Teaching Phonics to First Graders

Understanding phonics is what allows people to "sound out," or decode, words. Phonics is the study of the relationship between printed letters and the sounds they make. At the first grade level, learning phonics is vital. Even students who can already read need phonics skills because they'll use them later when they need to spell and when they have to decode more difficult words. There is a generally accepted order for teaching phonics, though you'll want to assess your students beforehand so you'll know where to start.

Things You'll Need

• Chart paper
• Markers
• Index cards

Instructions

1. Review alphabet recognition. Make sure that students recognize the upper and lowercase letters of the alphabet. You can use flashcards and have them do letter searches (like word searches, but students search for a specific letter) to practice.

2. Teach consonant and short vowel sounds. Students will next need to learn the basic consonant sounds, /b/, /c/, /d/, /f/, /g/, /h/, /j/, /k/, /l/, /m/, /n/, /p/, /q/, /r/, /s/, /t/, /v/, /w/, /x/, /y/ and /z/ and the short vowel sounds, /a/, /e/, /i/, /o/ and /u/. You can do this through identifying initial sounds in words, reading rhyming poems together and blending sounds together in short words like cat and dog. You do not have to teach the sounds in order. See the resources and references for suggestions on which order to teach them in.

3. Teach long vowels sounds. Students will need to learn the rules for "helper e" words, like game, fine, here, cone and cube and for "first vowel says its name words," like snail, bay, read, peek, pie, boat, snow and due. You can have them identify vowel sounds in words, blend appropriate words together and draw pictures that match long vowel words (such as writing "cane" and drawing a picture of a candy cane below).

4. Teach consonant blends. Blends are two consonants that blend together, such as /pr/ in print and /bl/ in blend. See the First School Years resource for a comprehensive list. Have students practice by blending words together, using the words in sentences and drawing pictures of words that have blends.

5. Teach consonant digraphs. Digraphs are when two or more letters make one sound such as /sh/, /th/, /wh/, /ck/, /ch/, /ph/, /tch/ and /kn/. Students can circle digraphs on chart paper or photo-copied text, blend words with digraphs, write sentences using words with digraphs and draw pictures of words with digraphs.

6. Teach vowel digraphs. Vowel digraphs (sometimes called vowel phonemes)include /al/, /au/, /aw/, /ew/, /ar/, /er/, /ir/, /or/, /oo/, /ow/, /ou/, /oi/, /oy/, /ol/, /ear/, /air/ and /are/. Students can do vowel digraph searches on familiar text (if they can't circle the letters in the text, they can copy them onto paper), blend words with vowel digraphs, draw pictures of words with vowel digraphs and write sentences using words with vowel digraphs.

Tips & Warnings

• Make sure to have students use their phonics skills by reading simple books regularly. If you or your school does not provide simple texts for first graders, see the third resource for ideas.

• Don't forget to review regularly. There are 26 letters in the alphabet and those letters make 44 different sounds (or phonemes); that's a lot for a first grader to remember. You might want to display charts of words the students have previously blended and review them quickly before each phonics lesson.

References

• A to Z Phonics: What is Phonics?
• A to Z Phonics: Teaching Phonics Step by Step

Resources

• Starfall: Free Phonics Lessons and Games
• First School Years: Phonics and Grammar Word Lists
• Choice Literacy: Books for Phonics Instruction