is based on a theory of reading instruction called “whole language.” Instead of teaching explicit, systematic phonics skills, it requires opportunistic learning through practices like sight words (the, it, and, was, etc.) and context clues (words, letters, or pictures that hint at meanings or other words in the sentence). 

Embedded phonics practices are often considered “real world” reading but can hinder a child’s decoding skills, which are essential for reading new words. Relying on context clues is considered a bad habit as it can stunt overall literacy development.

Phonics, Explained Simple Enough for a Child to Understand 

Reading is like a fun treasure hunt. You can explore all sorts of stories and ideas to find the golden nuggets you’re looking for, and sometimes, discover amazing prizes you never imagined. This treasure hunt happens in the world of words, where endless adventures of learning and imagination live. 

But when children first enter the world of words, they don’t know where to go. Everything looks squiggly and confusing because this world is made of secret codes. These secret codes are letters of the alphabet. 

The first adventure is to learn to crack the code, which is what phonics teaches. Every letter makes a special sound; many of them you already know how to speak. Every time you learn a new letter and the sounds it makes, you crack another piece of the code. 

As you learn more of these letters and their sounds, you’ll be able to decode words. Soon, the world of words will come to life and you’ll collect many treasures as you explore. With practice, you can enjoy new and exciting treasure hunts for life.

Resources to Help a Child Learn Phonics

There are countless phonics programs available today. But like the different phonics instruction methods, not all programs are the same or offer the best results.

To help you decide which phonics programs might help your child learn, phonics.org offers: 

  • Educational articles and guides: Gain a deeper understanding of phonics principles, teaching strategies, and best practices.
  • Phonics program reviews: Compare expert-reviewed assessments of popular phonics curricula to help you make an informed decision.
  • Fun phonics activities and games: Browse the top resources that make learning phonics fun and interactive.

Whether you’re teaching your child at home or a group of students in a classroom, there are affordable, effective phonics programs to help their learning process. Explore the resources at phonics.org to find the right one!

Have a phonics program or app you’d like us to review? Reach out to us at [email protected] to let us know.

Classroom Phonemic Awareness Activities for Kids

phonicsorg on February 7, 2024

Before learning to read, children must understand their spoken language. The first step in understanding spoken language is becoming aware of the different sounds that words contain within that language.

This is called phonemic awareness—one of the most important concepts in early literacy education. 

To help young learners achieve necessary milestones on their way to reading readiness, an understanding of phonemic awareness is crucial. 

Whether you’re new to this concept or simply want a refresher, here’s an overview of phonemic awareness for phonics instruction. We’ll also share some fun classroom activities that improve this important skill!

Phonemic Awareness: The Building Blocks of Phonics

Young children inherently learn that spoken language is made up of verbal sounds. As they build phonemic awareness during their first years of development, children learn many individual sounds that can be combined to form specific words. 

Building on this awareness, children begin to learn what certain words mean and then gradually use learned words to express themselves and communicate. 

Children build phonemic awareness over time in the presence of fluent adults and family. While language development happens naturally for most children, the phonics skills required for reading and writing must be explicitly taught. 

Therefore, phonemic awareness is the foundation of the reading pyramid:

There are proven activities that educators and parents can use to support phonemic development.

Activities to Strengthen Phonemic Awareness in Phonics Education

While phonemic awareness starts in early childhood development, direct instruction (and lots of practice) helps kids apply these skills toward phonics learning. 

Some children start learning phonics as early as three years old. Many, however, start learning once they enter kindergarten. Whether your little learner is in daycare, preschool, or kindergarten, you can give these activities a try!

1. Rhyme Scavenger Hunt

Rhyming is a crucial skill when it comes to phonemic awareness. To help kids identify and come up with words that rhyme, have a “rhyme” scavenger hunt.

  1. Create a list of classroom items you’ll use in the scavenger hunt. 
  2. Come up with words that rhyme with each item. These words will be the students’ scavenger hunt clues.
  3. Share the rhyming clue out loud then have students guess the answer. Let them get up, walk around, and physically “hunt” for the item they think rhymes with the clue.
  4. Every time students identify the correct item, have them raise their hands to guess what other words rhyme with it.
  5. You can also play this fun activity outdoors for an added challenge.

2. Sort Out the Sound

Engaging kids in sound sorting is an effective phonemic awareness activity. This helps them identify beginning, middle, and end sounds.

  1. Give students a sheet of paper that has pictures of different objects such as dog, duck, pig, pale, rock, and sock.
  2. Let students cut out each item.
  3. Instruct students to sort their cutouts based on the sounds you say. For example: “the beginning sound is /d/” or “the ending sound is /ck/”.
  4. Review students’ guesses and correct them when necessary.
  5. Repeat until all the sounds have been sorted.

3. Clapping Through Syllables

For syllable awareness, you can have children use their bodies to emphasize how many syllables a word has.

  1. Have students respond to words you say by clapping their hands for each syllable in each word.
  2. Repeat each word several times as a class, changing the speed from slow to fast.
  3. You can also change it up with stomping, jumping, or dancing.

4. Letter Mystery Bag

Help your students practice sound placement with this fun, interactive mystery bag!

  1. Place a bunch of toy letters in a bag. They can be foam, plastic, or wood.
  2. Have each student take turns reaching into the bag without looking. Whichever letter they pull out, ask them to make the sound that letter makes.
  3. Then, have the whole group repeat the letter sound.
  4. You can also have students pull out multiple letters in a row and see if the class can make a word from those letters.

5. Head-to-Toe Word Syllables

Get some movement in while practicing word segmentation for phonemic awareness.

  1. Explain and demonstrate the activity: students will touch parts of their bodies to show parts of a word.
  2. Beginning sounds = head.
  3. Middle sounds = hips.
  4. End sounds = toes.
  5. Say a word, such as “popsicle.”
  6. Have students repeat the word as they break up its syllables head to toe. 
  7. For “popsicle,” children touch their heads for /pop/, their hips for /sih/, and their toes for /cull/. 

6. Guess the Rhyme I’m Thinking Of

Have the class guess which rhyming word you’re thinking of.

  1. Give the class a rhyming clue: “I’m thinking of a word that rhymes with cat.”
  2. Let students guess the rhyming word, popcorn style.
  3. Feel free to use nonsense words for fun! For example: “I’m thinking of a word that rhymes with zoodle!” for the word “noodle.”

7. Make Sounds in a Mirror

For young children, making words in a mirror can be a fun activity at any time of day.

  1. Place a small mirror in front of the child.
  2. Ask them if they can repeat a word while making the funniest, most dramatic pronunciations with their face. Show them an example to begin with. 
  3. Talk about what the tongue and lips are doing while making a certain sound. 
  4. Have fun being goofy together and watching how words are formed!

8. Tongue Twisters

Tongue twisters are a classic way to get kids thinking about phonemes and pronunciation. 

  1. Find skills-appropriate tongue twisters to try with the class.
  2. Practice each one through “repeat after me,” call and response, and recite from memory.
  3. Use this list of tongue twisters for plenty of ideas.

9. Sound Monsters

Make phonemes so playful that kids look forward to practicing every day. The sound-eating monster is a classroom favorite.

  1. Make several cute monsters using shoe boxes (for the body and mouth) and craft supplies (for the eyes, spikes, and facial features). 
  2. Explain how the Sound Monsters need to be fed every day. Sometimes the monsters have an appetite for different types of sounds, so the class needs to be careful which sounds in words they choose!
  3. Each day, get the class excited to “feed” the monsters. Rotate which students get to feed them so everyone has a turn throughout the week.
  4. Provide a bunch of notecards with pictures or words, such as baby, ball, apple, frog, etc.
  5. Choose which sounds a specific monster wants that day and act it out for the class. “Today, this Word Monster wants to eat the sound, ahhh.”
  6. Have students select notecards that contain words or pictures with the correct sounds.
  7. Make it fun and mix up the phonemes to make it challenging: “Today, this monster wants to eat the beginning sounds shh and sss.”

10. Simon Says Blending

Phoneme blending is one of the most important phonemic awareness skills students can have when learning to read. 

  1. Tell the class you will play Simon Says, a game where the teacher asks students to do an action, but only if they hear “Simon Says” first. 
  2. Instead of saying the action word, say all of the sounds in the word and ask students to blend the sounds to figure out the action. For example, “Simon says /s/ /i/ /t/ down” or “Simon says /j/ /u/ /m/ /p/ up!”
  3. Mix up the gameplay by asking one of the students to be the new “Simon”. 

Classroom Reading and Phonics Apps

Using technology in the classroom is helpful for digital native learners. In addition to these fun group activities, consider classroom reading and phonics apps that include phonemic awareness exercises.

Explore phonics.org to learn more ways to strengthen your students’ phonemic awareness. Find some of the best early phonics programs on the market today!

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