PHONICS TALK NEWSLETTER - Volume 3 - May 2002 - by Dolores G. Hiskes, DORBOOKS, Inc.

THE PERILS AND PITFALLS OF TEACHING PHONICS: Part One This is the first of a three-part series on the perils and pitfalls to watch out for when teaching explicit phonics. It's worth spending time on because it is of utmost importance to get it right! This issue will address phonemic awareness and teaching letter sounds. "Reading First", President Bush's initiative for educational reform, is now the law of the land. It has galvanized the educational community into contemplating various approaches of how to implement this mandate most effectively in order to achieve the best results possible using explicit phonics. However, it's not that simple. The definition of phonics is like that of beauty, and it means many different things to many different people. Therefore, results from teaching "phonics" can very widely. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ IN THIS ISSUE ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ - FEATURE ARTICLE: (1) Phonemic Awareness (2) Teaching Letter Sounds - NEW GAME - FREEBIE! - AWARDS AND HONORS - FUTURE TOPICS - DEWEY'S WEB PICK - SPECIAL THOUGHTS ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ (1) PHONEMIC AWARENESS ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ In recent years, scientific research has reaffirmed the importance of phonemic awareness in learning how to read. Phonemic awareness is the ability to hear sounds within a word when it is spoken. It is an auditory skill. Reading aloud to children, rhyming, singing, and other oral activities will help develop this skill. The terms "phonemic awareness" and "phonics" sometimes are confused and used interchangeably, but they are not the same thing. For example, the words "football, film," and "panic" sound exactly the same in Russian as they do in English. With phonemic awareness you would listen carefully to the sounds and syllables in each word and become familiar with each one: "foot-ball, film, pan-ic." However, these words look completely different on the printed page because Russian has different symbols for these letters. Therefore, if you tried to read these words in Russian you would not be able to distinguish one from the other unless you knew Russian. Being phonemically aware of the sounds in these words is of no help whatsoever in actually reading them on the printed page! Only by being able to read Russian letters and knowing the sounds they represent would you actually be able to read those words, and that is what phonics is. Phonics is both an auditory and visual skill, involving connecting these sounds with written letters. It is the clearest connecting link between our comprehension vocabularies and the printed page. Phonemic awareness is an auditory skill and involves hearing and distinguishing the sounds in a word when it is spoken. Phonemic awareness is an important precursor to phonics, but should never be confused with instruction in phonics! ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ (2) TEACHING LETTER SOUNDS ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Sometimes letters are taught together with all the different sounds that particular letter can make, at the same time. It's much more difficult for a child to learn them that way. When you enter a room full of people you don't know, do you remember their names better when you meet everyone at once, or when you are introduced to them one at a time? Letters and sounds should be introduced one at a time, in isolation. The short-vowel sounds are the most difficult to learn, but they are the foundation of the English language. Short-vowel sounds should be taught first, and it's easiest to learn them one at a time, in isolation. Ideally, pictures beginning with the sound should illustrate each letter introduced. In the beginning many children are unable to hear these sounds within a word, so it's best that these illustrations are only comprised of words beginning with this sound. Multiple pictures for these sounds more accurately reflect the subtle range of sounds comprising each letter--similar in effect to that of a 3-D hologram. Listening for the beginning sound of each word and seeing the printed letter on the page helps mesh the sound and picture of each letter. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ NEW GAME ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Dorbooks has a new card game called Double-It!. These two-word phrases are excellent practice for beginning readers who are able to read single words but need extra practice with connected reading. Double-It! helps bridge the gap between reading single words and reading whole sentences and stories. There are four different levels of games which can be played in two different ways: "Bag the Bugs" or "Secret Message." Excellent practice for those students needing this kind of assistance, and fun to play besides! Order information and pricing at www.dorbooks.com ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ FREEBIE! ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ We have added one game, and discontinued another! Double-It! is taking the place of The Long And The Short Of It, which is being retired. Everyone purchasing all seven Dorbooks products will now receive a free set of The Long And The Short Of It card game, for as long as they last. (The Long And The Short Of It was a spelling resource for adding suffixes to long and short vowel words. It was a set of 36 "train car" cards with words printed on one side and the spelling rule for adding suffixes to it on the other side.) ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ AWARDS AND HONORS ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ It must be true that good news comes in threes! Dorbooks has just been presented by The Old Schoolhouse Magazine with a beautiful Excellence In Education plaque for having the best phonics program. A real honor! Read more about it in their wonderful and humorous review at http://www.theoldhomeschoolhouse.com/excellence_awards.htm A short time later, we learned that the readers of Practical Homeschooling magazine voted on their favorite phonics program, and Phonics Pathways tied for first place! Another honor, and another beautiful certificate to frame... Last, Phonics Pathways recently had an outstanding review by Jim Cox of the Midwest Book Review! He calls it a "solid educational reference for all ages" aand an "extraordinary guide, highly recommended." See the "Reviewer's Bookwatch" section (Greenspan's Bookshelf) at http://www.execpc.com/~mbr/bookwatch/ We are dancing in the street! ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ FUTURE TOPICS ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ The next issue will consist of Part 2 of this three-part series. The feature articles will highlight a discussion of blending practice as well as a critique of invented spelling. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ DEWEY'S WEB PICK ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Our special site of choice this issue is http://www.welltrained mind.com. This website is based on Jessie Wise and Susan Wise Bauer's wonderful masterpiece, "The Well-Trained Mind: A Guide To Classical Education At Home." This site has it all! References, analysis, and commentaries on every conceivable subject by age and grade. They accept no advertising, so you can be certain that every product recommended is straight from their hearts and minds. Ostensibly for homeschoolers, the wealth and all-encompassing scope of information contained here is of great benefit to everyone: parents, teachers, tutors, and educators everywhere. Even grandparents! ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ SPECIAL THOUGHTS ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ There is so much turmoil in the world today, it can break your heart. But this gem of a proverb is something I just had to share: "The most important trip you may take in life is meeting people half way!" (I know, I know. It's easier said than done. But isn't that what we're always telling our kids to do?) ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ We hope you have enjoyed this issue of Phonics Talk! Please feel free to share it with a friend. © 2002-2003 Dolores G. Hiskes May only be reprinted with permission from the author