Teacher Action Inquiry Plan
Teacher/team: Weka and Toutouwai
The Concern:.Many students are using individual letter-sound knowledge as a strategy.
They need to develop knowledge and application of letter clusters, blends, rhymes/rimes,
word families to enable them to make stronger and increasing acccurate attempts at
writing and reading words.
I wish to investigate: Ways in which to strengthen students phonological awareness and
avoid the one sound one letter trap.
What is happening at present? Jolly Phonics, Modelling, learning high frequency words
words. Word games and activities
What does the literature say?
Phonemic Awareness is defined as the ability to identify, hear, and work with the smallest
units of sound known as phonemes. It is NOT the same as phonological awareness, instead, it
is a sub-category of phonological awareness. For example, phonemic awareness is narrow, and
deals only with phonemes and manipulating the individual sounds of words - such as /c/, /a/,
and /t/ are the individual sounds that make up to form the word "cat". Phonological awareness
on the other hand, includes the phonemic awareness ability, and it also includes the ability to
hear, identify, and manipulate larger units of sound such as rimes and onsets.
http://www.childrenlearningreading.com/teach-children-reading/what-is-phonemicawareness.html
Programs for teaching phonics often emphasize rules rather than patterns and focus on
"separate" sounds, called phonemes. In contrast, the most effective and efficient phonics
instruction focuses children's attention on noticing letter/sound patterns in the major
components of syllables: that is, on noticing the letter/sound patterns in initial consonants
and consonant clusters and in the rime, which consists of the vowel of a syllable plus any
following consonants, such as -ake, -ent, -ish, -ook (Moustafa, 1996).
Effective phonics instruction focuses children's attention on noticing the letter/sound
patterns in initial consonants and consonant clusters and in rimes (the vowel of a syllable, plus
any consonants that might follow). Focusing on rimes rather than on vowels alone is
particularly important in helping children learn to decode words. (Adams, 1990)
Young children's awareness of onsets (the initial consonant of a word or syllable) and rimes
(everything after the initial consonant in a one-syllable word or in syllables, traditionally
referred to as phonograms or word families) is related to success in beginning reading.
Therefore children should be taught to identify and manipulate these sound units.
http://www.earlyliterature.ecsd.net/phonemic%20phonic%20awareness.htm
“Children work first with simple and orthographically regular onsets and rhymes” (Adams,
1994). By doing this they become aware of how to break syllables apart into their component
phonemes. The two complimentary skills of working with sounds in words and working with
letters in words build a child’s skill with letters, sounds and words in a profound, multisensory way that improves student achievement (Byrne and Fielding-Barnsley, 1989
http://readingeggs.com.au/teachers/301794/research_reports
What will I do?
Individual children work through Reading Eggs reading lessons. These focus on the use
of consonants/consonant clusters and rimes in phonetic analysis.
Whole class work through Reading Eggs spelling activities
1. Online: http://readingeggs.com.au/teacher_toolkit/spelling/activities
2. Look, Cover, Write, Check PDFs
http://readingeggs.com.au/teacher_toolkit/spelling/look_cover_write_check_pdfs
Individuals who have passed lesson 60 in reading go to Spelling Forum for own lessons
Continue Jolly Phonics, word games and activities, modelling and learning high frequency
words
Children to create own movies, slideshows and Comic Life pages for rhymes, onsets
(consonants/consonant blends). Upload on Knowledge Net or wiki or blog.
What help do I need?
An interactive whiteboard for modelling, and use of Reading Eggs spelling activities with
class or a group amongst other things would be advantageous.
Timeline:
Ongoing – 5 year 1 month tests and 6 years nets
Term 1
Test spelling (Spelling Forum – children past lesson 60 conduct online test – Give others
the same test orally.
Running Record: level and strategies
Incorporate Reading Eggs into class reading and spelling programmes into class language
Term 2
Continue Reading Eggs reading and spelling programmes.
Children create and publish own rhymes/onsets online
Term 3
Continue Reading Eggs reading and spelling programmes.
Children create and publish own rhymes/onsets online
Term 4
Test as for term 2 to access progress