Steps for Teaching Phonics

Steps for Teaching Phonics

Follow these 10 steps to get started teaching phonics:

Step 1:
Gather all materials and store them together in a box: alphabet flash cards (such as School Zone's alphabet flash cards, available at www.), a good phonics program (such as Phonics Pathways or Action Reading, both available from our online bookstore) index cards, index card file, black wide-tip marker, beginner's wide-ruled writing tablet, 2 pencils with erasers, and decodable stories (such as Stories Based on Phonics, available from our online bookstore, or Bob Books First, available from www.amazon.com).

Step 2:
Before beginning, make sure your alphabet flash cards have the proper sound associated with each letter. For example, the a card should show a on the front and an apple (or another keyword beginning with the short a sound, such as alligator) on the back. The picture, while not absolutely necessary, helps the student remember the letter's sound. For each letter, check the associated picture to make sure its beginning sound matches the beginning sound of the keyword in the table below. If not, discard the incorrect cards and make up new flash cards using the index cards you purchased. Write the letter on the front, and draw a picture of the associated keyword on the back.

Tip: In particular, check the x card: if it shows a xylophone or x-ray machine, discard the card, and make a new card with x on the front and a box on the back. Also check the vowel cards. If the i card shows ice cream or an icicle, discard the card, and make a new card with i on the front and an igloo on the back.

Basic Sound-Letter Correspondences

Short-Vowel Sounds	Consonant Sounds	Consonant Sounds
/a/ spelled a in apple. /e/ spelled e in elephant. /i/ spelled i in igloo. /o/ spelled o in octopus. /u/ spelled u in umbrella.	/b/ spelled b in boy. /k/ spelled c in cat. /d/ spelled d in dog. /f/ spelled f in fish. /g/ spelled g in girl. /h/ spelled h in hat. /j/ spelled j in jet. /k/ spelled k in kite. /l/ spelled l in lip. /m/ spelled m in map. /n/ spelled n in nest.	/p/ spelled p in pig. /kw/ spelled qu in queen. /r/ spelled r in rat. /s/ spelled s in sun. /t/ spelled t in top. /v/ spelled v in van. /w/ spelled w in wagon. /ks/ spelled x in box. /y/ spelled y in yarn. /z/ spelled z in zebra.

Step 3:
During the first week, use the alphabet flash cards to drill the short-vowel sounds. Add several consonant sounds each day until you are drilling all short-vowel sounds and consonant sounds with your student each day. Do not rush this step. Keep drilling until all sounds are automatic, which usually takes 2-4 weeks.

Tip: Work on phonics for at least 15 minutes a day, 5 days a week with your student. Frequency and consistency are more important than the length of time spent on each lesson.

Step 4:
After your student knows the short-vowel sounds and consonant sounds, next teach him how to orally blend two letters (b-a, ba) and read two-letter blends such as: ba, be, bi, bo, bu.

Step 5:
After your student can read two-letter blends, progress to three-letter blends: bat, sun, cot, dig, bed.

Step 6:
Each day, have your student read a set of words, then dictate these same words to him. (Help him form each letter and correct him gently, if necessary). This not only helps him remember the phonics lesson just learned, but it greatly improves spelling.

Golden Rule of Phonics: Never allow your student to skip, guess, or substitute words. Accuracy is more important than speed.

Step 7:
After your student can read three-letter words easily, it's time to add a few irregular words (wacky words) that are necessary to read most sentences. The table lists the most important irregular words - teach these first. Write each word on an index card. Introduce two or three new words a week. Drill your student on these "wacky words" everyday, encouraging him to sound out as much of the word as possible (usually the vowel sound is the only irregular part). As your student masters each word, file the card in the card file under "Words I Know." File new words under "Words To Learn."

Tip: What distinguishes these "wacky words" from so-called sight words? Most of these wacky words cannot be sounded out, usually because they contain a vowel sound that doesn't "follow the rules." In contrast, the typical "sight word" list consists of mostly phonetically regular words (such as "and" and "when") that the student is forced to memorize simply because he has never been taught to sound them out.

Basic Wacky Words

Introduce after student can read three-letter words	Introduce after student has learned /th/ and /sh/	Introduce after student has learned long-vowel sounds
a, I to, into or, for of, put	the, she, he, me, be, we no, go, so do, doing, does was, were, are	said, says, have, her you, your, yours they, their, there where, what, why, who once, one, come, some done, none two, too

Step 8:
After 3 to 4 months of reading lists of words and sentences, your student will be ready to read decodable stories (such as Stories Based on Phonics or Bob Books First). After he has mastered decodable stories, it's time to move on to easy books (such as Hop on Pop by Dr. Seuss). As your student reads each book, add new irregular words to the Wacky Word file and review daily.

Step 9:
Continue teaching the lessons in the phonics program — don't stop just because your student can read. Most children need 1 to 2 years of reinforcement before their phonics knowledge becomes permanent.

Step 10:
Even after your student has finished the phonics program, make sure to reinforce his phonics knowledge by giving phonetically based spelling lists each week throughout elementary school.