In this Power Point we will be thinking about some of the instructional strategies that may be used for direct instruction in phonics. Some of the slides have audio, represented by the megaphone at the bottom of the slide. After the audio portion of each slide, pause the power point and give yourself time to read the slide.
You see a picture, or symbol, on this page. To a beginning reader it could be almost anything; train tracks, saw horses. . .
A beginning reader needs to know that these symbols represent certain letters, and the letters have a sound associated with them. Then the reader needs to be able to use the letter knowledge, in combination with the other letters to gain word meaning. It is only when the symbols are seen in the context of other letters, then decoded, that there is conceptual meaning. The task of learning to read is truly quite complex!
To help students master the task of phonics, we have to explicitly teach a few rules of our language. In the case of the consonants, children need to know the usual sounds that they make, with only the exceptions of the āCā rule and the āGā rule.
Vowel sounds need to be taught, with the usual ones first, ā¦both long and short. Only a few rules need to be taught, again with lots of teacher modeling and practice using books, games, and such.
Once students have mastered the consonants and vowels, word patterns such as the ones in this slide can be taught.