Why is teaching reading by phonics crucial to reading success?
The word ‘phonics’ has gotten a lot of hype lately and for good reason. But what is teaching reading by phonics and why is it crucial to reading success? Phonics simply put is when students correlate or match the sound to print. Initially, this is done by learning the sounds of each letter in the alphabet and attaching the correct written letter. Children learn to read through a systematic approach with direct instruction. Reading is never a guessing game.
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The importance of teaching reading at home with an emphasis on phonics
The English language has 26 letters but 44 sounds. Where do all of those extra 18 sounds come from? The answer is simple, but the teaching is more complex. The additional sounds come from a combination of 2 (or more) letter sounds. For example, two letter e’s (/ee/) together make the long e sound or make the e say its name.
Another example is the phonics skill of r-control vowels. When the letter r is placed after a vowel, the r controls the vowel and makes a new sound. Does this sound vaguely familiar but also from a time long ago in your learning journey? Not to worry. There is a proven system to teach phonics instruction at home that will be painless for you and enjoyable for your child.
But why is teaching reading by phonics so important in the first place? Not too long ago teachers were taught to use a cueing system with very little phonics (sound-to-print correlation) instruction. A cueing system asks the young reader to rely on looking at the picture to solve for unknown words. While using the picture as a guide when reading is essential, it is never appropriate to determine words based on an illustration alone. Thankfully we are moving away from the cueing system and putting the emphasis back on the well-deserved concept of phonics.
Learning all 44 sounds and the phonics rules associated with each sound in a systematic way that builds upon itself is what is best for children learning to read.
A guide to teaching phonics order
So what exactly is the order to teaching reading by phonics? Phonics should be taught in the following order:
Individual Letters
Students learn to connect each letter of the alphabet with the corresponding sound. Letters are introduced and taught in the order of the most frequently used letters in the alphabet. This means letters are not introduced alphabetically.
CVC (consonant vowel constant)
Consonant vowel consonant (cvc) words are comprised of a consonant, a short vowel sound, and another consonant. When introducing this be sure to use all 5 short vowel sounds and introduce one vowel at a time.
Examples: cat, kid, leg, fog, sun
Blends
Blends are words with two (or three) letter grouped at the beginning or end of a word that makes a quick sound. It is important to teach blends because this will help students become more fluent when decoding (sounding out words) and blending (putting sounds together to read a word).
There are three different types of blends that I teach. S-blends, L-blends and R-blends.
Examples of S-blends:
– stop (/st/ is the blend)
– smile (/sm/ is the blend)
– star (/st/ is the blend)
Examples of L-blends:
– blink (/bl/ is the blend)
– brush (/br/ is the blend)
– bless (/bl/ is the blend)
Examples of R-blends:
– crab (/cr/ is the blend)
– frog (/fr/ is the blend)
– truck (/tr/ is the blend)
Digraphs
Digraphs are two consonant letters that work together to make one new sound. The digraphs are ch, sh, th (voiced and unvoiced), wh and ng.
Examples: chop, ship, this (voiced th), bath (unvoiced th), ring, whale.
Final e
Some people call this silent e, bossy e, or final e. Placing an e at the end of a cvc word makes the vowel long or say it’s name. This can be a harder phonics skill for students to master as it requires them to notice an e at the end of a word and then go back to the beginning vowel and change the vowel to a long sound. Practice and repetition serve well for this phonics skill.
Examples of final e words:
– make (e makes the long a sound)
– time (e makes the long i sound)
– rope (e make the long o sound)
– cube (e makes the long u sound)
Vowel Teams
Two vowels work together to make the first vowel in the set say its name. The different vowel teams are as follows:
Long a → ai/ay
Long e → ee/ea
Long i → ie/ight
Long o → oe/oa
Long u → ui/ue
Examples:
– paint (ai is the vowel team making the long /a/ sound)
– beach (ea is the vowel team making the long /e/ sound)
– bright (igh is the vowel team making the long /i/ sound)
– boat (oa is the vowel team making the long /o/ sound)
– fruit (ui is the vowel team making the long /u/ sound)
R-Control Vowels
Placing the letter r after a short vowel will allow the r to control the vowel sound. There are 5 vowels but only 3 different r control sounds which are ar, or, ir/er/ur (all three make the same sound). I teach my students that /ar/ sounds like a pirate, /or/ gets to choose between this or that and ir/er/ur make the sound of the letter r.
Example:
– ar → chart, car, star
– or → for, born
– ir/er/ur → shirt, curl, her
Diphthongs
Two vowels combined create a diphthong. The sounds starts as the first vowel sound and then moves to the next sound quickly. Both sounds are heard. These are different than blends and digraphs because blends and digraphs are two consonants.
These are the diphthongs I teach my students:
– ou/ow
– oi/oy
– oo/ew
– au/aw
Examples:
– oink (oi is the diphthong)
– couch (ou is the diphthong)
– new (ew is the diphthong)
– auto (au is the diphthong)
Homeschool Reading Curriculum Kindergarten
A phonics-based reading curriculum should start in Kindergarten. For the first several months of a homeschool reading curriculum kindergarten students should primarily focus on phonemic awareness, saving the phonics instruction for when their phonemic awareness ability is strong. Learn more about the importance of and how to build phonemic awareness in this post. Next, students learn letter sounds and match those to the written letter. This is true phonics. However, letters shouldn’t be introduced in alphabetical order, but rather in the order of frequency used in the English language. Then, students put sounds together and blend them to read. By the end of kindergarten, students should have mastered decoding and blending cvc (consonant vowel constant) words and reading simple decodable books.
Having a really solid phonics foundation is the key to reading success. I always remind families that you teach slow to go fast later. Put the time in now and students will be fluent readers before you know it.
Teaching reading activities
When teaching reading by phonics, each day students should receive explicit phonics instruction. The more exposure students have to reading and phonics skills the better readers they become. However, reading should be more than just daily phonics instruction. Exposure to books and reading practice is the key.
Homeschool reading worksheets
One fabulous and fun way for students to use and apply their newly acquired skills is through reading worksheets. Worksheets can be fun and engaging and allow movement and out of seat time. I’ve created worksheets that practice new skills while also getting students up and moving. Click here to view fun, engaging and movement-based reading worksheets.
Remember that students should use pictures and illustrations to support their reading comprehension, but pictures should never be how a student solves for unknown word. With strong phonics instruction, a systematic approach to teaching, and daily practice, students will be on the right track to become joyful and fluent readers.
If you are wanting a more in-depth look at 5 steps to teach reading at home using phonics click the link before to sign up for my free guidebook.
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