An introduction to phonics
Improve Literacy Newsletter
23 April 2008 -- Issue 4
In this issue:
1. All about phonics
2. Games and exercises you can try to help your child with phonics
3. Website resources for phonics
4. Readers' tips
Hi everyone!
In this month's newsletter we are going to look at 'phonics', and how it can help
your child's reading skills.
1. Using the "phonics approach" is one of the most effective ways to learn to
read.
This means identifying the sounds in a word first, and then learning how those sounds
are represented in letters.
So what exactly is "phonics"?
A good definition of phonics is "teaching reading by training beginners to associate
letters with their sound values" (http://wordnet.princeton.edu). Think of it this
way. We know that there are 26 letters in the alphabet. However, there are 44 sounds
that we use when we talk, and we join these sounds together to make words. Sometimes
we combine letters to make some of these sounds - for example, if we add together
the letters 's' and 'h' we get the sound (or 'phoneme') /sh/ as in 'shiny'.
What's more, some sounds can be spelt in more than one way. Think about the words
'jolly' and 'hedge', for instance. Both contain the 'j' sound, so we would say that
they both contain /j/ phonemes, spelt in different ways.
Phonics may sound complicated, but it's actually very simple - and it's a great
method for getting children used to letters, sounds and words.
2. Try a few of these phonics games and activities with your child:
a. Letter cards - Write individual letters of the alphabet on a few index cards
(about 4 or 5 will do to start with). Take turns with your child to make the sound
of the letter. After a while, and depending on how comfortable your child is with
the exercise, try combining some of the letters like 'c' and 'h', or 's' and 'h',
and making the /ch/ or /sh/ sounds.
b. Listen to your child's favourite songs with her, and then try to spot the different
sounds that make up the main words of the song. She will be far more receptive to
this if it's something she is enjoying. The Wiggles or Sesame Street are perfect
for this!
c. Eat phonic snacks - Treat your child with snacks that begin with different sounds.
For example, 'b' can be a banana, 'ch' can be chocolate, 'w' can be watermelon etc.
You can bet that the positive association of tasty food will help your child's learning.
d. Letter search - assign your child a letter or sound to find within a page of
one of his favourite books. Then ask him to circle the letter or sound in pencil
each time he sees it on the page. You might want to limit this to a maximum of 10
times on the page.
e. Make alliterative/assonant sentences - Have some fun with your child by making
up sentences where each main word begins with the same letter (e.g. Peter Piper
picked a piece of pickled pepper).
3. Some useful phonics resources
Here are a few useful resources for help with phonics. We've written a brief critique
of each one:
Jan Brett's Phonogram Flash Cards -
http://www.janbrett.com/phonograms/phonogram_fc_main.htm: Good (if a bit
old fashioned) resource for phonic flash cards - simply print out the cards and
cut them out with scissors.
Starfall's ABCs Online -
http://www.starfall.com/n/level-k/index/load.htm: A great interactive way
for younger children to get to know letters of the alphabet, and how they sound.
BBC Words and Pictures -
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/wordsandpictures/phonics/index.shtml: For slightly
older children, this site has a number of phonics-related activities and games that
are in line with the National Literacy Strategy Framework for Teaching in the UK.
Cookie Monster's Letter of the Day game -
http://pbskids.org/sesame/letter/lettergame.html: A fun way for young children
to get familiar with letters and sounds, with the help of one of the favourite Sesame
Street characters.
Keep sending in any tips that work for you, and we will try to show them in future
editions.
4. Readers' Tips
Judith from Bloemfontein, South Africa says: "When I'm out and about with my 4 year
old son Jake, he tries to read signposts and shop signs. If he is able to read out
what is on a shop sign correctly I treat him to something from the shop (within
reason of course!!)"
Darryn from Manchester, England, says: "When we take my son to the football, we
always buy a match program which he reads avidly from cover to cover at the stadium,
and afterwards back at home. He usually doesn't like reading much, but it's almost
impossible to get him to put it down! Sometimes we ask him to read it out loud,
which he just loves doing".
Keep sending in any tips that work for you, and we will try to show them in future
editions.