Phonics for Parents Introduction :
The Phonics for Parents classroom project is designed to help parents build a good reading platform at home.
Phonics is how to sound the composition of a word. When you learn music, you learn the notes to sing a song, similarly when you are learning to read, knowledge of phonics helps spell/sound the words. Traditionally, many of us have learnt through a look-say method of reading which primarily relies on memorization concept. With Phonics, 85% of the English language can be broken down into simple set of rules, with 15% of the words still falling into the exceptions and have to be learnt through the memorization method - but the good news is this is constant list.
When introducing reading to children, its important to balance reading and Phonics together to set a good reading platform.
Its essential to begin reading very early and “Read to Learn”, and slowly introduce basic phonics concepts, gradually advancing the information. The more you read the more phonics concepts will be reinforced and will come alive.
This goals of this classroom project:
Phonics for Parents Classroom Project Index
Step-by-Step Simplified Instructional Resources and Videos for each session. Recommended Age:
Learn the Phonics basics in this session. The 26 letters in the English alphabet and their sounds. Also learn more about consonants and Vowels. Vowels are the power letters which make the principal sound for each syllable and are letters “a”, “e’, “i”, “o” and “u”. Other than these 5 letters, all other letters are consonants. Please refer to the charts, videos and resources below to learn all about this session.
Session 1 in a Snapsot
Phonics Basics Reference Guide – Download the Phonics Basics Reference Guide/Handbook.
This includes a Concepts chart on Phonics Basics – Letters and Sounds, Consonants and Vowels. The Reference handbook also has a letter guide for all the 26 letters in the alphabet.
Basic Concepts and Phonics Handbook for Parents - Download Document
Activities Guide – Part 1:
Consonants and Vowels Activity Guide - Download Document
Letters and Sounds – This is an activity package for children to identify the beginning sounds of the words. It’s a creative and fun package to introduce basic letter sounds to the kids. There are 3 activities for the kids – each activity has a printable for every letter – so 26 printables in each package.
Activity 1 – Tic Tac Toe – This is a fun game of Crosses and Circles ( X and O), where you circle the images that matches the letter sound and cross the one’s that do not match. Each page has 9 images – 5 match, and 4 don’t. This is a fun and simple Vitamin Simple Concept, and has been compiled for a free use with the help of Vitamin Simple Super Mom volunteers – Anjali Dharod and Pratibha Nair
Alphabet Tic Tac Toe for all 26 letters – Download document
Activity 2 – Treasure Chest – In this activity, fill up the treasure chest with images that match the letter sound. Trace a line from the matching image to the treasure chest. Each page has 6 images – 4 match, and 2 don’t. This is a fun and simple Vitamin Simple Concept, and has been compiled for a free use with the help of Vitamin Simple Super Mom volunteers – Anjali Dharod and Julie Thakkar.
Fill up your Treasure Chest for all 26 letters – Download document
Activity 3 – Cool Cars: Parking or No Parking – Fun and Cool Word cars, if they match the letter sound, you park the cars in the Parking space, else park them in a no parking space. This is a fun and simple Vitamin Simple Concept – activity package uploading soon.
Cool Cars: Parking or No Parking for all 26 letters – Download link coming soon!
Video – Part 2
Coming Soon
Phonics Blending Basics Handbook – Download the Phonics Blending Basics Reference Guide/Handbook. This handbook has 3 Simple Steps to make it easier for kids to understand the process of basic blending for one vowel words.
The basic rule for One Vowel words :
One Vowel RULE: When there is only one vowel in the word, it says the short sound.
Step 1 – Let the music begin with consonant-vowel combinations. Learn the Consonant-Vowel blend with a simple chart
Step 2 –Add a consonant (third letter) to the step 1 consonant-vowel blend.
Step 3 – Speed up the basic blend learning with rhyming c-v-c blends. The guide contains most of the one vowel cvc words (consonant – vowel – consonant)
Video
Coming Soon
Phonics Long Vowel Sounds, 2 Vowel Rules Handbook – Download the Long Vowel Sounds, 2 Vowel Rules Reference Guide
We covered the One Vowel Rule:
When there is only one vowel in the word, it says the short sound
Now, we will be looking at Two Vowel Rule:
When two vowels go walking, the first one does the talking, it says its name (long sound), and the second one goes to sleep.
This handbook is segmented into 4 Steps. Work on one step and only after the child is able to understand the concept thoroughly move to the next step. Also, my suggestion is to work on long sounds for each vowel at a time, so for step 2, work on long a sound, then long e sound and so on. Segmentation will make it easier for kids to understand the two vowel word concepts.
Step 1 – The Magic “e”. C-v-C-e
Step 2 – 2 Vowel words – vowel teams – ai, ae, ea, ee, ie, ue, oe…
Step 3 – Two letter words with vowel at the end of the word
Step 4 – Vowel “y” and long vowel sounds