The Power of Orthographic Mapping to Build Fluency
Do you ever wonder why some students seem to pick up reading quickly while others spend countless hours still laboriously decoding words? Why is this? The magical answer for many is orthographic mapping.
Can I tell you one thing that I am so glad I’ve learned how to support? My students, for the most part, don’t sound out the same word over and over and over again. Oh, what a joy that is.
Not long ago, before I knew about this magical little thing called orthographic mapping, I would teach phonics group after phonics group and listen to students sound out (decode) words I knew they had seen and sounded out no less than 20 times. I was baffled. Why would they sound that word out AGAIN? That word was literally on the last page and the page before that and the book before this one.
I was confused and didn’t know how to help. I was sure that if they saw words enough times then surely they would stop sounding them out. Which that did eventually happen, but I was certain there must be a better way. This post will give you actionable tips to support students in the orthographic mapping of words at home or in the classroom.
What is orthographic mapping?
Orthographic mapping is the way we store words and their parts in our brain for future use in reading and spelling. We know phonics instruction is important because this teaches students to connect sound to print. Read more about the importance of phonics here. But just knowing sound to print connection doesn’t necessarily help students with reading fluency.
Reading development
Using orthographic mapping to learn and store words is a vital skill in becoming a fluent reader. Readers are fluent because they read with automaticity and have instant word recognition. Being able to instantly read words leads to fluent reading and better comprehension. Imagine laboriously sounding out word after word in a sentence. No doubt you would have a hard time truly comprehending the sentence because all of your effort is on decoding words. By combining phonics instruction with orthographic mapping, students are better able to recognize words and word patterns to read fluently. Therefore, teaching orthographic mapping is not only an important but crucial component for overall reading success.
How to use orthographic mapping?
While orthographic mapping is a must in learning to become a fluent reader, there are a few steps that need to be solidified first.
First steps
First, students need strong phonemic awareness, which is simply hearing sounds within words without any print attached to it. To learn more about phonemic awareness read this blog post here.
Next, students need strong phonics skills which simply put is connecting sound to print. Students first learn this through learning the letter sounds in the alphabet and then move onto blending sounds together to read words (decoding/blending).
Finally, students then learn how to orthographically map words, which we will discuss below. The truly important thing to remember, like with anything, is consistency is key. Orthographically mapping words once won’t ensure fluent reading, but consistently incorporating orthographic mapping into phonics instruction will promote reading fluency.
How to orthographically map words?
It’s important to note that when orthographically mapping words we are teaching students to break words into sounds. Students are not mapping each letter, but rather each sound. Keep in mind some sounds contain more than one letter. For example, the long i sound can be created using three letters of ‘igh’, but this is only one sound. Below are the steps with a visual for teaching orthographic mapping.
- First, state a word such as ‘dog’.
- Next, count out the number of sounds heard.
- Then, write one sound (which can be more than one letter) in each sound box.
- Finally, write the word in its entirety.
For example, the word ‘cat’ has 3 sounds and 3 letters and would be mapped as /c/ /a/ /t/. All of these letter sounds “play by the rules” meaning they say the sound we teach them to say.
However, the word ‘night’ also has 3 sounds but 5 letters and would be mapped as /n/ /igh/ /t/. This word technically “plays by the rules” too if we’ve taught students the phonics skills of ‘igh’ making the long i sound.
Let’s map a word that doesn’t “play by the rules”. The word ‘was’ has 3 sounds and 3 letters and maps as /w/ /a/ /s/. However, when I teach this word to students I will place a heart below the /a/ and /s/ because those letters make a different sound in this word. I use a heart since these sounds “don’t play by the rules” and therefore we have to remember by heart that they make a different sound.
See the images below for what each of these words looks like when mapped. If you want all phonics skills K-2 orthographic mapping practice worksheets check out this link. These are amazing practice pages and tie right into phonics skills students should be learning.
Adding sensory to support orthographic mapping
Using a multi-sensory approach to teaching is always beneficial to all students. Combining sensory items and orthographic mapping promotes engagement and increases learning. This can easily be done using magnet letters, sand, sensory bags, paint, play dough and much more.
In my classroom, we love to use fidget poppers to pop out words and map them. For example, on a fidget popper each sound will receive one pop on the fidget popper. one time for each sound. We also use a standard mapping mat (as seen above) and then use different objects to map words. If using play dough, make little play dough spheres and squish one sphere per sound heard. More simple objects to use could include unifix cubes, game marker counters, little rocks, etc.
Tips for teacher and parent support
Remember that orthographic mapping is yet another tool in your reading toolbox.
Daily Practice
Consistency over perfection is the key. Therefore, during each phonics lesson be sure to incorporate orthographic mapping. I actually use this daily in small guided reading groups. After introducing the new phonics skill or sound, students then map words with the new target sound. Students continue to do this daily to review and reinforce new skills.
Make it engaging
Orthographic mapping can be as boring or as engaging as you make it. In my own classroom, this is a preferred activity and one students always ask for. This is simply because I am always changing the objects we use to map words. Sometimes we use pop-it fidgets, other times we use play dough and on special occasions we use dot painters. Changing the sensory items used to map words keeps engagement high.
In closing, please remember it’s important to incorporate orthographic mapping into your phonics instruction and consistency is the key.
Are you looking for a reading system that takes out the constant disruptions during literacy time? Do you want a system that encourages students to support their peers, gives ample time to complete tasks and makes reading an exciting time? Well then a Must Do May Do system is your answer. Click here or the image below for a quick guidebook and template to transform your literacy time from constant disruptions to calm and engaged learning.
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