Decoding to EncodingThe Structure of Our Language

Karen ValdesMenifee Union School District

Menifee, CA kvaldes@menifeeusd.org

Workshop Outcomes• Discuss why phoneme awareness is important

and how to teach blending and segmenting.

Utilize the components of phonics and decoding to develop word attack skills.

• Recognize and teach the spelling patterns of our language.

• Analyze the role of decoding and encoding in word analysis skills.

Evidence From Research

Data Evidence of Success

Bridging the Five Elements of Reading• Phoneme awareness• Phonics• Vocabulary• Fluency• Comprehension

DECODING COMPREHENSIONWord

Recognition Strategies

Fluency Academic Language

Comprehension Strategies

• John Shefelbine/ Developmental Studies Center •

• Framework for Reading •

The Friday Final Spelling Test

euonym

Organization of Our of LettersActivity: Letter Name/Sound• 26 Letters – Upper Case

and Lower Case– Consonants:

Continuous and Stop• Blends and Clusters• Consonant Digraphs

– Vowels:Short and Long• Vowel Pairs• Vowel Digraphs• Vowel Diphthongs

Structure of Our Language

• Phonology – Study of Sounds• Phoneme: Smallest Unit of Sound

• Orthography - Study of correct Spelling• Grapheme: Letter and letter combinations that

represent a phoneme

• Morphology - Study of the structure and form of words in language

• Morpheme: Smallest Unit of Meaning

Areas of Instruction for Phoneme Awareness• Isolation• Identify• Categorization• Blending• Segmentation• Deletion• Addition• Substitution

What Does Instruction Look Like?Direct Instruction Model

Me We Thee

Phoneme Blending

Children listen to a sequence of separately spoken phonemes, and then combine the

phonemes to form a word. Then they write and read the word

Teacher: What word is /s/ /i/ /t/?Children: /s/ /i/ /t/ is sit.

Types of Blending

Continuous Blending

Sound-by-Sound Blending

Vowel-First Blending

Blending Activity

Phoneme Segmentation

Children break a word into its separatesounds, saying each sound as they

tap out or count it. Then they write and read the sounds

Teacher: How many sounds are in grab?Children: /s/ /l/ /a/ /b/. Four sounds.

Segmentation Activity

May seem like play; however,

• Requires explicit teaching

• Highly structured practice

• Independent practice

What Kind of Phonics?

• Systematic:– Preplanned skill sequence– Progresses from easier to more difficult

• Explicit:– The teacher explains and models– Gives guided practice– Watches and gives corrective feedback– Plans extended practice on skills as needed by

individuals

Phonics Sorting ActivityWhich suffix is correct able or ible?

crucadaptcommend

agreedetesttang

laughauddepend

credgullindel

expandirascmand

compatfavortransfer

dirigcreditquestion

ostensedreason

approachinvincterr

legpayprefer

Elements of a Phonics Lesson• Sound (Phonemic awareness)

• Letter-sound association

• Blending

• Spelling

• Reading decodable text

• Application of sound in regular text

Syllable Structures• V I• CV me• VC ice• VCC ask• CVC pin• CCV ski• CCVC skin• CVCC fist• CCVCC cramp• CCCVC strip• CCCVCC sprint• CCVCCC grasps

Speech to Print, Louisa Moats

7 Syllable Types

Open

Closed

Silent E

Vowel team

R-Controlled

Diphthong Syllable

Consonant -le

Common Vowel Patterns Activity

• VC/VC

• V/CVVC/V

• VC/CCV

• VC/CCCV

• V/V

Structural Analysis Activity

Front and Back, Circle Attack

Construction

Short Vowels

A

E

I

O

u

Long A

a__e

ai

___ay

a

eigh

Long E

e

ea

ee

e___e

___y

Long I

i

i___e

ie

igh

___y

/oi/

oi

Oy

/OO/

oo

ew

ue

ou

Long U

u

u__e

Long O

o

o___e

oo

ow

Sample Vowel Patterns

What Are the Rules?

• How many graphemes for /k/?

• How many jobs does the letter “Y” have?

• How many sounds does the letter “o” represent?

Stages of Spelling

• Precommunicative

• Semiphonetic

• Phonetic

• Transistional

• Integration

High Frequency Words

• Occur often in print.

• Teach as a sight word until you have taught the sound/symbol relationships.

• Provide a strategy for spelling high frequency words that are true oddities.

The were gone said of many though they again was from honor you who shoe are once could want should there does sure

to

What Researchers Say

A. Despite differences in educational backgrounds, there are similarities in the ways students learn to spell.

Foorman 1997, Medrano 1997, Moats 1995B. As students move toward mature spelling, they must abandon the

relatively simple phonetic approach to spelling and take on the complex patterns that are at work in our spelling system.

Temple, Nathan, Burris, Temple 1993, Templeton 1997C. Skillful reading and fluid writing depend critically on the deep and

thorough acquisition of spelling and spelling-sound relationships.Adams 1990, Shaughess 1997

D. Early spelling evolves from awareness of phonology (the sound of language) and knowledge of the alphabet.

Read 1971, Chomsky 1979

Why Teach Dictation?

Background information• Teaches students to spell independently.• Helps students to internalize the spelling

patterns taught in dictation and reading instruction.

• Develops visual memory.• Develops reading and writing simultaneously.

Authentic Spelling Assessment in Writing• Correct?

• Detect?

• Inspect?

Based on writing sample, what is a target skill for instruction?

How Do I Assess PA?

• Usually 1:1

• Recommended to assess by mid-kindergarten year

• Focus on assessing blending and segmenting

Summary• The important role of Phonemic Awareness

• The sequence of a phonics lesson

• The organization of words based on graphemes, morphemes, and word patterns

Implementation Activities

• Phoneme Awareness Activity: Using a puppet, model for your students how to segment out a list of words. As you “talk” to the puppet, tell it that you are going to say some sounds and ask the puppet to blend the sounds to make a real word. After modeling a few words with the puppet, ask students to blend the words with the puppet.

• Phonics Activity: Have a group of teachers select a passage from the grade level anthology and determine what patterns and skillswould students need to decode the text. Which words will students struggle with? Which words would need to be pretaught. Practice blending them before reading the passage.

• Spelling Activity: Analyze a piece of student writing and determine spelling patterns that students are confusing. Plan a lesson that incorporates the elements of phonics instruction.