What are initial sounds?
Look at these words. The first letter is the initial sound. When you say each word, your mouth, teeth and tongue move into position to make the initial sound.
cat man danger house zebra light
We don't stop to think about it as it happens instinctively. Learning to read through phonics means becoming aware of the sounds that make words.
In order to learn to read and spell with phonics, a child first needs to learn the sounds for which the letters of the alphabet stand for and which can be heard at the beginning of words - the initial sounds. Having learnt to read with phonics, children will eventually be able to read many words that they have never seen before, by themselves. Teaching by phonics is a powerful method! It creates readers. No wonder it has not been liked by many progressives through the years! Take care when teaching initial sounds
It is very important that care is taken to teach this stage well, as it is the foundation for the development of all future reading and spelling.
Three things are necessary when teaching a child the initial sounds:
If any of these three are neglected, or only partially taught, then the child will not make progress. Despite this seeming very simple, many teachers and parents go wrong at this point. Many children fail to learn the sounds that each letter stand for sufficiently well to be able to recall them instantly. Others learn the sounds the letters stand for, but do not hear them at the beginning of words. These children can then appear to be in need of catch up work - when the truth is they were not taught properly to start with. First, make sure that you yourself know the initial sounds.How to teach initial sounds
Progress is quickest when the above three aspects are taught hand in hand together.
As a sound is learnt the child can be taught to apply his/her knowledge to find things that begin with that sound. If the child is also taught to write the letter, this further reinforces his/her knowledge and helps to develop spelling skills as well. It is best is, once you have decided that your child is ready to start learning to read, to keep the momentum going by teaching one new sound a day, five days a week. Follow this simple procedure. You will need:
You can also use our video (below) which provides pictures for each letter of the alphabet and is phonetically correct. Pause the video on a sound. You can use it to say the alphabet rhyme each day too (see below).
1. Introduce the new sound on a flashcard, or in an alphabet book. Tell your child:
This is the letter '_' and it makes the sound '_'.
2. Then look and see how many things on the 'a' page begin with that sound (or if using flashcards, how many things you can think of between you beginning with that sound).
To begin with you will have to help – if not tell - your child which words begin with the given sound. Emphasise the first sound as you say a word.
Here is an apple. Apple begins with ă' (sound not name). ' a..a.....a...apple. ' 'Here is an arrow, a..a...arrow'. 'What can you see that starts with 'a'?' a...a.............. See if the pupil can fill in the blank with a word beginning with the sound 'a'. If the pupil says another word, not starting with 'a', say: 'Yes, I can see a house too, but listen...hhhhhouse. Does 'hhhouse start with 'aaaaa'? No it doesn't. Listen, aaaaapple, aaanchor. Here's a word. (Point to another picture starting with 'a'). What's this? Child: 'ant' Teacher: 'Yes!' aaant starts with 'a'. Some children will sit for a while happy to look, others will be eager to go! Either way, keep the session short. We don't expect pupils to grasp this in one lesson. What must happen is that the pupil starts to learn that this symbol stands for the sound 'a' and some words begin with that sound. Watch for signs that the child is beginning to hear the intial sound for him/herself. Optional: Jolly Phonics assigns an action to the sound which many children find helpful. You don't need to use the same actions as Jolly Phonics to do this; simply find a word that is meaningful to your student that can be mimed and make the action along with saying the alphabet sounds. My class used to mime eating an apple, or making an ant crawl up their arms. They would pretend to bounce a ball for 'b', drive a car for 'c' and so on. If you wish to use the Jolly Phonics actions you can find them free here.
PLUS - every day say the alphabet rhyme
Practice the sounds already taught by saying the Alphabet Rhyme before you teach the new sound. Go through the flashcards of the initial sounds taught and say the alphabet rhyme, stopping at the letter that was last taught, ready to learn a new one. So: Day 2: Show the 'a' flashcard: Together say: Ay says 'a'. And then learn about the sound 'b'. Day 3: Show the 'a' flashcard and together say: Ay says 'a'. Show the 'b' flashcard and say together: Bee says 'b' - and then learn about the sound 'c'. Day 4: As before: Ay says 'a', Bee says 'b', See says 'c' - and then learn about the sound 'd'. And so on, adding a new card each day until you are saying it all the way to 'z'! This repetition is vital to the success of the programme. Continue to recite the Alphabet Rhyme in this way while the knowledge is cemented and until you are sure the pupil can give you the correct letter for any sound you make, or tell you which sound each letter stands for.
Then:
1. Throughout the day keep emphasising ‘AY says 'a'. Encourage the pupil to finish the sentence: ’AY says…?’ Say it for the pupil if s/he can’t remember. Encourage your child to look for things around the house that start with each day’s sound. It is a good idea if you can be constantly emphasising the first sound of words at suitable moments. Here are some ideas: ‘Where is your bbball? ‘Are you playing with your dddoll?’ 'Time for bbbbed!' 'Where is your ccccup?' 2. When you see words around and about, point to the first letter of the word (if it says the right sound, e.g not 'c' for 'circle') and say (for example) : 'Look, 't' for tomato.' This will help to train the child's ear to hear initial sounds.
|
|
|
Assessment is the key
a) the child is beginning to learn which letter stands for which sound
b) the child is hearing sounds at the beginning of words
Then do whatever is necessary to help the child grasp the bits s/he is having trouble with. There is a useful video here explaining how to help children who have trouble hearing initial sounds of words.
For example, if it is a particular sound, then focus on that sound. Paint it, draw it in the sand, pin it up around the house/classroom and make frequent reference to it. Use your imagination and think what will help THIS child to get this point.
**Do not try to teach the child to blend cvc words until you are sure s/he is hearing the initial sounds of words.** Otherwise you will risk confusing the child and stalling progress.
Go at the child's pace, not the pace of a 'curriculum'.
www.readingmadesimple.weebly.com
Our programme can be tailor fitted to any child. You are in control of how fast or slow you go and how you teach. We give guidance, but remember - when teaching phonics you need to fit the programme to the child, not the child to the programme.
Find a way of helping the child to reach the goals.
We help you to do just that - succeeding where others fail.
How can I teach phonics effectively so that my children pass the Phonic Test and still love reading?
Read on to find out HOW!
For your class to become excellent readers - you must not rely on a programme. You must understand the process each child must go through to become an excellent reader. You must study phonics for yourself.
Ideally, headteachers should keep teachers teaching Year one long enough for them to become experts in Year 1.
If this is not the case in your school you will have to do your best - but don't despair - with these guidelines you can do better than you would do otherwise.
Aim to understand what is needed - then study your children as they learn.
Ask questions:
How can I get him /her to understand this? What practice can I give? What examples will help him/her to grasp this concept?
You must also decide for yourself about common objections to phonics to quell the negativity in your mind as it will stop you from throwing yourself behind teaching in this way and leave your teaching ineffective as you try and merge several methods.
Here I will just say that those who say that phonics only promotes decoding at the expense of meaning cannot be further from the truth. In all my years teaching phonics, meaning has been central. Meaning is at the bottom of communication and we all strive to understand what we hear and read. Of course you will have a literacy based environment: you will read excellent examples of good language to your children in the form of good story books and poems; you will see the whole day as literacy lesson - in every subject where you read/write with the children you can be alert for opportunities to apply those skills you have been teaching or that certain children need developing.
You SHOULD NOT need an external phonics test to tell you what each of your children is capable of
- You should know each child inside out: what they know and what they are weak on, so that future teaching can address those gaps.
- Biggest tip: you have got to see your class as 30+ individuals and teach that way rather than groups of abilities. Young children are best taught individually - and if that is not possible, as it really isn't in a classroom, then you have to have that mindset. The lower third particularly will need YOUR assistance daily to move them on.
- Undertake your own regular individual, informal tests. This is essential. The children in my classes were used to testing. In fact - they enjoyed the challenge, as tests correctly used can motivate children.
Well done - look , last time you only knew these - see what you know now!
Well done!
Find these book in TES or TPT.
What do I test:
- Initial sounds - regularly until I am absolutely sure that each child knows the letter name, corresponding sound and can both give the sound on seeing the letter and write the letter given the sound. Make a game of it - the alphabet games on this site make great testing tools.
- The 2/3 letter combinations, as taught - I sit with a child at a time with a pile of flashcards and go through the ones taught to see which ones are known, marking them off on a checklist. This cannot be done in groups - I must get each child on his/her own. Extra support will be given to each area of weakness identified, per child and further testing undertaken to ensure progress is being made.
- Free-writing tests can be given to the whole class - these are exciting. Give the children a piece of paper each, a simple, accessible topic to write about (what you did at the weekend) and give them ten minutes to write freely. From age five upwards these will give a real insight as to how each child has internalised your phonic teaching. Remember - just because you have taught a child something, doesn't mean s/he will necessarily use that knowledge immediately - it has to be 'taken in'. It then takes a bit of trial of using the skill to eventually use it correctly. Take powerful 'e' for example. We all know that children will often start sticking 'e's' on the end of every word as they learn to use the new knowledge. It will take several weeks reinforcing the correct usage before the skill is internalised and used correctly.
- Reading: using the Schonnell reading test. I use this once in the Autumn term and again in the summer term to give an indication of a child's progress throughout the year. Crude, yes, but it gives you a benchmark as it were, if you follow the testing procedure carefully, which is easy.
You have to be organised - to know which children you will target in which way each day. Time is a precious commodity in a KS1 classroom, but the need is urgent - see it that way and you will succeed. Better still - see the whole day as a literacy opportunity. Read good nature study, geography, history books to your children. Help them to see that reading is not just about stories - it's a means of learning about exciting things. I found that this really helped the boys in particular to see reading as worthwhile. Too much is made of fiction these days.
Above all you will create an environment...
FAQ
Is it too late???
Should I practice nonsense words with my children?
Phonics is the main way that children are taught to read and spell in UK schools. However, many parents are at a complete loss when it comes to helping their children, as they do not understand what phonics is or how it works. Their children come home making all sorts of strange sounds, and these parents are bewildered. Sadly, not many teachers, despite their training, really know how to teach phonics. Help is at hand. We aim to show you how easy it is!
Help is at hand!
His dad pulled a face showing his confusion and then said rather irritatingly 'It says automatic doors - now come on!'
If the lad's teacher had been there she/he would have hopefully been delighted. This little lad was beginning to take notice of print in his environment and apply what he had been taught - always an encouraging step. No doubt he had been taught the initial sounds that each letter of the alphabet stands for and now he had seen them for himself. He wasn't worried that he was only looking at the first letter - he could see letters with which he was familiar. Had his father have understood what was happening, and knew how to teach phonics, he could have said 'Oh, yes, you are right!'. If he was a little more aware, he could have maybe gone a step further and said 'Look - 'd' for door. This other word says 'automatic' - you'll learn to read that word soon! In this way, the lad would have felt that he really was making progress: he was starting to decipher words for himself!
Okay - so what was happening here?
|
|
Let's first think about what happens when we talk.
Words are made up of different sounds. We learn these sounds when we are babies - when we learn to babble. The young child says 'mmmmm' or 'ddddd'. Then as speech devlops further, the young child puts two sounds together 'da da da da'. As it develops yet further, they utter a word - or a close approximation to it. 'Ah' we say s/he's saying _______!'
Later on one word becomes two, then three until whole sentences are formed. Learning to read and spell should be just like that. Sounds first - then words: a bottom up approach. |
Learning to read with phonics means first becoming aware of the individual sounds that make up words, and then learning to put them together to make words.
That is the way our brains learn best.
Phonics is a code
Think of it as a code - first the code has to be learnt, and then it can be used to decipher anything written in that code - in this case 'English'.
Some people do fine with the first stage, that is, learning the intial sounds and combining them into words like:
c u p
v e s t
So let's have a closer look!
Initial sounds
Try for yourself. Listen as you say each word. Say it gently, and then see if you can just pick out the first sound - start to say the word - get your tongue/teeth/lip ready and then gently say the first sound and STOP! This is the initial sound.
Once the child knows these well, then s/he can begin doing what we call 'blending' them. This simply means, putting them together to make words.
Simple words using intial sounds only
Now the fun begins! Seeing as there are 44 different sounds to learn (including the initial sounds) and that some sounds have one or more ways to write them, the child has much to learn. But with careful teaching and games and worksheets to help along the way to give practice, they are soon learnt. Do remember though, that all children are different and some will learn faster and others slower. That does not matter - what does matter is that they GET THERE!
44 sounds to learn
Becoming a reader
2 letters together making a new sound
Other ways of making vowel sounds
Spend a while thinking of a word with each group of letters in:
How these letter combinations are best taught
a: cat, mat, bat, sat, fat, hat, van, jam, Sam, can, etc...
rain: pain, train, brain, Spain, paint, drain, snail, tail, etc...
r ai n
Children need to learn to recognise these letter groupings so that they can instantly say their sound and write both letters when given a word with that sound in. Of course, there is more than one way of making many of the sounds:
ai ay a-e eigh
for example
Flashcards
A simple teaching method for teaching phonics
- On Monday the teacher/parent should introduce the new sound. First the child is shown the flashcard with the new sound written on it and told what sound the letters represent.
ai
- the teacher/parent should write each word out for the child, one at a time, sounding each one out as s/he writes, in a list on a board/paper. Dissect each word into the sounds (not letters) s/he hears e.g. r ai n.
- Go through all the words on the list and then hide them.
- Ask the child to write them on a white-board, chalkboard or paper, as you dictate them, one-by-one.
- Ask the child to read what s/he has written and correct any mistakes by helping the child to feel the sounds as s/he says the word slowly, stretching it out:
r...ai...n
- read them
- write them
- play games
- complete worksheets for that sound: Phonic Worksheets
- look for the words in book and around the home/classroom/outside
What is important, is a child should not be asked to read a word for which s/he has not yet been taught the sounds to enable them to decode it.
Some programmes stop at this point as once children have got the idea, they very often then progress onwards, working out the code for themselves and are soon reading well. Some children do benefit from going more thoroughly through the remaining sounds and rules as they will not pick them up for themselves. All children benefit though, from moving on to look at more complex sounds and longer multisyllabic words as this ensures good spelling too. This may take several years.
In conclusion, I hope we have made it easy for you to understand how to teach phonics.
Please do remember that all children learn at their own pace.
Also remember that progress is not always constant. Children move forwards, then plateau and may even seem to forget things, but then move forward again. Keep calm, reinforce the weak points, and move on again.
Welcome
Hello, I'm Lilibette, qualified teacher (B.Ed Hons). I have taught phonics in mainstream education, followed by have home-educated my two sons to 18, and am now a private tutor.
Reading Made Simple (a completely free systematic phonic reading programme) and Sound-it-out are the results!
I aim to bring advice and resources aimed at enabling parents and teachers to EASILY teach phonics effectively. That is: to help children become life-long readers, forming a bedrock on which all further education can be built. My mother helps to draw the pictures and between us we have many years experience of teaching KS1, special needs and ESL. We hope you enjoy browsing our site!
Categories
All
Ai
Ar
Blending
Ck
Classroom Assistants
CVCC Words
CVC Words
Dictations
Ee
Handwriting And Phonics
Home Education
How To Teach Phonics
Initial Sounds
Ir/ur/er
Letters And Sounds
Magic 'e'
Oa
Oo
Parents
Phonic 'How To'
Phonics Games
Phonics Worksheets
Reading Books
Reluctant Readers
Sh/ch
Silent 'e'
Special Needs
Speech And Language
Split Digraphs
Struggling Readers
Teachers
Understanding Phonics
Word Mats
an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees
by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.
This costs the purchaser nothing extra.
In this way I can continue to provide free resources.
Thank you for your support.