Phonics

Phonics is a necessary component that is taught when students are learning how to read. We often think of this being taught mainly in grades K-2. Does phonics need to be taught in upper elementary? Absolutely, and it's more important now than it ever has been. Many of these students were taught phonics during the pandemic. They may have not had enough practice with these phonics skills, particularly in passages. Students are reading and their comprehension skills are missing because they are still trying to decode words. When the focus is on decoding, comprehension is lacking. They are missing phonics skills and we need to continue to teach and reinforce these skills with our older students too.

How to Incorporate Phonics with our Older Students

Phonics is an integral part of the Science of Reading. This blog post will focus on several products from Out of This World Literacy that help teach phonics. You can use these products immediately and get the results that you are looking for. These products are for grades 2 all the way through middle school and sometimes even up to high school. Let's take a look at each of these products to see which one is best for you.

Phonics Flashcards

First, review and reinforce phonemic awareness skills. Even though upper elementary students have likely already learned phonemic awareness skills. It's still important to review and reinforce these skills regularly. You can do this through activities such as rhyming, blending sounds, and segmenting words into phonemes. These flashcards are perfect for older kids who need extra help with phonics practice and need age-appropriate support that doesn't leave them feeling like they are working with babyish material.

Phonics Lessons That Work

Sometimes, students are lacking in a particular phonics skill. This often shows up in their writing or during a spelling test. Phonics Lessons That Work is intended to teach not only the phonetic sounds students need in order to read and comprehend, but it's also written in a way that teaches students to look for letter patterns in words as they read. By spending extra time with that phonics skill, students can apply them to their reading and writing. These lessons can be purchased individually as you need them or in a bundle for even bigger savings.

Assessment

Are you unsure what phonics skills your students are lacking? Why not try the Phonics Assessment? You can quickly give this assessment whole class or individually. These assessments provide you with so much data. Tracking sheets are included too. You will know how to move forward with your students and which phonics skills they need help with. It makes pulling small groups easy for you.

Phonics Passages

If you've been looking for a way for your students can practice phonics skills while reading independently, these passages are for you! These phonics passages help students practice their phonics skills while also practicing reading fluency and comprehension. The stories are high-interest stories that will engage your older students. Teachers can easily take a grade on reading comprehension using these passages.

Balanced Readers

Finally, our most comprehensive phonics product is Balanced Readers. Balanced Readers are short stories focused on specific phonics or spelling patterns. They are a combination of decodable and predictable readers that help bring a balanced approach to reading. These passages are for students in need of direct phonics instruction with vocabulary and comprehension included. Once again, these passages are age-appropriate and not babyish. Students practice phonics skills using a four-day plan.

Four-Day Quick Plan for Balanced Readers

• Phonics and Vocabulary – Day 1
• Comprehension – Day 2
• Word Comprehension – Day 3
• Suffixes and Tenses – Day 4

For other blog posts about phonics, check out Phonics Passages with Comprehension for Older Students

We've seen alphabet cards used to decorate classrooms above the boards. Teachers use these cards to help students reference the alphabet. This post is going to show you how you can use those same alphabet cards to play games that will not only help with letter identification but also word work and phonics. What is great is that you are using the same alphabet cards you used in the classroom to play these games so that students are already familiar with them.

Ways to Use the Alphabet Cards

The alphabet cards come in 4 different sizes so that you can use them in different ways. One easy way is to put them on a ring. Students will become familiar with the letters and words by repeating them. The pictures offer great visuals for the ELL students. They are able to build vocabulary and make connections to the letters and pictures. Pictured below on the alphabet cards printed 4 to a sheet and added to a ring for easy review.

Games to Play

Another way to use alphabet cards is by playing an alphabet memory game. Students will make matches using the alphabet cards. For added learning, have the students say the names of the letter and the sound that it makes when they turn over a card. For advanced learners, have them say the word associated with the letter that is on the picture.

Another fun way to practice letter sounds and vocabulary is with a game of Go Fish. Students can ask their friends if they have a certain letter or a certain word. If the student has it, they give that card to them and make a pair. If they do not have a match, the student draws a new card. What a great way to practice letter recognition in a small group. Students will be having so much fun, they don't even know they are learning.

Alphabet Card Sorts

Students can count the syllables in each word. Have students say the vocabulary word out loud. Have them clap the number of syllables in the word. The students sort the word based on the number of syllables in the word. This helps break down the word into smaller pieces when reading and identifying the phonemes in each word. It is a great way to decode words and break them down into smaller chunks for reading. Combine the number cards with the alphabet cards to play this game.

Another way to sort cards is by medial or ending sounds. In the example below, students sorted the words by medial sounds. Vowel cards are placed at the top while students sort the words underneath each vowel. This is a great game to play to help with vowel recognition.

Other Ideas for Using Alphabet Cards

• Play an alphabet scavenger hunt in your room
• I Spy game describing words on the alphabet cards
• Toss a beanbag on a card and identify the letter or word
• Play Slap Jack using letters in the child's own name as the Jack cards
• Alliteration game- say as many words that start with that same letter in 15 seconds. Advanced learners could write the words and make it a race. Variations can be medial and ending sounds to differentiate
• Play Pictionary by drawing one of the vocabulary words and having students guess
• Play letter charades by acting out vocabulary words
• Choose a given number of cards and write a sentence using those words

They can use the provided student pages to create personal word walls, dictionaries, or vocabulary words.

What's Included:

• Alphabet cards in 4 formats: Entire page, 4 letters per page, 9 letters per page, entire alphabet on one-page
• Black and white and color versions in all 4 formats.
• Numbers 1-10 in 4 formats (color and B/W).
• Custom artwork with a suburban theme.
• Student word work pages (printable and digital versions).
• Custom art designed by Andrea Bufford Art

Click on the picture below to purchase:

If you are looking for other ideas to teach phonics to older students, check out this blog post, Phonics Passages with Comprehension for Older Students

Do you struggle with finding engaging reading passages with a focus on phonics for upper elementary? If you've been looking for a way your students can practice phonics skills while reading independently, these passages are for you! Phonics Passages allow students to identify and focus on a phonics skill while answering multiple choice and short answer questions.

How can Phonics Passages be used?

• As a mentor text during whole group lesson on the specific phonics skill being taught
• In small guided reading groups
• In a comprehension center
• As independent practice after a phonics lesson
• Use as a homework review
• Practice for taking standardized tests

Each passage is professionally leveled using Lexile, Fountas and Pinell, Accelerated Reader, DRA and grade level equivalents. This allows the teacher to differentiate instruction meeting the needs of each individual student.

Check out what these extremely satisfied customers said

• I love working with phonics with my students, it helps them a lot when it comes to pronunciation, spelling, vocab and so much more! These passages are fantastic for this. With all the different activities, students have to be able to pronounce the words, understand the text, identify the words, and practice comprehension! The illustrations are the perfect complement to the story, as it not only helps students understand the story, it also gives me an excuse to get my students to speak about the story! As usual, this resource follows Jen's usual style: no frills, straight to the point, rigorous, challenging, and engaging! I really can't ask for more!
• I have a class of students with tons of learning gaps- they haven't had a normal school year since Kindergarten. They are missing basic phonics and word analysis skills. I wanted a way to work with them on these skills without it being too “babyish.” These are great!

Pair these Phonics Passages with Phonics Lessons for the ultimate way to explicitly teach phonics during reader's workshop. These lessons include daily schedules and word lists for students that correspond with the phonetic sound being taught.

To help you get ready for the school year, check out the newest product, Phonics Assessments.

Jen will be giving 4 different live webinars to show you how to quickly assess the reading level of every student at the beginning of the year using these products. Sign up today and join us!

Phonics Passages can be paired with Balanced Readers after quickly assessing reading level to get students engaged right away. Find out more about Balanced Readers here: Balanced Readers blog post

Middle schoolers and phonics instruction can be a scary combination. Being a Middle School Teacher for my entire career, I know working with students who need intensive phonics instruction can feel daunting. At my middle school, I am in charge of all tier 3 reading interventions. It has been a feat to complete these over Google Meets; however, we are back in-person learning, and I finally feel I can do these important interventions justice.

Student Background

When I first did an initial running record through the use of the Reading Intervention Benchmark Assessment, I noticed this student struggled with words with vowel patterns in the middle of words, consonants digraphs, and lacked fluency due to the multiple errors. Additionally, this student struggled with self-correcting word strategies. 

Initial Assessments

After the initial running record, I wanted to pinpoint which letter patterns were causing the most struggle. Following the recommended process of assessing phonics, I started with lists that tested CVC, CVCe, CVCC, and CCVC patterns. These were provided by my district and can easily be found by a simple search. The student was able to produce each word automatically. As we moved through the word pattern sets, the student showed difficulty recognizing and pronouncing consonant digraphs (ph, th, wh, gh, ch) at the beginning, within, and at the end of words. 

Use a Sensory Popper for Dictation and Decoding

Step 1: Getting Prepared!

What I love most about OOTWL curricula is I can print and go. I’m old school and still rather print out everything. I find it easier than having 1,000 tabs open on my computer. I have a binder that I bring to every intervention session and simply tag the lesson we are currently on. Within the Phonics Lessons bundle, Jen has provided step-by-step instructions to ensure each lesson goes on without a hitch. 

Step 2: Get Organized!

Organize your items the way that works for you. I like using the Mesh Zipper Pouches to hold all of my important items. The pouches are a great organizational tool. I place all of the I Can statements, markers, sticky notes, and other writing tools inside. 

Inside the binder, I place all of the pre-made lesson plans so I can easily refer to each step. Using this organizational technique will help streamline your interventions. I also suggest preparing your word cards beforehand. You can organize the cards by lesson by colored index cards or using different marker colors.

Step 3: Set up your Station! 

Since I am working with only one student, I want to make sure everything is hands-on. Using the Consonant Digraph Curriculum, I started out by creating the suggested anchor chart on a large white poster sheet. This size made it easy to carry back and forth between my room and the space I conduct interventions. 

I set up my station so that the student can see the I Can statement and make sure all materials are ready to go. Following the structure of the lesson and using the question prompts on the I Can statement card, the student I moved through the lesson. 

Step 4: See the Lesson in Action!

The student struggled to come up with words that contained consonant digraphs on her own, so I decided to have her organize the set of words on the anchor chart. We would use the popper tool to sound out each word and she placed the word in the correct category. 

Step 5: Use the Balanced Readers or Phonic Passages to Support Comprehension

When it comes to decoding, the ultimate goal is that our students become fluent readers to be able to comprehend a grade-level text. Both bundles will help your student achieve just that! 

What is the difference between the Balanced Readers and the Phonics Passages? The Balanced Readers are a great resource that supplies you with a daily lesson focus. If you plan on using these for consonant digraphs, you will be able to target one specific sound. This works well with my student because she continues to struggle with the /ph/, /th/, /kn/, /gh/, and /wh/ sounds. 

This way your student(s) will be able to practice the targeted sound over and over again. Not only will your students be able to practice the targeted sound, but also work on their overall comprehension! Over a 4 day span, your student(s) will practice:

Day 1: Phonics and Vocabulary

Day 2: Comprehension

Day 3: Word Comprehension

Day 4: Suffixes and Tenses

The Phonics Passages are the perfect resource to target multiple sounds within one passage. Each set includes 8 phonics passages for practicing words with consonant digraphs, A/B multiple-choice questioning all focus on the targeted sounds, and an open-ended evidence-based question. 

Both resources are research-based and have been personally used by Jen herself! I, too, have seen improvement with my student. She is fluent in reading passages that contain multiple words with consonant digraphs and she enjoys each story. I truly believe many students at the middle school level retract from phonics-based interventions because the activities and curricula feels babish. Between the words and the art, the students know they are behind. With OOTWL, all of the curricula is illustrated by Jen’s daughter, Maya Bengel. She illustrates characters that not only grab the attention of the youngest readers but also helps our middle school readers feel like the passages are meant for them. Each passage is engaging and even the most hesitant reader will find them interesting. 

We'd love to hear from you! Comment below on how these resources have made a difference in your classroom!

Happy teaching!
Jen & Hannah

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