When teaching a new phonics skill, you don’t need to have 500 strategies up your sleeve. Instead, you need a handful of simple, engaging, effective activities. Here are 12 phonics based strategies to use when you’re practicing any new spelling pattern or syllable type with your students. This is post 15 in my series Phonics Rules for Teachers (and How…
Consonant digraphs are one of the first letter combinations your students need to learn to be strong readers and writers. Let’s take a look at what a digraph is, the spelling of the most common digraphs, and how the heck to teach ’em. This is post 11 in my series Phonics Rules for Teachers (and How the Heck to Teach…
Closed syllables are the first syllable type you should teach your students. But, what exactly is a closed syllable, why should you teach closed syllables first, and how can you help your students understand them? This is post 10 in my series Phonics Rules for Teachers (and How the Heck to Teach ‘Em). If you’d like to see previous posts,…
Short vowels are typically the first vowel sounds that children learn, but why is that? Let’s take a look at what short vowels are, some important facts for understanding short vowels, and how the heck to teach this important phonics concept to your students. This is post 9 in my series Phonics Rules for Teachers (and How the Heck to…
Which is the best letter sound order? Is there one correct phonics scope and sequence that follows the science of reading? What does the research say about the sequence in which we teach our students phonics? You probably know that structured literacy requires just that: a structure. However, it can feel overwhelming to determine which order to teach sounds. Let’s…