Phonics and Fluency

1. Phonics and Fluency Paola Pilonieta, Ph.D.

2. What is phonics? The main focus of phonics instruction is to help beginning readers understand letter-sound correspondences and spelling patterns, and to help them learn how to apply this knowledge in their reading.

3. Sound It Out!

4. Sounding It Out • What are you really asking? snap

5. Sound It Out • Why doesn’t it always work? face ocean

6. What else can do I do when a child can’t figure out the word?

7. Prompting • Prompting is what the teacher says when a child can’t decode a word. • Start by offering the least support possible. • Move from general prompts to more specific prompts.

8. General Prompts • When the child notices the error: • Ask: What can you do to figure out that word? • When the child doesn’t notice the error: • Give the child a few seconds to notice. • Ask: Does that make sense?

9. Specific Prompts: Use when general prompts don’t work • Can you sound it out? • Are there parts of the word that you know? (chunking) • Can the pictures help you? • Point to the part of the word with which they are struggling, ask: • What letter is this? • What sound does that letter make?

11. Prompting vs. Telling Prompt when: Tell when: the word is too hard. the word is impossible to sound out (ex: ocean). • the word can be sounded out. • you have practiced similar words with the child. Offer 1-2 quick prompts. If the child still can’t figure it out, tell them the word and move on.

12. Let’s Try It! What prompts might you offer to students struggling with crater?

13. Example 1 Example 2

14. What are other ways I can teach phonics?

15. Word Families

16. Word Families • Words that have different beginning letters but the same ending Possible Word Families • ack, ain, ake, ale, all, ame, an, ank, ap, ash, at, ate, aw ay, eat, ell, est, ice, ick, ide, ight, ill, in, ine, ing, ink, ip, it, ock, oke, op, ore, ot, uck ,ug, ump, unk.

17. Tic Tac Toe • Create a tic tac toe board. • Each player chooses a different word family (ex: -at and –ig). • Player 1 writes a word from the –at family anywhere he chooses on the board. • Player 2 writes a word from the –ig family on any empty space he chooses on the board. • Play continues until someone has 3 words from their word family in a row.

19. Word Chains • Have learner look for words that belong in the same word family in a book or think of their own words. • Have the learner write the words on construction paper strips. • Tape or staple the ends of the strips into a circle, linking the circles with one another to form a chain.

20. Word Chain example with –ot family not dot Variations • use words with the same beginning sound (hat, head, help, home) • Use beginning/ending letters (Metal, almost, stone, nest, stare, reverse, seat hot got

21. Word Family Slides • Give learner a word family slide and Real vs. Nonsense Word worksheet. • The learner reads the first word created by the slide. • The learner determines whether the word is real or nonsense and writes it on the correct space on the worksheet.

23. Additional word family resources can be found at: Florida Center for Reading Research (FCRR) http://www.fcrr.org/Curriculum/pdf/GK-1/P_Final_Part3.pdf

24. Additional Phonics Activities

25. Words You Know Words you know is an activity that helps students see that you can use words you know to figure out words you don’t know! • Choose 3-4 words the student knows and identify the spelling patterns in those words. • Have the learner make a chart on their paper. Head the columns with the words you know and underline the spelling pattern. • Show the learner some words on an index card. Have them read the word and write it in the correct column. • Say some words. Have the learner decide where to write them on their paper.

26. Words you know: red green brown black Words to read: queen crown knack shed attack between coed touchdown Words to write: smack screen fled drown sled unseen downtown backpack

28. Word Building • Place the consonant cards face down in one stack and the vowel cards face down in another stack. • Give the learner a Real vs. Nonsense Word worksheet. • The learner selects 2 cards from the consonant stack, 1 from the vowel stack, and places the vowel card between the consonants. • The learner reads the word, determines if it is real or nonsense and writes it under the correct column.

30. Additional phonics resources can be found at: Florida Center for Reading Research (FCRR) http://www.fcrr.org/Curriculum/pdf/GK-1/P_Final_Part4.pdf AND http://www.fcrr.org/Curriculum/pdf/GK-1/P_Final_Part6.pdf

31. Fluency

32. What is fluency? • Fluency is the ability to read accurately, quickly, effortlessly, and with appropriate expression and meaning. • There are three components to fluency: • Accuracy • Expression • Speed

33. Timed Repeated Reading Ideal for students who read accurately, but slowly. Procedure – 1st reading • Choose a passage between 100-150 words that is not too hard for the learner. • Say to the learner, “Doing your best reading, please read aloud this passage to me with expression and at a good, even pace.” • Time the learner while he is reading. • While the learner is reading, keep track of how many errors he or she made. • Review their performance.

34. Timed Repeated Reading Procedure – Subsequent Readings • Set a reasonable goal for the next tutoring session. • You can expect the child to read 2-3 words more per minute • Practice reading the passage one more time that session. • Encourage the learner to practice reading the passage at least one time every day until you see him or her again. • At the next tutoring session time the learner while he or she reads the passage.

35. Readers Theatre • Ideal for students who need to improve their expression. • Students read a script (rather than memorize it). • Emphasis is placed on expression, not on props, costumes, or acting

36. Readers Theatre Procedures • Select a script • http://it.pinellas.k12.fl.us/Teachers3/gurianb/ReadersTheater.htm • Read the script with the student the first time (read all roles together). • Check that the student understood the plot. • Choose roles and read the script like a play. • Repeat as desired.

38. Questions? Contact me at pilonieta@uncc.edu