Top 12 Phonics Strategies for Teaching ANY Sound: Phonics Rules for Teachers Episode 15

When teaching a new phonics skill, you don't need to have 500 strategies up your sleeve. Instead, you need a handful of simple, engaging, effective activities. Here are 12 phonics based strategies to use when you're practicing any new spelling pattern or syllable type with your students.

With 10 years of classroom experience, former teacher Martha Moore hosts the Phonics Rules for Teachers Podcast. Drawing from her personal journey, she shares insights on transitioning from traditional teaching methods to a phonics-centered approach and the impact it has on students' reading and writing.

Each week , Martha shares a simple phonics rule, strategy, or background information and how you can teach it in your classroom.

You can find the How the Heck to Teach 'Em supplementary resource to go along with this series here: https://www.myprimaryparadise.com/shop/phonics-rules-resources/

Transcript

Welcome to Episode 15 of Phonics Rules for Teachers and How the Heck to Teach Them. I'm Martha, and today I'm going to share my top 12 phonics strategies and activities that I use in my classroom to teach new phonics skills. I absolutely love all of these activities because they can be used with any sound, any spelling pattern, and any syllable type. If you have these 12 phonics strategies in your teacher toolbox, you will be set to teach phonics all year round. Of course, you can add some different activities as well, but these 12 strategies and activities are the foundation and the core of the activities and strategies that I have used to teach phonics to my students.

So, let's jump right in with number one: Use Visuals and Hand Motions. If you've been watching Phonics Rules for Teachers for a while, you know that I love to introduce a new spelling pattern, a new skill, or a new idea with hand motions or a visual—or both. This helps cement the idea into your students' minds. The main thing to keep in mind is that the hand motions make sense, they're not overly complicated, and they're not going to be confused with another prompt that you use. Most curricula come with different hand motions and visuals and prompts, so of course, if you have a set curriculum, use the ones that come with your curriculum. That way, it's in alignment with the rest of your school. If you don't have a set curriculum and you're sort of on your own, that's why I share these ideas on Phonics Rules for Teachers with all of the different visuals and prompts that I use. You can also come up with your own visuals and prompts. Again, just make sure that they make sense and they're not overly complicated.

Number Two: Daily Sound Drill. I absolutely love using a daily sound drill for about two to three minutes every day, or almost every day, in my classroom. It's a great way to just very quickly review the sounds that you have already learned. As you learn new sounds, you add them to your drill. All you have to do is create a very simple PowerPoint or Google Slides template, write the different spelling patterns that you have learned, and click through. Students produce the sound or sounds that each spelling pattern represents. As I said, it is a super short, easy way to practice those sounds and get them in front of your students every day. For example, even if you're not focusing on R-controlled patterns today, doing the sound drill and including those R-controlled patterns you've already learned is a great way to just keep them in their mind when they're reading and writing on their own. Another fun mix on this activity is for you to stand in a spot where you can't see the spelling patterns, or to print them out on a piece of paper and hold them up. Your students make the sound and you have to guess which spelling pattern you are displaying. That's another fun way and another twist to make this activity even more fun. I like to use that second idea closer to the end of the year when maybe things are starting to get a little bit stale.

Number Three: Word Mapping. Word mapping is such an important activity to help your students get comfortable with writing a new spelling pattern. It will help them solidify the spelling patterns that they are learning, and it's also a great way to review the sounds that you have already learned as well. Here's how word mapping works: say the word out loud and have your students repeat it. Then, count the sounds they hear in the word. For example, the word chin—they will hear three sounds: /ch/, /i/, /n/. When they're counting the sounds, have them stick a finger up for each sound. Some programs ask you to tap or tap on your arm; I personally think the easiest thing to do is just stick one finger up while they're counting. This allows them to already see the number on their fingers instead of trying to count how many taps they’ve made. Once they've counted the number of sounds, they take a counter and put a counter in the box for each sound that they have counted. Each box represents a sound and not just a letter, and that's important to remember. They will slide down three counters for /ch/, /i/, /n/, and then they push each one up and write the letter or letters that represent that sound. It's important to remember that each box represents a sound, so there could be two, three, maybe even four letters in one box. Then underneath, they can rewrite the word again. Doing this with new spelling patterns and new sounds, even using it to review old sounds or look at irregular words, is a great way to have your students practice phonics skills.

Number Four: A Book Hunt or an Environmental Print Hunt. When you've learned a new spelling pattern, it's really great for students to see that spelling pattern in context. You can either do this by giving them books from your classroom library or having them just keep an eye out in the world around them. Have them look for the new spelling pattern that you're focusing on—whatever that spelling pattern is—and you can create a chart together of words that include that spelling pattern that they found in the books or maybe just, again, in the world around them.

Number Five: Use Decodable Text. I've talked a lot about the importance of using decodable text. If students are reading texts that are decodable with spelling patterns that they have already learned, they will be able to be successful when they are reading. There are a variety of great decodable texts out there. Regular books are a great option; you will just need to take some time to make sure that the books that you're sharing with your students include just the spelling patterns that they have already learned. Now, research shows that a decodable text should be about 80% decodable for students to be successful. However, when students only know a few sounds, you want it to be much closer to 100% decodable so that way they can be successful as they haven't had the opportunity to learn that many sounds. As students learn more sounds, it can be a bit less decodable—closer to that 80% mark—because they have already had a lot of the foundation that will allow them to be more comfortable when they potentially approach a sound that they don't know. That being said, the closer to 100% a decodable text is—particularly for our younger learners—the more successful they will be. Decodable texts can include regular books, but they can also include things like printable books that you can find online to buy or for free. They can include my partner plays, which are great to use both with partners because they're practicing expression and fluency, or students can use them on their own as well. They can include fluency passages, which are a great way to have students practice their expression and reading smoothly. They can include short comprehension passages so you're able to have them begin to practice decoding words and focusing on comprehension at the same time, which is quite a tricky skill. Or they could include fluency drill cards, which are a really great quick way to have your students practice reading new sounds or review old spelling patterns they've already learned.

Number Six: The Magic Word Change Game. This is one of my favorite quick and easy games because you can use it all year long again with any spelling pattern. It's simple, it's easy, and all you need is small whiteboards for your students and a whiteboard for yourself. All you do is start with a word, write it on the board, and the students write it on their board as well. Then you give them clues to add, change, or remove letters to make new words. Along the process, they are making the changes on their board and then they tell you what to change on the board. Then they say what the word is. So, for example, if you start with the word be (B-E), and then you tell them to add the letter at the end that represents the /d/ sound, now they've written the word bed. They let you know they've written the word bed, and then you say change the vowel from E to I, then they change it and now they've made the word bid. You can continue this way, and it works really great because you can work through all of the different spelling patterns that you have learned so far. Here's a tip, though: I like to have a list of the words that I am going to go through and not do it just off the top of my head. That way, I can make sure that I've reviewed all of the different sounds that I'd like to review while we're playing that game.

Number Seven: Targeted Journal Entries. Once students have had time to work with a new spelling pattern, I then have them complete a targeted journal entry. How this works is, we come up with a list of words for that specific sound that we're working on—for example, N-G—and they will come up with a big list of N-G words: ring, hang, sang, bring, ring, etc. Then I write those on the board so they have them there. They're spelled correctly, and they can then come up with their own sentence or sentences to write using at least one of those words in every sentence. I love this because at the beginning of the year, students start with very, very simple sentences like "The kid can hang," and then as the year progresses, they get more and more comfortable, and they're able to write two, three, four sentences, and they can even begin to form them into a coherent story as well. I always have my students draw an illustration to go along with their sentences so I know that they know what those words mean in context. This also helps your students start to build their writing abilities as well.

Number Eight: Snowball Fight. I've explained Snowball Fight before, and it is such a fun game to use. This one is simple and so much fun! Give students three strips of paper and have them write one word on each piece of paper that matches the spelling pattern that you are currently learning. It can be helpful to give them a bank of words to choose from to start. Depending on your students' skills, they might also come up with the words on their own. They write the words on their papers and crumple them up so they look like snowballs. Then you have your students stand on opposite sides of the room and throw their snowballs at each other. They then find three new snowballs, open them up, and write down the words they've found. You can even ask them to write them in sentences if you want. They crumple those ones up and repeat again. I normally do this twice, and my students are often begging to do it even more. Another fun level to add is once students have completed their second round and written their words on their paper, you can write some of the words on the board one at a time. If students have that word on their paper, they can take that snowball and toss it into the trash. It requires them to pay attention to the words they wrote and adds another layer of fun to the game.

Number Nine: Musical Sentences. This one is similar to Musical Chairs but with a phonics twist. Ahead of time, write decodable sentences on strips of paper that have at least one word with the phonic sound that you are focusing on. Then place a sentence strip at each student’s spot. Have your students walk around their table or the whole classroom, wherever area you decide to play, holding a whiteboard and a marker. When the music stops, they stop wherever they are, flip over that sentence, read it out loud, and on their whiteboard write down the word that includes the spelling pattern that you are focusing on. You can repeat this as many times as you like as students go around collecting new words. I always tell my students that if they land at the same spot again, it's fine; they can write that word again. This is a really fun way to practice both decoding and encoding words with a new spelling pattern.

Number Ten: Word Sorts. Word Sorts are such a versatile tool that students enjoy. They're easy for you to make and help students pay attention to the spelling patterns they are learning. You can do Word Sorts in whole groups, small groups, or individually. Students can sort word cards, write words on opposite sides of a whiteboard, or even use a worksheet where they cut and paste words on the correct side. It’s important that students read the words out loud and not just sort based on the visual pattern. Sometimes you can even throw in some oddballs that don’t fit to ensure they’re actually paying attention. Word Sorts are great because you can use them with just two different spelling patterns or many different patterns, depending on where your students are in their learning journey.

Number Eleven: Purposeful Read Alouds. Reading books aloud to your students is so important for their reading and writing development. Listening to fluent text helps them understand what reading should sound like as they grow as readers. When you're learning a specific phonic skill, it's helpful to choose read-alouds that include that new skill. Ask your students to signal when they hear or see a word with the new spelling pattern. They can raise their hand, stand up, or write it down on a whiteboard while listening to the story. This shows them how these words appear in context and helps them pay close attention to the story and the new sound.

Number Twelve: Backwards Decoding. I love Backwards Decoding as a drill to use a few times a week because it helps students focus on the vowel sound and the spelling pattern in words. Here’s how it works: show students just the rime of a word and have them read it, then add the onset and have them read that together. This activity helps them focus on the vowel and the spelling patterns and gets them used to looking closely at the letters in the words they are reading. I always remind my students that we don’t read words like this in real life when we’re reading in a book. However, if they are ever stuck on reading a big word, they can cover up the onset and just read the rime, then add the onset again. This can help them look more closely at the vowel sound so they know what they are reading.

There are so many possibilities with these 12 phonics strategies and activities to make sure that practicing new phonics skills and reviewing old skills never gets old. Having these in your toolkit means you don’t have to constantly come up with new ideas. You can use these 12 strategies and just make changes here and there to keep them interesting and fun. It also means that your students have some consistency, so they’re not constantly having to learn new games and activities. Instead, you can focus on teaching your students the how and the why behind how the English language works.

Thank you so much for joining me today. I hope that it was super helpful. If you have any questions about these specific strategies, please feel free to comment below, and I’m happy to answer your questions individually. If you would like resources to make these strategies easier, you can find them in my How the Heck to Teach It supplementary resource that goes along with this phonics series. Don’t forget to subscribe so you never miss an episode of Phonics Rules for Teachers and How the Heck to Teach Them. See you next time!