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Your Phonics Instruction Strategies

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    • ASU
      Keymaster
      #2258
      • In your own reading classroom, do you see more of a need to spend more time on foundational skills or provide more multisensory approaches? Why? 
      • What are some of your favorite strategies for teaching phonemic awareness and phonics?
    • charlotte.reading
      Participant
      #2977

      Rhondajord, I had recently asked you your grade level. It looks like we both are teaching third. It is very different for us. I have seen since the pandemic a greater need for phonics in our grade. This has made me reach out for PD such as this to try and help my struggling readers get back on grade level.

    • susan.spigelmire
      Participant
      #2986

      I teach Kindergarten so my entire day is surrounded by foundational skills. I provide a lot of multi-sensory approaches to learning as I am Orton gillingham trained. I know that young students learn best though hands=on experiences which is why I provide them.
      For Phonemic Awareness I use Heggerty which incorporates a lot of hand motions. For phonics we use sand try, tactile letters, screens with crayons to write among others. I am currently working on revising how I teach HFW as I want to focus on the sounds the words make not the letters so that students can begin to orthographically map the word in their brain to grasp a firm knowledge of it and move it to a sight word.

      • roberta.deaso
        Participant
        #3127

        I love the hand motions for Heggerty. I find that the techniques they use, like the roller coaster method for finding middle sounds, can really help students later when they are trying to sound out a word and spell it. I think that bringing in those techniques during writing time, or even social studies/science, can really help them learn to spell and recognize word patterns faster.

      • marialignos
        Participant
        #3844

        I am also Orton Gillingham trained and believe it is the most effective way to teach reading.

      • alara
        Participant
        #6816

        In regard to the HFW, at my school we are now using “Heart Words” which focuses more on the specific difficult and different sounds in HFW, students are not only learning them by memory but making an understanding of those different sounds in each word and how two letters can make a huge difference from word to word. It is interesting and fun to learn since you use a mat and different shapes to put on top of letters.

    • roberta.deaso
      Participant
      #3125

      In your own reading classroom, do you see more of a need to spend more time on foundational skills or to provide more multisensory approaches? Why?

      I teach Kindergarten, so I feel like there is a need to provide both at the same time. I try to repeatedly review what we have learned in a multisensory way. Students will forget the foundational skills they have learned, if they are not practiced consistently, especially in Kindergarten, where they are learning how to learn.

      What are some of your favorite strategies for teaching phonemic awareness and phonics?

      I use Heggerty, dance and movement, playdoh, and other fun activities to help students learn. I also incorporate games as often as possible.

      • alara
        Participant
        #6817

        I agree, I think they both go together specially on lower grades. It is a very good way to lock in what they have learned by putting it into practice with a multisensory activity.

    • williwoodz
      Participant
      #3184

      These last couple of years I have noticed a greater need for foundational skills as many students did not do well with online learning. Favorite strategies include play dough, movement, and hand motions.

    • williwoodz
      Participant
      #3185

      I agree that movement is essential for our ADHD population and our littles need to wiggle.

    • williwoodz
      Participant
      #3186

      I have used tongue twisters in these past with older students. They love it!

    • hannahmoran2502
      Participant
      #3195

      I understand where you are coming from. Great response.

    • hannahmoran2502
      Participant
      #3196

      There are a lot of things that I learned that I did not think I could use in my classroom but I can. I know I teach high schoolers but thinking outside of the box and figuring out how I can use these strategies to help my kids understand better I think would be cool.

    • sb861
      Participant
      #3712

      1. I am a new teacher, but I think the students in my classroom will need a mix of both foundational skills and multisensory information because of their sensory needs. They will need to have explicit instruction in the basic phonemic and phonics skills, but these can be done through multisensory approaches that help with their sensory and attention needs.

      2. One approach that I have seen so far that I really like are letter songs and videos that the kids learn and can sing from memory because they enjoy them so much!

    • jmaddox80
      Participant
      #3736

      1. It depends on my students. I teach special education and I have students from kindergarten to 5th grade. They are each at different points in their ability for reading and understanding phonological awareness. The majority of my students still need the foundational skills, but do best with a multisensory approach. They need explicit instruction, repetition, immediate feedback, and different strategies to help them progress through the continuum of phonological awareness and reading skills.

      2. Using real objects has always been an engaging strategy for my students. Using items and having students match the beginning sound to a cup with a letter on it is an example of a strategy to use that incorporates real objects. Playing fly-swatter games, using playdough, and rhyming activities are always a hit with all grade levels that I have worked with. I think it is important to continue to use a multisensory approach, even as the students get into the upper grades.

      • marialignos
        Participant
        #3843

        Have you tried singing “Down By The Bay” by Raffi with your SPED kids? It is a fun way to familiarize them to rhyming words. Sometimes I even invite them to give me the word they would like me to find a rhyme to sing about. That is usually really challenging for me but fun for them when they get to stump the teacher. If I cannot find a rhyming word I fall back on “Did you ever have a time when you couldn’t make a rhyme down by the bay?”

      • sprice
        Participant
        #6825

        Since you have students that are in 5th grade, do you have any suggestions for working with 6th graders that are in special education reading at a 3rd grade level? I would love to get some more ideas for what I can do for my students to help them make even more progress.

    • marialignos
      Participant
      #3841

      I do not need to incorporate more multi-sensory activities as I use sky writing and arm tapping to reinforce spelling. The kiddos think it is silly. I also ask them the spell words on their palms with their pointer finger.

    • marialignos
      Participant
      #3842

      I responded to someone else’s post.

    • grael
      Participant
      #3992

      Gloria Rael Where I teach, the preschoolers are starting to learn the letters and most do not know the sounds of any letter. So, I will start with introducing a letter and sound a week. My preschoolers are not ready for any other task. I will make sure that my preschoolers are learning and reviewing constantly. I want my preschoolers to be able to know the letter and sound at the end of the year.

    • grael
      Participant
      #3999

      Gloria Rael Currently, I have just a very few students that is there second year at the preschool. The mayority of the students is there first year in the preschool, so the students are verly learning about 4 letters and their sounds. I hope that by the end of the year most of the students have learn most of the letters and the sounds. I want all the students to have good letter and sound foundation for them to be futere great readers. I always try to give the students daily an activity with the letter of the week, so that the students can relate the activities wwith the letter and sound. I know that those activities will be great adventures for them to be successful readers. I know I am doing my part for all the students to love reading.

    • grael
      Participant
      #4000

      Gloria Rael I know it is very important for us teachers to constantly be reviewing the letters and the sounds, if not the students might forget. So we as teachers, must review letters and sounds in a variety of activities so that the students automatically can see the letter and know the sound for the students to be able to learn many words, then be able to read simple sentences. Finally, be able to read stories.

    • alexandra.hausman
      Participant
      #6755

      In my own classroom I need to incorporate more multisensory activities for students. Using movement or tactile may help some of them make a better connection to when we are using visual and auditory. Some of my students also need foundational skills since many are speaking more than one language. Some of my favorite ways to teach phonics are music for movement.

    • alexandra.hausman
      Participant
      #6756

      I think most students need to review some foundational skills and using multisensory activities can help them make connections.

    • alara
      Participant
      #6815

      In your own reading classroom, do you see more of a need to spend more time on foundational skills or provide more multisensory approaches? Why?
      I think my students will benefit from both spending more time on foundational skills with a multisensory approach because this will help each students with their individual goals.

      What are some of your favorite strategies for teaching phonemic awareness and phonics?
      I like using different songs where my students can hear rhymes, I use different games, and my students really like working with sound mats and magnetic letters.

    • sprice
      Participant
      #6823

      -I do see a need in my classroom for more foundational skills practice. I teach 6th grade and many of my students are reading far below grade level. This may be because of their lack of phonemic awareness.
      -I enjoy working with my student on morphology. We work a lot with understanding the meaning of words based on prefixes and suffixes.

    • fallon.trisoliere
      Participant
      #6961

      I can see that I need both. I have students that need the foundational skills and could benefit from that in small group, but I also have a lot that would benefit from multisensory approach. I have some that don’t have that quick and automatic oral response to letter/word manipulation and need practice. I teach third grade, so closing the gap is so important. I love using the arm tapping for word parts and using tongue twisters for sound manipulation.

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