What Should My Phonics Instruction Look Like?
Have you ever felt like there are a TON of phonics patterns to teach in your literacy instruction?
That's because there are! Last week we talked about how we organize our scope and sequence by syllable types to help make our instruction more meaningful for students. If you haven't had a chance to read through that yet, you can find it >>here.<<
Once we have our scope & sequence outlined, we need to dive in and start teaching the patterns.
So…what does SOR-aligned phonics instruction look like?
Introducing a New Phonics Pattern
Within our syllable type units, we teach our phonogram patterns explicitly.
This means that we are telling our students what the letter/pattern is, what sound(s) it makes, and when we use it.
Let's try it -
ck says /k/ at the end of a one-syllable word following a short vowel sound.
ar says /ar/ like in car. Sometimes it can also say /r/ like in dollar.
ai says /A/ in the middle of a syllable.
To help solidify these phonics rules, we'll have students practice writing the pattern while saying the prompts from above. Adding multisensory components like tactile grids or glitter paper can help solidify these patterns.
Word Level Phonics Work
Once we've introduced the pattern at the sound level-
…we show students how that pattern shows up at the word level.
We start by having students find the patterns at the single-syllable word level. Highlighting the pattern supports orthography. Then, we tie in the sounds and practice decoding the words. Some students pick up on these patterns quickly and can decode with minimal instruction. However, many students are going to need more support and repetition here to be able to do this independently.
After they’ve decoded the words -
…it’s important to make sure they know what the words mean!
You can read more about our vocabulary instruction >>here.<< This is an important step because decoding alone is not enough to support students’ overall vocabulary and comprehension abilities.
Once we've worked through the single-syllable level, we will practice with multisyllable words as well.
It is important that students see how their phonics patterns transcend the different levels of the English language, working from the sound level, up through the word level, and then on to connected text.
Application and Review
After working on the word level -
it is important that students are able to apply their phonics skills at higher levels.
We will have students find and practice their new phonics pattern at the sentence level, paragraph level, and eventually passage levels.
We also want to make sure we review previously taught patterns.
In addition to teaching new phonics patterns, it is important that we circle back and review previously taught patterns. This could be as simple as having students read a word list and error-correcting anything they missed. Alternatively, you could play a game relating to those previously learned concepts. We like >>these reading war games<< because they are fast, allow us to see how students are doing with previously taught concepts, and students enjoy them. That's a win-win-win in our books!
But - how do you know what order to teach these phonics patterns?
There are a lot of phonics patterns to teach and there can be many patterns that make the same sounds. Learning these all at once can be overwhelming.
I mean, just /A/ could be an open syllable 'a,' a VCE word, ai, ay, ea, ei, eigh… there are so many options!
We are all about functional reading and writing. We pair explicit, rules-based instruction with a realistic, "how often are students actually going to need to know this?" thought process.
When we consider what order to teach these rules in, we think about the frequency in which students are going to use them.
If we hear a long /A/ in a word, it is made by…
AI 52% of the time
AY 33% of the time
EA 4% of the time
EIGH 5% of the time
EI 3% of the time
With these frequencies in mind, we usually want students to know AI and AY. They are going to be the most commonly used patterns. Eventually, we will teach ea, eigh, and ei when it makes sense. But - if we're being really honest here, we don't consider it the end of the world if we don't get to eigh or ei in our scope & sequence (and neither do our students or their parents!). We spend the majority of our time on patterns that are going to make the biggest impact.
We NEED explicit, systematic instruction - no doubt about that. We just prioritize teaching patterns that are going to be used in most of our words instead of worrying about all of the nitty-gritty details.
For more information about effective literacy instruction, check out our Comprehensive Rules Guide. This rules guide is designed to provide an overview of the concepts covered as part of a structured literacy progression. It’s a great reference tool that can be used as rules are being taught and learned as well as a tool to support the retention and organization of each of the concepts.
You can find our Comprehensive Rules Guide in our 5-Core Components of Literacy Activity Library (along with hundreds of SOR-aligned resources) or on Teachers Pay Teachers.