Guide to Instruction
Phonological Awareness
Focus/Concept
Skills & Strategies within the Focus
Activities and Resources to be
Used
Words in a Sentence
Directionality; 1:1 Matching in text; Concept of
a Word/Sentence; Counting Words in a
Sentence (Oral and Visual);
Identifying/Isolating/Categorizing Words;
Adding/Deleting/Substituting words in a
spoken sentence.
Identifying words/phrases that rhyme in oral
(spoken) language; create rhyme
words/patterns/phrases; recognize a rhyme
pattern within text (read aloud or within GR)
Identifying/Categorizing/Isolating Syllables in
spoken language; manipulating syllables;
counting syllables in spoken words; clapping or
tapping syllables in spoken language
Guided Reading texts; sentence strips;
FCRR Sorts; Number Mat Game (Students
take a step for every word they hear);
Oral Language Activities (with or without
picture cards); big books.
Rhyme
Syllables
Onset & Rime
Phonemes
Picture-sorts; nursery rhymes; Dr. Seuss
text (to be read aloud); rhyme games
(Rhyme Time; Rhyme Memory); poetry;
controlled text; “Rhyme Time”
Picture-Syllable sorts; spoken multisyllabic words (words with many
syllables); multisyllabic picture; FCRR
activities; Fountas and Pinnell Phonics
activities.
Identifying/isolating/categorizing/manipulating Oral/spoken games for manipulating and
Onset & Rime in spoken one-syllable words
changing onset & rime to create new
(beginning with short vowel/closed words, and words; rime families; text (read aloud).
then moving to words with blends & digraphs)
Isolating/identifying/categorizing individual
Elkonin Boxes w/ manipulatives; Word
Phonemes in words (beginning with
Lists of words that have 2, 3, 4, 5+ sounds
beginning/end/middle and 3 sound words);
(phonemes); “tapping” strategies;
blending & segmenting phonemes;
kinesthetic games to identify
adding/deleting/substituting phonemes in
Beg/Mid/End sounds by walking/moving
spoken words to create new words/word
to a designated spot in the room.
parts.
Phonics
Focus/Concept
Skills & Strategies within the
Focus
Alphabetic Principle
Letter-Sound correspondence: Introduce
vowels one at a time!! Consonants can be
taught in multiples (2-3 per day to start).
Suggested Order:
(1.) continuous sounds- f, s, l, m, n, r, h, v,
w, y, z
(2.) non-continuous sounds- c, b, d, g, j, k,
p, q, t, x and
(3.) vowels (short now, long later)
a, i, o, u, e,
y (as a long e or I vowel later).
(4.) digraphs
Blending/Decoding
Segmenting/Encoding
Teach students how to decode (break
apart words) using individual lettersounds (tapping out sounds), chunks and
rime families, syllable division & syllable
types, and other familiar spelling patterns.
Teach, model, and guide students to learn
to use the letter-sounds to blend the
phonemes (sounds) to read a word (start
with words that begin with a “continuous”
LS that’s easier to blend (/m/ in “mat,” /s/
in “sat” or “sun,” /n/ /f/ /h/ /l/ /z/ /w/…).
Add non-continuous sounds later (/k/ /b/
/d/ /j/ /g/ /t/…).
Teach students how to break a word into
sounds (segmenting) and how to encode
(spell or write) those sounds.
Start with concept of a CLOSED Syllable
(one vowel, followed by one or MORE
Activities and Resources
to be Used
Tactile: Letter Cards or Magnetic
Letters, Cookie Trays/Magnet
boards, Alphabet Line (above
whiteboard),
uppercase/lowercase alphabet on
sentence strips & clothespins (to
match letter to sound, ABC “Sand
Bottles” or “Rice Boxes,” paint
bags or dry erase tracing sheets.
Kinesthetic: motions/action for
each letter-sound (picture of each
“action” on note cards with word
ring), pictures of letters all around
room to have students “speed
walk” to the letter of the alphabet
when I make its SOUND aloud.
Technology/YouTube: Dr. Jean’s
song, Who Let the Letters Out?
Alphabet Line/Chart, Have Fun
Teaching YouTube videos for each
Letter & Sound, ABC Mouse.com
(letter videos).
Words/Syllables of Each Type:
Closed Syllables- CVC, Digraphs,
Consonant Blends, Bonus Letter
endings (short vowels followed by
–ff, -ss, -ll like “buff” and “hill”),
common rimes/chunks
–all, -an, -am, closed syllables
ending with s that sounds like /s/
puffs, or /z/ pens.
EXCEPTIONS TO CLOSED RULE:
words or syllables with –ild, -ind,
-olt, -old, -ost
v-e Syllable- silent, sneaky, magic
“e” pattern that makes the long
vowel sound.
EXCEPTIONS TO RULE:
-ave in have, -ove in love.
consonants is Closed and makes SHORT
sound).
Closed Syllable/Short Vowel (CVC)
Cat, dog, mom, dad, pet, nap, tap
Digraphs (2+ letters with ONE sound)
sh, ch, th, wh, ck, ng, ph
Bonus Letters: ll, ss, ff
puff, stuff, mess, chess, hill, pass, gull
Chunks or Rimes (Family Words)
an, am, ing, ang, and
-S Ending (makes sound like /s/ or /z/)
/s/- cats, bats, kicks, raps
/z/- bugs, nags, bans, dads, pens.
*Later, add blends…
Consonant Blends (also called clusters)
St- sl- bl- br- cl- fl- fr- cr- str*Next Type: v-e syllable
v-e
Silent, Sneaky E Rule- “E” makes no
sound, sneaks up, and ATTACKS the vowel
in the word, making it SAY ITS NAME
(which is its long vowel sound).
Hope, rate, bite, cute
*Teach Double Vowel/Vowel Teams using
rule. . .
Vowel Teams Rule- “When 2 vowels go
walking, the FIRST one does the talking,
saying its name (long sound).”
oa, ea, ai, ue, ee, ui, ie
- poster
Boat, pie, fruit, meet, glue
Open Syllables- ends with a single
“open” vowel (NOT “closed in” by
a consonant).
Examples- me, so, bi, etc.
Double Vowel/Vowel Teams:
*Predictable Vowel Teams (ee, oa,
ie, ue, ui, ai)
*Unpredictable Vowel Teams (ea,
ou, au) including Diphthongs (ou,
oy, oi, au).
r-controlled or “Bossy r”: ar, or,
ur/er/ir
Examples- card, park, torn, porch,
turn, her, bird
Consonant le (–le): multisyllabic
with –le as final syllable (little,
bubble, whistle, purple, etc).
*Multisyllabic Word Lists for each
Syllable TYPE (magnetic- Closed
Syllables “mag” “net” “ic”), and a
list of multisyllabic words with
MIXED types (watermelon).
Word Work: Other resources
include Fountas & Pinnell Word
Study Lessons, FCRR sorts, Word
Sorts, Word Games, and Word
Game Templates, Word Cards
from a literacy program such as
Project READ or Wilson Reading
System, magnetic letters/trays,
etc.
Teaching Reading
Strategies (how to
APPLY their word skills
to reading connected
text)
Guided Reading-Teach students that when
independent readers read, everything
must LOOK right, SOUND right, and MAKE
SENSE.
Teach & model how to apply their Visual
word-attack strategies to solve unknown
words when reading (visual strategies are
decoding strategies, which means
strategies we use to break apart words to
solve them).
*Visual strategies include tapping out, or
“sounding out” each letter-sound in a
word; breaking words down into smaller
parts, such as rimes (-an, -ing, -am),
syllables, or other familiar spelling
patterns (digraphs, suffixes, etc.). This is
also called “chunking;” and blending the
sounds or word-parts to read whole
words.
Teach, model, and guide students to apply
their visual strategies to solve unknown
words (if they are words that CAN be
“sounded out” or decoded), and what to
do if this doesn’t work.
*Students should attempt to apply visual
strategies to break apart and decode an
unknown word (using visual cues) instead
of relying only on picture clue and
“guessing.” As they become proficient
readers, they will begin to use multiple
strategies to figure out unfamiliar words.
Apply to Reading Using
Connected Text (i.e. Guided
Reading, Shared Reading). . .
Teach students to apply word
solving strategies using their
VISUAL cues (letter-sounds,
spelling patterns, chunks) by
reading various genres of text at
their developmentally-appropriate
reading level (Instructional level).
Resources: Book Room, poems,
big books, DC Library, school
library, books from home, takehome books, etc.
*Guided Reading- use any type of
text at students’ Instructional level
(leveled classroom sets for GR or
from Book Room) or Classroom
Library, Readers’ Theaters at
students’ Instructional levels,
decodable texts, passages,
articles, or poems, etc.
*Independent Reading- students
may select ANY text, and if it’s
something they can read with very
few or no errors AND
comprehend, it’s probably close
their Independent level.
Some of these other strategies, which I
prompt them to use when their visual cues
do not work, are: rereading the sentence
to see what would fit or “sound right,” use
context clues to figure out what would
sound right OR what would make sense;
check the picture to see what is happening
in the story (and to see if that matches
what they are reading), and to monitor
their own reading to ensure that
everything LOOKS RIGHT, SOUNDS RIGHT,
and MAKES SENSE!!
Independent Reading- have students read
to me, and I use this time to observe what
strategies they are using well, which they
need support with, and which strategies
students are NOT applying during reading.
This would also be a time to monitor
students’ text comprehension and update
reading level (running record/miscue
analysis).