Teaching Tuesday: How to Teach Phonics

Chibesh. Soolamundo. Unamtilating.

Did you "read" those words? Actually, you couldn't possibly have read them - I made them up. What you did was decode them - you used your knowledge of phonics to say the sounds associated with the letters.

Knowing all the phonics rules won't make your kid a great reader - but she won't be a great reader unless she learns a lot of the phonics rules. Some rules are simple; "b" says /b/ and "t" says /t/. Some rules are not; "oo" can say the sound in "zoo" or the sound in "cook". Even though, logically, it should say long /o/, as "ee" says long /e/. The more you learn about English, the more you realize it makes no sense.

There are 44 phonemes (smallest sounds of language), but there are only 26 graphemes (smallest units of written language), or letters. So one (huge) part of phonics is teaching which graphemes can make which phonemes, or which letters make which sounds. This is one of those times where flashcards can be very useful, though Lovebug's first grade teacher called them, "soundpacks", which is probably more accurate and definitely more clever than "flashcards". Another way to work on letter/sound association is to let - or even encourage - kids to read the same books over and over. It doesn't have to be those annoying sets of phonics books that you can buy at the book fair (though Goddess knows my kids just loved those Scooby-Do ones I was talked into), but any books with simple, repetitive and rhyming language. Dr. Seuss, for example.

Another part of phonics instruction is using that letter/sound knowledge to decode. It seems simple when your little one is figuring out "cat" or "mom", but when your second grader is tackling the word "instruction", it's a lot more complicated. One thing I like to do is blending*. It trains kids to decode challenging words; I made Ironflower and Lovebug practice it (just a few minutes a couple days a week) even when they figured out the word before we'd started. Basically, using a notebook or a dry erase board, I'd write a word like "instruction". Then I would tell them to look for "chunks" - graphemes, smaller words, long vowels, prefixes, suffixes. We would underline the chunks they found, so "instruction" would look like "instruction". Next we would start blending the sounds together. I'd have them say the first two sounds, "in" and "s", then I'd have then put the sounds together, "ins". We'd continue adding sounds, "inst", "instr", "instru", instruc", "instruction". When I did this with classes and reading groups, I would use words that emphasized whatever they were working on - consonant digraphs (ch, sh, th, wh), long vowels (like ay, or i_e), vowel digraphs (oy, oo), prefixes (in, re) and suffixes (ing, ed). But if you're just supplementing at home I wouldn't worry too much, I would just choose words similar to those your kiddo struggles with when s/he reads aloud to you.

For a far more intellectual discussion of phonics instruction, you should check out Reading Rockets.



*Shamelessly stolen from a reading curriculum I used in the late nineties called "Open Court". It was the total opposite of the methodology I'd been taught in graduate school. But it totally worked. 

Teaching Tuesday: Books for Reluctant Readers

Lovebug did not become a fan of reading independently until he discovered the Captain Underpants books. He would happily listen to me, or his sister, but reading on his own didn't interest him in the slightest. It drove me crazy.

To this day, Ironflower is still more likely to read for fun. That's her go-to activity when we turn our screens off. But when Lovebug has the right book, he too will retreat to his room and read for fun. Ever since he polished off the Captain Underpants Series, ("What do you mean he hasn't written the next one yet, Mom? I need to read it now!" I'm so not going to let him read Game of Thrones until George finishes the series), I have been on a quest to find books just as compelling

I think most kids - people, even - who claim to not like reading just haven't found the right material. And when you're trying to get your kid to read for fun, you can't worry about the potty humor in Captain Underpants or the fact that you think comic books are stupid (they're not, btw) or whatever. So, with that in mind, here are some book selections that don't show up on Scholastic's 100 Greatest books for kids list.

Lego books are ever popular around here. 

Chapter books for kids who need humor:

• Dav Pilkey's other series, Ricky Ricotta. A little less disgusting and a little easier to read than Captain Underpants. Lovebug has read some of them three times. 
• The Captain Awesome series, by Stan Kirby. These are on the easy side, but even reading (or rereading) easy materials is good for kids. 
• Lovebug loves graphic novels, which the Captain Underpants books almost are. Another one we found was DANIEL BOOM AKA LOUD BOY. There are 4 of them so far. 
• George Brown, Class Clown is another series with a lot of humor, though not quite as potty-based as Captain Underpants. 
• What's cooler than potty humor? Ninjas. Diary of a 6th Grade Ninja  starts a series about a typical 6th grader recruited into a clan of ninjas.  
• An oldie but a goodie, the My Father's Dragon trilogy includes illustrations, dragons and problem solving.
  

Chapter books for kids who like non-fiction:

• If your kiddo like animals, try the National Geographic Kids Chapter books. There are also all sorts of true stories about animal heroes, animal rescues and animal encounters.
• There are also National Geographic Readers, which have lots of information about all kinds of animals and natural phenomena, but are written more at a primary grade level. 
• Time for Kids has a biography series for kids, as well as a ton of books covering various non-fiction topics. 
• DK, creators of those cool Eyewitness books about everything, also have an interesting
   biography series. 
• Forty Acres and Maybe a Mule is technically fiction, but this story of former slaves feels very real. Definitely for kids in fourth grade or above.

Things kids can read if they "hate" books:

• American Girl magazine. Believe it or not, it's not just ads for more American Girl products. That said, it's not cheap, but your library probably has it. 
• Lego Club magazine. This one is free, but it's mostly an ad for Lego products.
• National Geographic for Kids magazine. These are awesome. Much more like a real magazine than Time for Kids.
• Sports Illustrated for Kids. Assumes a serious interest in professional sports. 
• First Altas, National Geographic's Road Atlas for Kids or any other atlas, really. 
• Travel brochures. I haven't done this for a while, but a lot of state and city tourist centers will mail brochures and travel guides for free. 
• The directions for anything - a recipe for making brownies, a how-to for making a craft, the way to play a new board game. This can also be a great way to reinforce the importance of comprehension. 
• Letters or emails from family members or friends. This is especially cool if they've got a far away cousin or close friend with whom they want to keep in touch. 

Picture books that are worth reading:

• Gail Gibbons is the queen of non-fiction picture books. She has picture books about all the things kids want to learn about:

• Patricia Polacco's books have rich illustrations, great vocabulary and feature multicultural characters.

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Friday I'm in Love: Best Reading Web Sites

When I came up with the title for this post, I was thinking about Reading Rockets. Reading Rockets is

They really do enjoy reading. I swear. 

my favorite go to site for reading information and ideas. There are sections for parents, teachers, principals and librarians. The site covers everything very comprehensively, though sometimes it can be hard to find the specific information you want.

But then I realized that not everyone is an obsessive researcher like I am. Plus, if I only wrote about Reading Rockets, the "Best Reading Web Sites" title becomes inaccurate. It would have to be "Best Reading Web Site" and that just seems lame. Also, it's not the best site if you're looking for games for your kids, visual ideas or book suggestions. So.

Sites for Kids:

Starfall is great for preschoolers and kindergartners.

ClicknKids has really effective phonics and phonemic awareness lessons. It's not free, but you can use it for consecutive kids.

GameGoo, despite its horrible name, has some good early literacy skills games.

I'm not a big fan of online reading games for kids who already read. They should spend their time reading and responding to actual books.


Ideas for Parents:

No Time for Flash Cards has excellent ideas.

The International Reading Association, while geared for professionals, also has great ideas for parents.

What We Do All Day also has fun ideas for parents, with some really cool reading lists.

More great reading lists can be found on Kidlit.


If you're more visual and looking for teaching ideas:

I love this Pinterest Board by a fellow Jennifer.

This board from Scholastic has great resources too.

Check out this woman's literacy site for great teaching ideas. I wish she'd been my literacy coach.

Do you have any reading sites that you think I should check out? Let me know in the comments.

Teaching Tuesday: Read To Your Kid Every Day

You already know you're supposed to read to your kid every day. Reading aloud may be the most important element in future reading success.  And if you don't believe me, here's a college student's explanations, complete with a bibliography of studies. You can look here too. Or you can trust my years teaching in a tough neighborhood; the kids who had someone read to them regularly did better in school, regardless of the other issues in their lives.

It's ideal to start from infancy. But even if your kid is two or six or twelve, reading aloud is still important. And helpful. Turn it into something non-negotiable, like bathing or sitting in a car seat. Here are my (mental) replies to excuses I've heard over the years.

Excuse: We don't have time every night!

Reply:  Then don't try to read an entire book every night. Try a Shel Silverstein poem or two. Do a page a night. Then find another time when you can read a bit more together. If you've got an older kid, make him or her read to the younger one while you make breakfast or dinner.

Excuse: My kid won't sit still while I read!

I was reading when this photo of Lovebug was taken.

Reply: Lovebug probably didn't sit still for an entire book until he was 3 years old. But I kept reading to him anyway, I'd make him sit on my lap for a few minutes and then I'd keep reading while he moved around his room. Now he loves to listen to books as well as to read them himself. Some kids aren't ready - some may never be ready - to sit still. That's okay. They can still hear you. They'll look at the pictures when they're very interested. Keep trying.

Excuse: My kid just doesn't like it when I read to him/her!

Reply: What are you reading? Are you letting your kid pick the book? Try that, even if it means you read the same book with no educational value over and over and over. Also, do you enjoy reading to your kid? Are you enthusiastic? Or can your kid tell you'd really rather be watching The Walking Dead?

Excuse: I don't have money to buy children's books!

Reply: Garage sales and library sales have books for like twenty-five cents a book. If even that's too much, join your local library. Libraries are still free. Ask people with older kids if they have books they could give or lend to your little one. Do people ever buy your child gifts? Ask them to buy books. Do you ever buy your child gifts? Buy some books instead of a toy that will entertain him for 5 minutes.

Excuse: I want my kid to learn English, but I don't read it very well.

Reply: If you read better in Spanish or Russian or Urdu, read in that language. There are still lots of benefits and your kid has a great shot at being totally bilingual. If you don't read well in any language, choose picture books with simple text, or practice reading the book ahead of time. If you've got a kiddo under the age of six, chances are s/he'll want you to read the same book over and over anyway. Here are some books that are engaging, as well as pretty easy to read:





Excuse: Is this really helping my kid? It sure doesn't seem like it.

Reply: Look, if you read the same book to your kid every night, in a monotone, and never discuss what happened in the story or whether they liked it, your kid will still learn language patterns and the concepts of print, like reading left to right and front to back. Would it be more helpful if you tried different books, discussed what new words meant, used expression and talked about the book afterwards? Of course. But reading aloud is a cumulative thing, it's not going to be as obvious that your child has learned something from one day to the next.

Teaching Tuesday: Rhyming, Yo

Before I had kids, I used to talk to my mom about my students, as they were the closest thing I had to kids. Once when I was talking about my struggling reader group and I explained that one poor fifth grader was having such a rough time because he had no phonological awareness skills.

"What are phonological awareness skills?" asked my editor/writer/reading at 4 years old mother.

Which was funny because not only because of my own mother's reading skills, but because she and my dad had read me nursery rhymes and Dr. Seuss and had entertained me with "The Rhyming Game" (like I Spy, but with rhyming words as clues) throughout my early childhood. Basically, they were the ideal phonological awareness parents, even though they never called it that.

Phonological awareness is the understanding of and the ability to manipulate sounds in language, basically. That sentences are made of words, that words are made of syllables, that words can rhyme, that syllables are made of phonemes and that phonemes can be isolated, deleted and substituted. For example, the word "cat" has 3 sounds; /c/ /a/ and /t/. I've just isolated the sounds in "cat". If I delete the first sound, you've got "at". If I substitute the last sound, you could have "cap" or "cad".

Kids who struggle with the sounds of language have a hard time decoding words; if you can't hear that the sounds /p/ /i/ /n/ say "pin", then you're not going to be able to read/sound out/decode the word later on. The easiest way to teach your kid about phonological awareness is to read books that incorporate rhyme and/or play with language. Obviously, Dr. Seuss is the master, but you can try these as well:





As you read these books for the 120th time, start asking your kid to fill in some of the rhyming words in the text. Trust me, once your kids can rhyme the other phonological awareness skills will come along easily (and you can let their teachers do most of the work on those).

But let's say that your child is obsessed with the solar system and wants to read space books every night. This happened to us for about a month when my older kids were in preschool. I was terribly worried that they'd miss out on rhyming and subsequent phonological awareness skills. And that this would make them have trouble reading later on. So I started speaking in rhymes.

Not all the time, I am so not that clever. But every time that I had to repeat directions? I threw in a rhyme. "Please put on your shoes! Please put on your shoes-blues! Shoes-blues!" I tried to use a different rhyme each time, which had the added effect of distracting me from the fact that my kids weren't listening to me. I changed the rhymes all the time and before I knew it, they were joining in.

For some reason, rhymes make it easier to leave the playground. 

They weren't following directions any quicker, though. Which is why I'm not writing about a blog about discipline.


If you'd like to learn more, read what some women with ph.D's have to say.