Phonics Racing Game!

I think games are one of the absolute best ways to teach and reinforce phonics skills. (aside from reading of course!) The following game can be adapted to any sort of phonics skill. I have been using it to reinforce long "i" vowel patterns.

I used the wonderful Words Their Way: Word Study for Phonics, Vocabulary, and Spelling Instruction to find a list of words to fit the various patterns for the "long i" vowel. I wrote these words on notecards and laminated them.

Then, I made several cars in a variety of colors. (They are racecars from Microsoft word!) These cars paperclip onto the race track and can be easily slid down the track.

The race track is made of three half pieces of black construction paper taped together. I added a yellow line to divide the track and make it look more realistic.

Then, I used a black marker to mark off spaces for the car to move along. Lastly, I laminated the entire track for durability.

To play the game, students draw one of the word cards. If students correctly read the word, they roll a dice. Then, they move the number of spaces rolled on the track. The first student to cross the finish line wins! 

This is by far one of my students' favorite phonics game. My third graders especially love it. Such a simple concept! 

Do you have any favorite phonics games?

Elkonin Boxes!

Stretching out sounds, tapping out words, sounding out words, whatever you call it, it is an important skill for beginning readers. Being able to segment words into sounds helps young readers identify new words in isolation and in text. One of my favorite activities to practice segmenting words is an old classic - elkonin boxes. Sometimes the old ways are the best!

To make these elkonin boxes, I printed the template onto a transparency. (Does anyone remember those?!) Then, I attached the transparency to dry erase boards. My dry erase boards are magnetic, so it worked out perfectly. I put one large magnetic on the board. I found these magnets, which are the perfect size for kindergarten hands!

Since we use Fundations, I use a large list of the Fundations words for tapping. I give students a few words a day. We practice moving the magnetic through the elkonin boxes as we isolate each individual phoneme. For my struggling readers, the visual and kinesthetic aspect of the magnets on the elkonin boxes really appeals to their learning styles.

If you would like a copy of the elkonin boxes template, click here.

How do you help your students segment words into phonemes?

Filling in the Phonics Gaps!

Sometimes explicit phonics instruction gets a bad rap. I think many companies have gone wayyyy overboard with their packaged explicit phonics programs. In my mind, phonics is simply a means to an end - reading with comprehension. While this is the ultimate goal, phonics can help us get to that point of successful reading.

After working with my Tier 3 third graders, I realized they had some major gaps in their understanding of phonics. These gaps included knowing when a vowel is short or long, r-controlled vowels, vowel digraphs, dipthongs, and consonant digraphs. I have been using a variety of instructional strategies to help fill these gaps.

First, I made an alphabet board. I got the idea from Fundations, but this is way cheaper. I made the letters out of notecards. I made the vowels different colors to help with visual recognition and patterns. Now that I have gotten more into vowel digraphs, I made a second set of vowels. Slowly I have been introducing new phonics patterns and cumulatively reviewing those already introduced. I simply make the word, and students identify the word.

Then, students have an opportunity to make the words on their own, using these "Make-a-Word" folders. You can read more about this activity and find materials in my previous post here.

In my opinion, Words Their Way is one of the greatest phonics resources around. You can choose to follow a structured program, or pick and choose the elements that you need - which is exactly what I have been doing. The book has resources organized by phonics patterns, including sorts and games. One of my favorite elements is the Sounds Board.

We use this sound board as a quick drill/review of the common phonics patterns. It is a nice little overview and includes great visuals with example words that demonstrate each particular phonics pattern.

My students also sort a variety of words. We have mastered the short vowels and are beginning to work on the long vowel patterns. We continue to review the short vowel patterns though. Without constant review and repetition, they will begin to forget the patterns they have already learned.

The key here is to develop your phonics instruction based upon the needs of your students. For example, my students understand blends. I do not need to spend a significant amount of time on these. Another key element is to also point out when these phonics patterns appear during our actual reading. Remember, the goal of phonics is reading! 

How do you help your students fill in those phonics gaps?

Make - A - Word Folders

My sweet little third graders are really struggling with their vowel sounds. I knew I had to do something to help them work on building words with short vowels. I wanted it to be really constructivist. I finally decided on these "Make-A-Word" folders. They are simple to make and very hands-on!

I started with a piece of cardstock. I wanted something really sturdy. If you would like a template for how to fold the paper, click on the image above. All you need to do is fold the paper into thirds. Then, fold up a small part from the bottom. Staple each of the bottom three sections so that the cards don't fall out. Each student needs one of these.

Then, make a copy of the letters for each student. The letters include two copies of each vowel because I plan on getting into vowel teams in the near future. It also includes one copy of each consonant. For a copy of the letters, click on the image above. (There are two pages, only one page is shown above.)

Then, have students practice making different words using the letters. Be careful not to choose words with double consonants, or make more than one copy of the consonant letters. 

Hopefully, these word-making activities really help my students!

How do you help your students learn phonics through hands-on activities?

Everything You Wanted to Know About Phonics...and Then Some!

This week I went to some very intensive phonics training. It was a lot of information to digest, but I think it will be very valuable for my instruction. I am going to share some of this wonderful information with all of you. I hope you find it as fascinating as I do!

I knew reading was a complicated process, but until this week, I don't think I fully understood how much actually goes into reading! I really liked this graphic hey shared at the training. It shows just how much goes into the process of reading. In order to read fluently, we need all of these isolated skills interacting smoothly, automatically, and quickly. All of these skills are intertwined with one another, much like the strands in fabric.

One thing I found extremely interesting was when the speaker explained how the human brain really hasn't been processing the skills necessary for reading all that long; when you consider it in comparison to the amount of time humans have been around. The caveman weren't exactly doing a lot of reading. I guess I never really thought of it like that!

The overall process of reading requires your brain to process orthographic, phonological, and semantic information. First we see the text and must make sense of the written symbols (orthographic), then we must translate those symbols into sound (phonological), and lastly we have to make sense of it in context. (semantic) Different parts of the brain are responsible for processing this information. As a result, students' reading can break down for a variety of reasons. We as teachers are responsible for finding where exactly this break down happens. 

As if all that was not complicated enough, we had to go and make a language with all kinds of different exceptions to rules and special situations. No wonder students struggle! One thing I didn't know was that the way our letters are pronounced sometimes makes combining them very difficult. For example, say "egg." You probably pronounced that short "e" more like a long "a." When you combine that "e" with the "g," your mouth just won't let you make that short "e" sound. Many of these situations exist and are called phonemic distortions. That is one reason you can't always tell kids to sound out their words. 

Maybe I am the only one, but I never realized before why students confuse short "i" and short "e" so much. Did you know the positions you make with your mouth to pronounce those sounds are almost identical? Also, I always thought students confused "g" and "j" so much just because those sounds were similar. Did you know when you say the letter name "g," you are actually making the "j" sound? Why would anyone think that was a good idea?! Who came up with that?! There are so many fascinating facts about our language that I could go on all day, but I will spare you!

How do you address the challenges of teaching phonics in your teaching?