What Is Phonics?

          Phonics refers to the relationship between letters and sounds in a language. For instance, in the English language, the letter "d" makes the /d/ sound in the word "dog."
          According to the U.S. government-sponsored National Reading Panel report, direct, explicit, systematic instruction is best for teaching children how to read; in other words, instruction should directly explain phonics concepts in a logical, systematic order. The authors indicated that phonics instruction is especially beneficial for kindergarten students, first grade students, and struggling readers in grades 2-6. Concepts should be applied to both reading and writing.

          Note that Phonemic awareness skills go hand-in-hand with early phonics instruction. This term refers to the ability to work with and manipulate sounds. I've outlined simple strategies for teaching phonemic awareness in Part 1 of this blog. Other key aspects of reading instruction include more advanced phonics instruction, along with learning sight words, building fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. I will focus on these skills in later posts.

       Songs are a fun, effective way to introduce lessons--and to both introduce and reinforce skills. The simple chant below can be used as a daily reinforcement of letters and sounds. Feel free to use the pattern with any ABC chart. Tell children to learn something new every time they sing, and ask what they noticed. One may say, "h" says /h/. Another may notice that "apple" has two p's and an 'le' ending. Daily "ah ha's" will help to build knowledge for all children.

           The most important part of this chant is knowing the most common sounds of these letters. An additional daily 30-second chant is helpful for reinforcing these sounds.

           When creating my ABC chart and phonics songs, I chose simple, memorable, concrete visuals. Whether or not you use my chart, I recommend using one chart consistently so that children make strong associations between each letter sound and an example. In addition, try giving children choices when chanting. They may choose to chant backwards, or to read vertically down the ABC chart instead of across. In this way, they will have more fun and think about letters and sounds in a new order rather than just memorizing one version.

            While songs are great for giving students a "big picture" in a fun, motivational, nonthreatening way, research indicates that children also need targeted instruction that focuses on specific skills for specific lessons.

            Use a simple assessment to find out what students know, and what they need to learn.

           In these examples from Early Phonics, children are asked to name letters and make their sounds. Next, they are asked to read simple words. (Note the complete pre-test in this program also includes sight words as well as more advanced.)
           Once you understand your children's needs, start with a small set of letters, to create a small set of words, so that children can begin to read simple books.

           This is an example of page 1 "Jen the Hen" from my Early Phonics program. To read this page, children need a limited number of skills. They need to know the most common sounds of p, a, t, c, r, j, e, and n. They also need to know the sight word "the." In addition, they need to use their phonemic awareness skills to blend sounds together to make words. For instance, /h/ /a/ /t/ can be blended to make the word "hat."

The Short Vowels

           The short vowels are "a" in "apple," "e" in "egg," "i" in "inchworm," "o" in "octopus," and "u" in "umbrella. Many children have difficulties in differentiating the sounds. Break down instruction to introduce one short vowel at a time. Many phonics readers will do this for you. For instance, Early Phonics starts with two "short a" readers, followed by two "short e" readers, and so on, with a total of ten books and ten weeks of related lessons.

The Reading-Writing Connection

           When children sound out words, they may say, "/b/, /a/, /t/, bat," in order to read. This is similar to the phonemic awareness skill of blending. When the write, they use the opposite skill, which is like segmenting: They start with the word "bat," and have to break it down into parts: "/b/, /a/, /t/." Ask them to make the sounds and look at the ABC chart for help when writing.

When Should You Correct Children's Writing?

           When children write based on the phonics knowledge that they know ("phonetically"), they are learning important skills even if they do not spell all words correctly. Writing is really about getting our thoughts out--so encourage children to write down all their wonderful ideas, even if they don't know all spellings. I recommend asking children if they want you to help with corrections. I always look at my children's faces as I correct papers. If they are open to corrections, they will learn from them. If they are not open to seeing corrections, they may start to dislike writing. Ask children to make 2-5 corrections themselves if they are open to this. Be sure to celebrate their writing to encourage future greatness!

How Does All This Relate to the Story of EduTunes?

            I started teaching in 1997, just before the draft of California's state standards was introduced. In my education program, I didn't learn about phonics--I had no idea what it was! Instead, I learned to use a technique called "whole language." Rather than learning tiny parts of the language (e.g., the sound of "b") and using this knowledge to read whole words, "whole language" started with whole books incorporated into interesting units of study. The idea was that if children were given interesting topics and great books, they would be motivated and therefore learn to read.
            That first year, I worked in my classroom from 6:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. daily, on weekends, and at home, to come up with interesting activities accompanied by great sets of books. I remembered people asking me if my students were "on grade level" and thinking that I didn't have anything that explained exactly what that meant. I remember when my dad asked if my kids learned to read at the end of that year, and a tear fell from my eye.
            The next year, my aid showed me some old phonics readers. I started finding patterns in the language with my students and creating songs based on those patterns. I was so excited! They were learning at an exponential rate compared to my first year students. (Sorry, first year class! I really, really tried!) At the same time, California introduced a draft of the phonics-based state standards. I was so relieved to know what "grade-level" meant, and I wrote songs to teach each concept. The improvement was incredible, and other teachers wanted to see what I was doing. Other teachers encouraged me to produce the songs professionally, and my very supportive principle recommended piloting the songs with teachers in my district. So...That's how I got started!

How Can EduTunes Teach Beginning Phonics?

          Several of my materials include songs and activities that teach beginning phonics skills:

          This is a breakdown of Early Phonics and Phonics Time songs that teach the specific phonics skills discussed in this blog post. Note that some "blur the line" between phonemic awareness and phonics instruction, so I have included examples on both posts. (The best phonemic awareness instruction is close to phonics instruction--which is why I have "blurred" that line.)

• Letter Sounds
  • Early Phonics: "ABC Practice," "ABC Fun," "Letter Sounds," "Letter Quiz," and "Sound Quiz"
  • Phonics Time:  "ABC Fun," "Letter Sounds" (These are also on Early Phonics)
• Studying Short Vowel Words
  • Early Phonics: "I Know Words: Beginning Sounds," "I Know Words: Ending Sounds," "Let's Blend Sounds," "Break Down the Sounds," "Change the Sounds," "If You Can Read"
  • Phonics Time:  "I Know Words: Short Vowel Sounds," "Short Vowels, Short Vowels, Short Vowels"
• Studying Basic Concepts Like Phonemic Awareness and Short Vowel Words While Introducing More Advanced Concepts
  • Phonics Time:  "All Rhymes End With the Same Sound," "Build a Word," "Break It Down," "I Know Vowels"

3. My "Alphabet Letters and Sounds" 200-page packet goes well with both Early Phonics and Phonics Time. Please head HERE for the packet (recommended if you also get Phonics Time), or HERE for the video-packet bundled set (recommended if you do not have Phonics Time).

4. Deanna Jump and I developed songs, phonemic awareness activities, and phonics activities that are great for guided reading as well as whole-class lessons. Please head HERE to learn more.

5. Deedee Wills and I worked together to record nursery rhymes, thematic poems, and poems that teach academic content. Deedee added great phonemic awareness and phonics activities. Please head HERE for a nursery rhyme set; head HERE for the basic pre-K/kindergarten "Poetry 1" set; and head HERE for the more advanced first grade-level "Poetry 2" set.

Please "stay tuned" for future blog posts on more elements of reading success. Thanks!

"Miss Jenny"
          
References


The Annie E. Casey Foundation (2013). Early warning confirmed: A research update on third grade reading. Baltimore, Maryland: Fiester, L. Retrieved from http://www.aecf.org/resources/early-warning-confirmed/

Ingraham, C. (2017). "The 'i before e, except after c' rule is a giant lie." The Washington Post. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/06/28/the-i-before-e-except-after-c-rule-is-a-giant-lie/?utm_term=.5ac242f3fdc1

National Reading Panel (2000). Teaching children to read: An evidence-based assessment of scientific research literature on reading and its implications for reading instruction. Retrieved from
www.nichd.nih.gov/publications/pubs/nrp/documents/report.pdf

*** A major resource for my phonics programs was "Words Their Way." Please click on the affiliate link below if you are interested in this excellent program:

Elements of Reading Success
 
           Whether you are a teacher or parent, understanding the elements of reading success is crucial to supporting your children. Studies indicate that if students don’t read proficiently by the end of third grade, they statistically are more likely to experience continued academic difficulties, may not graduate on time from high school, and are more likely to have economic hardships later in life (Annie E. Casey Foundation, 2013).
           A major source for this blog post is the landmark U.S. National Reading Panel report. The authors conducted a meta-analysis on best practices in teaching and learning how to read. Their findings became the basis for state standards, the Common Core State Standards, AND EduTunes music.  According to the report, there are several necessary components for reading success: Phonemic awareness, phonics, knowledge of sight words, reading fluency, and comprehension. This blog series is designed to educate teachers and parents on fundamentals of these elements, and to show how EduTunes music can help meet children's needs.

What Is Phonemic Awareness?
 
            “Phonemic awareness” refers to the awareness of “phonemes,” or the smallest units that make up a language. In English, there are 41 phonemes. Examples are the sound of “b” and the sound of the letters “sh.” The word “mat” has 3 phonemes, /m/, short a, and /t/. The word “sheep” also has three phonemes, /sh/, long e, and /p/.
 
Who Benefits From Phonemic Awareness Instruction?

            The National Reading Panel report found that phonemic awareness is beneficial for all developing readers—and is particularly important for children who are beginning readers at risk for failure. They found that 25-minute lessons benefited many types of learners: Normally developing readers, those at risk for future reading problems, disabled readers, preschoolers, kindergartners, first graders, children in 2nd through 6th grade who were disabled readers, and English language learners.
 
How Can I Teach Phonemic Awareness?

            Children who have good phonemic awareness can manipulate sounds in words. Try these ideas. Incorporate 1-2 activities per lesson:

• Phoneme Isolation: Ask children to isolate phonemes. For example, when given the word “sat,” ask for the beginning sound (/s/).
• Phoneme Identity: Ask children to name the sound that is the same in several words. For instance, “bat,” “ball,” and “band” all have the /b/ sound.
• Blending: Give children individual sounds, and ask them to “blend” the sounds together to make a word. For instance, if you say “/sh/ /e/ /l/” as separated sounds, children should learn to say “shell.”
• Segmenting: Segmenting is the opposite of blending. While blending supports the reading process, segmenting is the precursor for writing. Ask students to break down sounds in words. For instance, if you say “cat,” they should say "/c/ /a/ /t/."
• Phoneme Manipulation: Ask children to change sounds in words. For instance, ask them to change the beginning sound in “cat” to /m/. When they say, “mat,” ask them to change the ending sound to “n.” When they say “man,” ask them to change the middle sound to “short e.” They should learn to say “men.” You can also ask children to remove a sound and name the word. For instance, if you remove the /s/ sound from “stop,” you get “top.” Start by teaching these types of phoneme manipulation individually, and combine them as children improve.

 
Can I Include Letters When I Teach Phonemic Awareness?

            One common misconception is that phonemic awareness is best taught orally, and children should not look at letters as they complete activities. According to the National Reading Panel report,
 
“Teachers should recognize that acquiring phonemic awareness is a means rather than an end. Phonemic awareness is not acquired for its own sake but rather for its value in helping learners understand and use the alphabetic system to read and write. This is why it is important to include letters when teaching children to manipulate phonemes and why it is important to teach children explicitly how to apply phonemic awareness skills in reading and writing tasks (p. 2-43).
           
How Does All This Relate to the Story of EduTunes?

            I wrote many of my phonemic awareness and phonics songs when I taught near the border of California and Mexico, I had a lot of students who struggled in learning English, and in reading. I still remember a little girl named Darlene, who could not speak any English when she entered my class. I always watched her facial expressions to guage her happiness or frustration levels as I attempted to help her. She used to light up when she would sing. She would happily make the letters and sounds—and at first, most of them were wrong! I used to whisper, “Darlene,” and point to my mouth. As she watched me mouth the letters and sounds, she began to form the sounds of English correctly. The songs were fun and relaxing for Darlene as an English language learner. I taught her in both first and second grade--and she was a proficient speaker and writer by the end of our two years together.
            These materials have helped every single one of my early learning students. I hope they can make a difference for yours!

How Can EduTunes Help to Teach Phonemic Awareness?

            Several of my materials include songs and activities that teach phonemic awareness:

1. I created my Early Phonics program to help kindergarten and other emergent students. The phonemic awareness songs in this program focus on the simplest short vowel words like “cat,” “met,” “sit,” “hot,” and “nut.” This program also includes 10 phonics mini-books and 10 weeks of lessons that incorporate phonemic awareness, phonics, sight words, comprehension, and fluency activities. Currently, Early Phonics is available as a music-book set. Click HERE for the complete music-book set. To hear samples of all 50 musical tracks, click HERE. (Note that ONLY the first link to Teachers Pay Teachers includes the book.)

2.  I created Phonics Time for my first grade class that included a wide range of students--from those who needed phonemic awareness (including emergent readers, English language learners, and special education students), to more advanced readers. I then piloted this program with 80 teachers in South Bay Union School District, in San Diego, CA, to make it truly user-friendly and useful as a teaching tool. Phonemic awareness songs on this program introduce early learners to basic sounds in the language. More advanced learners benefit from discussing more advanced spellings included in the songs. Phonics Time is available as a video-music-book set. While songs may be advanced for early learners, videos make harder concepts more fun and comprehensible. Please click HERE for more information. You can hear samples of all songs HERE. (Again, ONLY the first link to Teachers Pay Teachers includes the book.)

This is a breakdown of songs that teach the specific phonemic awareness skills discussed in this blog post:

• Phoneme Isolation
  • Early Phonics: "ABC Practice," "ABC Fun," "Letter Sounds," "Letter Quiz," and "Sound Quiz"
  • Phonics Time:  "ABC Fun," "Letter Sounds" (These are also on Early Phonics)
• Phoneme Identity
  • Early Phonics: "I Know Words: Beginning Sounds," "I Know Words: Ending Sounds"
  • Phonics Time:  "Beginning and Ending Sounds," "I Know Words: Short Vowel Sounds"
• Blending
  • Early Phonics: "I Know Words: Beginning Sounds," "I Know Words: Ending Sounds"
  • Phonics Time:  "Beginning and Ending Sounds," "I Know Words: Short Vowel Sounds"
• Segmenting
  • Early Phonics: "Break Down the Sounds"
  • Phonics Time:  "Break It Down"
• Phoneme Manipulation
  • Early Phonics: "If You Can Read," "Change the Sounds"
  • Phonics Time:  "2 Words in 1 Fun"

3. My "Alphabet Letters and Sounds" 200-page packet goes well with both Early Phonics and Phonics Time. Knowing the sounds of letters goes hand-in-hand with phonemic awareness! Please head HERE!

4. I worked with Deanna Jump, a fellow teacher-author, to develop songs, phonemic awareness activities, and phonics activities that are great for guided reading as well as whole-class lessons. Please head HERE to learn more.

5. I worked with another teacher-author, Deedee Wills, to record nursery rhymes, thematic poems, and poems that teach academic content. Deedee added great phonemic awareness and phonics activities. Note that rhyming is part of a larger umbrella term, "phonological awareness," which refers to more than just the tiniest "phonemes" in words. Rhyming is another a great pre-reading skill--and words in videos connect pre-reading to our ultimate goal: Reading! Please head HERE for a nursery rhyme set; head HERE for the basic pre-K/kindergarten "Poetry 1" set; and head HERE for the more advanced first grade-level "Poetry 2" set.

Please "stay tuned" for future blog posts on more elements of reading success. Thanks!

"Miss Jenny"
          
References

The Annie E. Casey Foundation (2013). Early warning confirmed: A research update on third grade reading. Baltimore, Maryland: Fiester, L. Retrieved from http://www.aecf.org/resources/early-warning-confirmed/

National Reading Panel (2000). Teaching children to read: An evidence-based assessment of scientific research literature on reading and its implications for reading instruction. Retrieved from
www.nichd.nih.gov/publications/pubs/nrp/documents/report.pdf