Phonics and Word Study
English is an alphabetic language, and children crack this code as they learn about
phonemes (sounds), graphemes (letters), and graphophonemic (letter–sound) re-
lationships. They learn about phonemes as they notice rhyming words, segment
words into syllables and individual sounds, and invent silly words by playing with sounds,
much like Dr. Seuss did. They learn about letters as they sing the ABC song, name the
letters of the alphabet, and spell their own names. They learn graphophonemic rela-
tionships as they match letters and letter combinations to sounds, blend sounds to form
words, and decode and spell vowel patterns. By third grade, most children have figured
out the alphabetic code, and older students apply what they’ve learned to decode and
spell multisyllabic words. You may think of all of this as phonics, but children actually
develop three separate but related abilities about the alphabetic code:
◆ Phonemic Awareness. Children learn to notice and manipulate the sounds of oral
language. Those who are phonemically aware understand that spoken words are
made up of sounds, and they can segment and blend sounds in spoken words.
◆ Phonics. Children learn to convert letters into sounds and blend them to recog-
nize words. Those who can apply phonics concepts understand that there are pre-
dictable sound–symbol correspondences in English, and they can use decoding
strategies to figure out unfamiliar written words.
◆ Spelling. Children learn to segment spoken words into sounds and convert the
sounds into letters to spell words. Those who have learned to spell conventionally
understand English sound–symbol correspondences and spelling patterns, and they
can use spelling strategies to spell unfamiliar words.
(Tompkins, G., 2011, p. 96)
Everyone is going to find a credible website that lists specific rules and sequencing suggestions for effectively teaching phonics and spelling as well as an appropriate video. We will review these posts in class on Monday, September 29th.
My Article:
My Video:
