Phonics & Reading

A Teachers Guide Level A

What is a phonetic approach to Reading? A phonetic approach to Reading entails learning the sounds a letter or groups of letters make and then using this knowledge to decode and blend these sounds together to read a word. Glossary of Terms Alphabet Blend Consonant partially a set of letters used in writing a language. a mixture or to put together. a letter representing a speech sound made by or completely blocking the breath stream. Consonant Blend Digraph single Letter Medial Phonetics Vowel a mixture of consonants.

a combination of two letters used to represent a sound. an alphabetical symbol. of or in the middle. the science of speech sounds. a letter representing a speech sound made without obstructing the flow of breath. only so you

N.B This glossary is for your information understand what phonetics is all about. What terms do the students need to know? 1. letter i.e. what the student writes. 2. sound i.e. what the letters say.

Now you have the theory. How do you apply it??????? Level A In Level B the students are introduced to,

The single sounds a z in the initial position. The letters are introduced in alphabetical order. Some letters have two possible sounds e.g. a, c, g, o. The students will learn both sounds. do you? Introduce a single sound? Review the sounds? Complete the pages in the workbook? Word build?

How

1.1 How to introduce and teach a single sound in the initial position. Ancillary materials: Alphabet Cards e.g.

Letter & Number Cards e.g.

a 1

b 2

Sound & Picture Posters i.e. full size display posters depicting the sounds of the alphabet and pictures of objects beginning with the sounds. Method:

Show the students the alphabet card of the sound you want to introduce e.g. a. Say the sound a and encourage the students to repeat the sound after you. Explain A a. One is a big A and the other is a little a. Repeat the sound several times as a class and in groups.

Refer to the display poster. Point to the A a in the top left hand corner. What sound is this? Repeat as a class. Point to the apple. Can any one tell me what this is? Say the word apple as a class. Explain apple begins with the a sound. The teacher chants a, a, a apple. Encourage the children to repeat this as a class and in groups. Mirror write the letter a in the air reciting the chant for formation (refer to the Chants for Formation document). Encourage the students to do likewise. Chant a, a, a apple as a class again. Talk about apples i.e What colour is an apple? Do you like apples? Have you an apple in your lunchbox? etc. Repeat the procedure for ant and animals. Tell the students a has another sound ay. Point to the apron. Can any one tell me what this is? Say the word apron as a class. Explain apron begins with the ay sound. The teacher chants ay, ay, ay apron. Encourage the children to repeat this as a class and in groups. Review the formation of a by tracing it in the air and on the desks. Chant ay, ay, ay apron as a class again. Have an apron in the class. Explain its purpose. Talk about the apron i.e What colour is this apron? Do you have an apron? Will you wear an apron for Art? Why? etc. Point to the letter a on the letter and number card. What sound is this? Chant a, a, a as a class. What other sound does a make? Chant ay, ay, ay as a class. Point to the numeral under a. What number is this? Repeat one as a class.

Reinforcement Play a Hide and Seek game e.g. the teacher could place cardboard cut outs of the letter a throughout the room and the children could be asked to spot them. Have items beginning with the a sound available in the class. Ask the children to spot them. Identify all the children in the class whose names begin with A.

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How to review sounds in the initial position.

Before introducing a new sound to the students, it is imperative to review the sounds already covered. Certain students will not learn sounds the week they are introduced. It will take some students longer than others to learn the sounds. If the sounds are reviewed daily there is a greater chance of all the children knowing all the sounds taught by the end of the year. Revision also benefits students who were absent on the days new sounds were taught. Do not review the sounds in the same order. Ancillary materials. 1. Alphabet Cards 2. Letter & Number Cards 3. Sound & Picture Posters. Revision of a single sound. Pick a sound e.g. f. Point to it on the alphabet card. What sound is this? Chant f, f, f as a class. Point to a f picture on the poster. Chant f, f, f farm as a class. Repeat for the remaining pictures. Review the formation of f by tracing it in the air and on the desk. Point to the letter f on the letter and number card. What sound is this? Chant f, f, f as a class. Point to the numeral under f. What number is this? Repeat six as a class. Repeat this process for the remainder of the sounds to be revised.

3.1 How to complete exercises based on initial sounds in My First Book of Sounds Parts 1 & 2. My First Book of Sounds Parts 1 & 2 concentrates solely on the letters of the alphabet in the initial position. Each letter is introduced in exactly the same way with similar exercises to reinforce and consolidate what has been taught. The exercises used are, Introduction to the sound: Say the sound and the word. Find the sound. followed by Trace the letter. Colour. followed by Trace the letter. Circle the pictures that begin with. Circle the correct sound. Match the picture to the sound. followed by Trace the letter. Write the correct sound. a) Say the sound and word e.g. My First Book of Sounds Part 1 page 1. Review the a sound and picture poster. Distribute page 1 to the students. Read the instruction and encourage the children to repeat it after you. Point to the first picture. The teacher checks. What can you see? Repeat apple as a class. What sound does apple begin with? Chant a, a, a apple as a class. Repeat for the remaining pictures. Remember to emphasise that a has two initial sounds. Ask the children to locate the letter a in the top right hand corner. The teacher checks. Chant a, a, a as a class. What number can you see underneath? Repeat one as a class. b) Find First the sound. followed by Trace the letter e.g. My Book of Sounds Part 1 page 2. Review the a sound and picture poster. Distribute page 2 to the students.

Ask the children to locate the letter a in the top right hand corner. The teacher checks. Chant a, a, a and ay, ay ay as a class. What number can you see underneath? Repeat one as a class. Review the formation of a. Trace a. The teacher checks.

Read the instruction and encourage the children to repeat it after you. What can you see? Repeat apple as a class. Point to the picture. The teacher checks. Chant a, a, a apple as a class. Can you find the letter a hidden in the picture? Point to it. Colour it red. The teacher checks. Can you find another a? What colour must you use? Repeat for the remaining letters hidden in the picture. Review the formation of a. Point to the first letter to be traced, the teacher checks. Read the instruction. Trace each letter. As each letter is traced, the teacher checks. c) Colour. followed by Trace the letter e.g. My First Book of Sounds Part 1 page 3. Review the a sound and picture poster. Distribute page 3 to the students. Ask the children to locate the letter a in the top right hand corner. The teacher checks. Chant a, a, a and ay, ay ay as a class. What number can you see underneath? Repeat one as a class. Review the formation of a. Trace a. The teacher and group leaders check.

Read the instruction and encourage the children to repeat it after you. What can you see? Repeat apricots as a class. Point to the picture. The teacher and group leaders check. Chant ay, ay, ay apricots as a class.

Ask the students to colour the apricots. The teacher checks.

Review the formation of a. Point to the first letter to be traced, the teacher and group leaders check. Read the instruction. Trace each letter. As each letter is traced, the teacher and group leaders check. d) Circle the pictures that begin withe.g. My First Book of Sounds Part 1 page 6. Review the a sound and picture poster. Distribute page 6 to the students. Ask the children to locate the letter a in the top right hand corner. The teacher and group leaders check. Chant a, a, a and ay, ay, ay as a class. What number can you see underneath? Repeat one as a class. Trace a. The teacher checks. Read the instruction and encourage the children to repeat it after you. Point to the first picture. The teacher and group leaders check. What can you see? Repeat apple as a class. Does apple begin with a? Do I circle it? Circle the apple. The teacher checks. Chant a, a, a apple as a class. Repeat for the remaining pictures. As each a picture is circled the teacher checks. e) Circle the correct sound e.g. My First Book of Sounds Part 1 page 42. Review the e, f & g sound & picture posters. Distribute page 42 to the students. Ask the children to locate the letter e in the top right hand corner. The teacher and group leaders check. Chant e, e, e as a class. What number can you see underneath? Repeat five as a class. Trace e. The teacher checks. Repeat for f & g.

Read the instruction and encourage the children to repeat it after you. Point to the first picture. The teacher and group leaders check. What can you see? Repeat giraffe as a class. What sound does giraffe begin with? Chant g, g, g (soft sound) giraffe as a class. Point to the letters underneath the picture. What sounds can you see? Chant c, c, c and g, g, g. What sound does giraffe begin with? Circle the g. The teacher checks. Repeat for the remaining pictures. f) Match the picture to the sound. followed by Trace the Letter e.g. My First Book of Sounds Part 1 page 78. Review the m sound & picture posters. Distribute page 78 to the students. Ask the children to locate the letter m in the top right hand corner. The teacher checks. Chant m, m, m as a class. What number can you see underneath? Repeat thirteen as a class. Trace m. The teacher checks. Read the instruction and encourage the children to repeat it after you. Point to the first picture. The teacher and group leaders check. What can you see? Repeat mug as a class. What sound does mug begin with? Chant m, m, m mug as a class. Find m and match the picture to the sound. The teacher checks. Repeat for the remaining picture. Review the formation of m. Point to the first letter to be traced, the teacher checks. Read the instruction. Trace each letter. As each letter is traced, the teacher checks. g) Write the correct sound e.g. My First Book of Sounds Part 2 page 76.

Review the e, f, g & h sound & picture posters. Distribute page 76 to the students. Ask the children to locate the first empty box in the top right hand corner. The teacher checks. What number can you see underneath? Repeat five as a class. What letter goes with the number 5? Chant e, e, e as a class. Write e. The teacher checks. Repeat for the letters associated with 6, 7 & 8. Read the instruction and encourage the children to repeat it after you. Point to the first picture. The teacher and group leaders check. What can you see? Repeat fan as a class. What sound does fan begin with? Chant f, f, f fan as a class. Point to the box underneath the picture. Write f. The teacher checks. Repeat for the remaining pictures.

4.1

How to word build three letter phonetic words. It is not necessary for student to learn the entire alphabet before learning how to read. Once they know a few sounds it is possible to start word building. e.g. dad Show the students the d, a, d sound cards individually. Arrange the cards together. Sound out the sequence of sounds i.e. d a d. 9

Repeat several times picking up the pace while sounding out. What word is this? dad.

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