PHONICS FOR KIDS

Once upon a time when I decided I’d like to join the business world the only job I could get was that of a sales representative marketing educational products to primary schools in the state in which I lived.

A sales job!

At the time I didn’t think a sales job was all that great. But I needed the job.

How wrong I was. I loved it. I loved the freedom to drive around and visit lots of schools and meeting teachers I would never had met if I had stayed teaching in a school.

I saw that all schools have their own style for it depended on the interaction of the teachers, students and parents. Some schools were happy and some had unhappy staff.  A few were well resourced and others had little funds to spend on the resources I was selling.

I visited over 100 schools and made many contacts.

I also learned the principles of salesmanship. I saw how important the sales profession is.

One of the sales courses I attended introduced me to the KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid) Principle.

The lecturer was trying to tell the class that sales are lost when the prospect has no idea of the value of the product and how it could be of benefit. I have seen many children who feel this way about reading and writing. They don’t understand what is being taught.

I think the KISS Principle should be applied to phonics teaching and to the teaching of reading in general. Give beginning readers texts that challenge but don’t overwhelm.

I will never forget the morning I was talking to a consultant employed by the education department.

She knew I was a teacher so we had something in common.

“Have you heard the latest educational theory?” she asked.  Without waiting for my response she told me.  “Whole Language,” she laughed.

“What does that mean?” I enquired. “Speaking, Listening, Reading and Writing,” she replied.

“Oh!” I thought. “The wheel has been reinvented.”

I began a search for the books I learned to read from. I learned to read in 1950. I don’t remember it being all that hard and I really enjoyed working through a graded set of readers.

I found the six books that comprised the series and phonics for kids was part of each book.

Over three years I became a fluent reader reading a collection of family stories, traditional stories, poetry and phonics activities. I was surprised at the wealth of reading material contained in each graded reader (book).

Books not students were called readers in the 1950’s!

The phonics’ knowledge a beginning reader needs to know can be outlined in half a foolscap page.

I also remember many of the stories. I remember writing stories, using words in sentences and listening to stories read by teachers.  Whole language!

Although the publishing industry was not as prolific in the decade after the Second World War I also had access to books to supplement what I did at school.

My mother made sure I received lots of reading material.

Reading and writing are about language. Writing is using letters to encode the sounds in words and one aspect of reading is decoding the sounds into recognisable words. The simple thing to do is to systematically explain the letter sound relationships of English and introduce them in graded texts. I don’t mean artificial language but in well written material. Phonics for Kids does not need to be a big deal but it needs to be taught.

The absolute miracle is language. We use language to listen, speak, read and write.

We blend a number of sounds chosen from around 44 unique speech sounds into words.

These words are used in sentences which adhere to grammatical rules.

The people who speak a language agree what these sounds and words means.

As children grow their vocabulary knowledge hopefully develops. This needs to have input from written as well as spoken language.

Vocabulary, comprehension and thinking skills which are part of literacy development are higher order skills that hopefully develop throughout life.

Like any skill reading and writing take effort and commitment. They are complex skills.

Whenever I hear someone speak a language other than my own and I have no idea what they are talking about I am reminded about the miracle of language.

It is language that enables us to learn to read and write.

The computer age has opened up access to information. Computer software can enable students to work at their own pace. Phonics as part of reading can be learned through an online program called ClickN Read Phonics.

For more information click on the ClickN Read icon on this page.

Language skills are the basis for a child developing as a fluent reader. Children with parents and caregivers who read and talk to them have an enormous advantage.

Learning how to spell (encode) and read (decode) words are simple skills to learn when taught properly. Children who are taught these skills early will most likely develop into fluent readers.

This article is about phonetics and phonics.

Phonetics is the name given to the scientific study of how speech sounds of all languages are produced. It is complex, scientific study of language.

Phonics is a method of teaching people to decode and encode words by correlating sounds with alphabetic symbols.

Phonetics is much more detailed than phonics which simplifies language for reading and spelling.

Phonics for kids in the early stages of reading is a necessary skill for a child to master. Phonics for kids needs to be taught systematically. It is very easy to confuse beginning readers.

The important organs of speech are:

• the tongue
• the hard palate
• the lips
• the teeth
• the soft palate
• vocal cords of the larynx

The sounds made by the organs of speech are divided into 2 categories -

Consonants and Vowels

There are consonant and vowels sounds in English.

All words must contain at least 1 vowel sound.

Consonants

Consonant sounds are made with a complete or partial stoppage of breath or audible(heard) friction stoppage. Consonant sounds are made using the lips , teeth and teeth ridge, front palatal and back palatal (palate)

The sounds are described as:

plosive- the air flow is first stopped by lips, teeth or palate and quickly released.

fricative- Sound made by breath in a small opening

nasal - soft palate is lowered allowing the breath to enter the nasal cavity.

lateral - produced by raising the tip of the tongue against the roof of the mouth.

rolled -  teeth and teeth ridge used for tongue to block air. the air  flows past one or both sides of the tongue.

glides or semi-vowels - the tongue is close enough to the top of the mouth and produces a slight turbulance.

The above are very broad distinctions but show how complex language is.

English Consonant Sounds are:  Digraphs are two letters that spell one sound.

/b/ bat    /c/ cat   /d/ dog   /f/ fog   /g/ got    /h/ hat    /j/ jump  /k/ kid    /l/ lid

/m/ man    /n/ not

/p/ pan     /r/ rat     /s/ sun     /t/ top     /v/ van     /w/ win     /z/ zip    /ng/ bring 

/sh/ shop     /th/ thin

/th/ then    /ks/(x) fix     /ch/ chip     /kw/(q) quit

 An interesting and enlightening activity is to make each consonant sound and notice how you make each sound.

Two  examples:

How the sounds /f/ and /r/ are made

/f/ – is pronounced by contact between the upper teeth and lip.

/r/ – is pronounced with the blade of the tongue against the ridge above the teeth.

Vowel Sounds

A vowel sound is one where there is no stoppage of breath or no audible friction blocking it on exhaling.

The English Vowel Sounds are shown on a table at the end of this article. 

Most English vowel sounds have multiple spellings. This makes English spelling less than straight forward. 

 Vowels differ from one another by the position the tongue takes when each one is produced. The tongue is either thrust forward or backward in the mouth. A vowel sound is ‘closed’ or ‘open’ depending on the arching of the tongue when it is spoken.

A dipthong is a double vowel sound. It happens when a speaker starts to pronounce 1 vowel and then proceeds immediately in the direction of another.

The chief dipthongs in English can be seen in the following words.

time    tame    boy    boil    now    house    yawn    know    here    air  

Listen to the sounds as you say them. The spelling sometimes contradicts. 

The lips are rounded in various positions when vowel sounds are spoken. 

Summary:

The term phonetics is used for the scientific representation of speech sounds by means of written symbols. There is a phonetic alphabet and to the lay person it can seem very complicated. Phonetic spelling is much more complicated than everyday spelling.

A way to ensure your child gets systematic phonics training is to look for programs that can be studIed at home. This will supplement the work done at school.

ClickN Kids Phonics is an online phonics program. It contains a three year phonics course. It is scientifically based and produced by a language professor.The lessons build upon one another and a child can work through each lesson at their own pace. The program has graphics that children relate to but the emphais is on serious learning. Children sense this. All work done can be reviewed and practiced until mastery.  

For more information click on the ClickN Read icon on this page. Some excellent testimonials are also published.

Phonics for Kids is a great way to ensure a child will become a fluent reader and speller.

The English Vowel Sounds

Is Your Child Ready to Start Reading & Spelling?
  
All children are alike in that they all want to become readers and spellers, eager to open that important door to independent learning. Children are different when it comes to the when, why, how, and what works best when it comes to reading and spelling. By understanding and knowing how to work with these differences, parents can prepare the proper and most direct road to reading and spelling proficiency and ensure that your child has a lifelong enjoyment of the skills.

Is It Time?

Your six month-old baby didn’t show any signs of possessing the preliminary skills necessary to put on their shoes, so you didn’t waste time and energy trying to teach them how. Instead, you patiently helped them gain the coordination and waited until they had a good chance to succeed before showing them how to do this themselves, right?

Well, the same principle applies when determining if your child is ready to start learning to read and spell. The age at which a child is ready to read and spell can vary dramatically. Children can start from the age of three years old on up to eleven years old and beyond, but generally reading and spelling occurs between the age of four and ten years old.

The age of readiness or desire to read and spell can be easily determined by paying attention to the clues that children freely provide. Here are some signs of reading and spelling readiness:

1. Your child pretends to read

1. Your child maintains phonemic awareness or knows the sounds that letters make.

1. You notice your child takes interest in the environments written words on street signs, cereal boxes, TV, magazines, flyers, books, etc.

1. Your child looks at pictures and tells a story or repeats a known story in her own words

1. If your child can add the missing word to an incomplete sentence presented orally

1. If they can define or give the meaning of simple words

1. If they use left to-right progression

1. If they can pronounce their own first and last names

1. If they can print their name  

Why Would a Child Want to Read and Spell?

As an adult, you most likely would not spend hours trying to learn something that you have no interest in simply because someone told you that you “have to” learn it, right? Children are no different. This is why it is very important that we help children find reasons why they should learn to read and spell.

Most children will quickly learn how to read and spell once they find a good reason to do so. Maybe your child desires to hear more stories than you could possibly find time to read to them. Or maybe they want to learn how to play a game, or use the computer. What ever it is, helping your child find reasons to read and spell is just as important as the reading and spelling itself.

Be sure to provide daily examples of the many motivations to begin reading and spelling. Talk with your child about why its important and explain to them the opportunities that await them when they can read and spell. Give them examples:

• To understand how to play a new game (learning how-to)
• To learn more about the ocean (a way to get information and news)
• To write a letter to Grandma (personal communication)
• To be able to read great stories (enjoyment)

How Can You Help Them to Read and Spell?

It has long been debated which approach is best to use when teaching a child to read and spell. Some educator’s stand strongly by the Phonics approach and others use the language approach. This “Battle” can be put to rest with the results of two decades of research on the “Best Way to Learn How to Read”, funded by the National Institute of Health.

Researchers at the National Institute of Health discovered that there are three important aspects of reading.

• Part 1: Phonemic awareness, or learning the individual sounds that constitute a language, for example, “buh” as the sound of “b”

• Part 2: Phonics, or the letter-sound relationships available in the language

• Part 3: Exposure to the meaning of the written word by reading to the child as well as having the child begin to read independently

All three of these parts are very important building blocks when teaching a child to read and spell as each piece is necessary to support the next. With phonemic awareness as the first building block (Part 1), a child can begin to piece together words in books. Add a helpful person by their side and they will begin to ask questions, which lets you know that they are at the “phonics phase” (Part 1). Now is the time to point out important clues, such as how letter sounds blend, how an “e” at the end of a word changes a vowel sound from short to long, or how some consonants have more than one sound. You can also show them upper and lower case letters. It is also important at this time to show them the eighteen frequently used words best learned by sight. Remember, through it all keep reading to your child to include exposure to meaning, the equally important (Part 3).

Here Are Some Helpful Tips To Get Your Child Interested in Reading and Spelling:

1. Read aloud to your child from books, but also mail, instruction booklets, grocery lists, etc. (and don’t stop even when your child can read independently!)

1. Take turns “drawing” a letter on each other’s back with your fingers; guess what it is, tell them what sound it makes

1. Encourage hands-on play with magnetic letters and sponge letters in bath; sound out the nonsense words your child creates with them

1. Show them how fun it is to trace letters with crayons or colored pencils

1. Cut out letters from different types of paper; make some “ABC” craft projects

1. Play word games like Hangman, Junior Scrabble, Boggle, ABC Bingo, word searches, or make up you own game asking them: “What begins with ‘buh?” or “What ends with ‘guh?”

1. Write a single letter on some Post-It notes and make it into a game having your child stick them on everything beginning with that letter

1. Pick a “sight word of the day,” then have your child call it out every time you find it in a story

1. Leave fun engaging looking books around the house and car for your child to find and pick up

1. Provide a quiet period when you both get you favorite book and go off to read alone

1. Get cozy! Or make it an adventure for them. Read to them at night under a blanket with a flashlight, or read them a adventure story outside in a play tent.

      
What Are Some Great Products To Get Started With?

Maintaining interest and encouraging practice is very important, as your child needs plenty of opportunity to read whatever captures their attention, be it comic books, Dr. Seuss, or the newspaper’s sports page. Get your child their very own library card and visit the library weekly, allowing them to choose their own books, supplemented by others you pick out. Order a kids magazine subscription or get them a reading game. Make sure whatever they are reading is at the appropriate reading level to ensure success and reduce frustration. Continue to read aloud to them, reading more difficult things as this will help to progressively stretch their vocabulary.

Sustained practice allows your child to hone their reading skills, and your interest in what they independently read provides encouragement. Ask them about what’s happening in the story or ask them to tell you about their favorite part in the story. Not only will this allow you to gauge comprehension and answer questions that they may have, it gives the child confidence knowing that you are interested and excited about their newfound skill.

Two truly amazing programs that we have found that incorporate all aspects necessary to get your child reading and spelling are ClickN READ Phonics and ClickN SPELL. These online beginning reading and spelling programs are designed for children as young as 4 years old. ClickN READ Phonics teaches the complete K-3rd grade phonics curriculum taught at USA public schools and ClickN SPELL teaches 800 of the most commonly used words in the English language. They are great for children who are learning to read and spell for the first time, those who are struggling with reading as well as children with learning disabilities.

These programs actually simulate live classroom instruction. The onscreen cartoon instructor speaks to the child exactly like an expert teacher would in a classroom setting. The lessons are taught in colorful interactive space themed classrooms lovable fun cartoon characters, which keep the kids entertained as they learn, making learning to read and spell so much fun that they think it’s a game.

This program is also extremely easy to use, so easy that children can use the program all by themselves. This helps build your child’s confidence through self-achievement. It is also easy for us parents as everything needed is built into the program and it is the only product you will need to teach your kids to read and spell. The program is used online just like viewing standard web pages your child can use it at home, at Grandma’s, at the office or while on vacation. There is no software to install and no waiting for shipping. You just complete your purchase and immediately begin using the products.

The results are proven and the testimonies are so incredible that the company offers a 60-day guaranteed refund if you’re not satisfied with the results simply get your money back!

Here’s just one more incentive: Save 5% off With Coupon Code: CNK Click on the ClickN Kids icon on this Blog and learn how lots of people feelm about this program.

Phonics (the relationship between letters and sounds) is the key to unlocking the over 500,000 words in the English Language. 

Modern scientific reading research overwhelmingly proves the superiority of systematic phonics instruction for beginning readers and for the first three or so years of formal schooling. However this does not work if done in isolation.

There are many strategies used when teaching young children to read and write and phonics is only one of them.

Thirty five years teaching experience has taught me that people who struggle with reading and writing were not taught how the English Alphabetical Writing System works. They were left to work out the system when learning to read – and didn’t.

I cannot stress the importance of teaching phonics in the early years of school so children can learn to read fluently.

If decoding skills are not mastered in the beginning emotional factors often inhibit later learning.

Whole word and phonics instruction if not done carefully and systematically causes confusion and may be the reason for dyslexia in many students.

I have tutored several students who were having difficulty reading because they had memorized too many words by sight. They experienced a lot of discomfit when phonics was introduced.

Going back to reading simple, easily decodable texts often helped poor readers gain confidence and belief that they could learn to read.

Many teachers are not taught all the phonics principles and rules needed to teach students to read.

I certainly wasn’t. It took me a long time to figure it out.

I am not trained in phonetics. This is a different area.

Teaching a student to read with phonics is simple if you are taught all the rules. Trying to teach reading without the knowledge of these rules is like teaching basic mathematics without knowing the rules for borrowing and carrying.

No matter how we look at it effort is needed to learn to read.

It involves practice. Learning to read is a challenge for over 40 percent of children.

This doesn’t mean they cannot be taught.

Fortunately teaching methods today are being continually reviewed.

IT IS NEVER TO LATE TO LEARN TO READ

If you would like to see an outline of the letter sound relationships I have written an ebook explaining this.

If you are interested to learn more please go to www.superlearner.com.au

The beginning phonics knowledge ( letter sound relationships) a reader needs to know is summarized in the table below.

I really don’t know what all the fuss is about. Teaching a child to read involves

commonsense. Of course reading is a complex skill but it does have foundation skills.

The controversy about using phonics one of the foundation skills reminds me of the saying:  “Too many cooks spoil the broth.”

           The 44 Sounds in the English Language

Vowel sounds are speech sounds made when the mouth is open and the tip of the tongue is not touching the top of the mouth, the teeth or the lips.

Consonant sounds are speech sounds made when the breath is at least partly obstructed by either tongue or teeth.

A digraph is a combination of two letters that represent one speech sound.

A diphthong is a sound formed by the combination of two vowels in a single syllable.

Yes! Phonics knowledge can be summarized on the back of an envelope!

An article in the ‘Age’ newspaper (Melbourne, Australia) on the seventeenth of November 2009 reports on the latest brain research of renowned French brain expert Professor Stanislas Dehaene.

The book, “Reading in the Brain” makes the following points:

• The complexity and irregular spelling of English results in significant delays in learning to read.
• Learning to read English requires more cortical space in the brain.
• Brain imaging has shown that once the eyes land on a printed word, a specific point of the brain lights up. Called the occipito temporal area at the back of the left hemisphere.
• The occipito temporal area of the brain does not function well in people with reading difficulties such as dyslexia. Apparently this area of the brain has evolved for reading. In evolutionary terms reading is a recently acquired skill for humans.

Professor Dehaene says that the theory that the brain learns to read by whole-word recognition is wrong. The brain gives the illusion that it does this but in actual fact it is processing all letters at once. The retina of the eye decomposes the word into little pieces, then the brain puts the word together again like a gigantic jigsaw puzzle.

This process happens in a fifth of a second which is why it seems like a one step process.

The article:

It’s offishal-English iz darned hard to lurn

Bridie Smith – SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY REPORTER

Published in the “Age” newspaper, Melbourne, Australia

17.11.09

Phonics which is the knowledge of letter sound relationships is a vital part of learning to read. if you would like to find out about my book;

“Help Your Child to Read and Write Better: Step-by-Step” please visit

www.superlearner.com.au