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SC2C: Early Grade Reading Professional Development Series:

Phonics

March 21, 2023

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Amy Beldotti, Associate Superintendent Teaching and Learning

Cynthia Manifold Dougherty, Director of Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment - Elementary PreK-5

Heather Corrente, Teacher on Special Assignment - Humanities K-5

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Phonics

11:00 - 11:15 Welcome and Pre-Survey

11:15-12:00 Presentation and

Grade K-2 Phonic Centers

12:00-12:15 Lunch

12:15 - 12:50 Grade 3+ Small Group Phonics

12:50 - 1:00 Questions and Survey

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Five-Part Professional Learning Series

Session 1: District Assessments

Session 2: Oral Language

Session 3: Phonemic Awareness

*Session 4: Phonics

Session 5: Summer Reading

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Quick Quiz

Having index cards with letters is an effective way to teach students their letters and sounds.
Most students will learn letter sounds by listening to people speak.
It is very important to wait for students to know all their letter sounds before asking them to blend phonemes into words.
An important goal for all students is to apply their phonics skills in a text/book/poem/article.

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The Literacy How Reading Wheel

The Core Components of Comprehensive Literacy Instruction

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Phonics

Scope and Sequence

K-2 FLSA Scope and Sequence 2022-2023

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Why is it difficult to learn to read and spell?

26 letters in the English language

44 sounds in the English language

150 different spellings of those sounds

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Human brains are naturally wired to speak; they are not naturally wired to read and write.

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Research shows...

In addition to strong oral language skills, most students need systematic and explicit instruction in phonological awareness and phonics in order to become skilled reader by the end of the third grade.

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Elements of Effective Phonics Instruction

Direct, explicit, systematic instruction
Builds on a foundation of phoneme awareness
Skills progress from easier to more difficult
Focuses on reading words in connected text
Teaching is driven by diagnostics/assessments

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Teaching Phonics

Reading or “Decoding” - applying sound-symbol associations and blending sounds together

Spelling or “Encoding - segmenting words by sounds and applying sound-symbol correspondences in writing

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Phonics Instruction

Words are segmented into the smallest units of sound (phonemes)
Students are then taught to blend (or synthesize) these sounds together to read the word

Example: In the word bat, children learn to identify three individual phonemes using the synthetic phonics method: /b/ /a/ /t/ that can be blended back together to produce a word.

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Phonics: K-2 Small Group Centers

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Analytic Phonics: Activity Example

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Decodable Texts

Tools to support students reaching their goal of applying phonics skills in connected text

Flyleaf Decodables (leveled for students and homework practice sheets)

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Lunch

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Phonics: Grade 3-5 Small Group Centers

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Phonics Instruction

Focus is on the word level (not the individual sound level)
Student learn new words by comparing them to words or word parts that they already know

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Contact Information

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Amy Beldotti abeldotti@stamfordct.gov

Cynthia Manifold cmanifold@stamfordct.gov

Heather Corrente hcorrente@stamfordct.gov