Beginning reading students learn rules more slowly than remedial students and need more repetition, but when taught with phonics, they don't need to be retrained to read from left to right or constantly reminded not to guess words. The podcast series “Sold A Story” explains the problems with balanced literacy teaching.
A good phonics program will include instructions on how to teach phonics, and the programs listed on this page all are good methods that include how to instructions.
Steps for Teaching Phonics
1. Letter Sounds and Names. To teach letter sounds and names, you can use 40L’s charts and cards, or videos such as Leapfrog’s Talking Letter Factory. Our charts are arranged in sound order to help with phonemic awareness. Our how to teach letter sounds video explains how to teach them and how the charts are organized. Once the basic sounds are mastered, you can use 40L’s Vowel Team Charts to learning the spelling patterns of vowel teams.
2. Blending. Blending is a skill that can be difficult for some children to learn. It also depends on phonemic awareness, the ability to hear and manipulate the sounds in words. Our blending page explains how to teach blending.
3. Repetition, Repetition, Repetition. Young students need a lot of repetition for many things, and this is especially true for learning phonics. At first, they will blend words excruciatingly slow. Improvement will come with time and repetition.
4. Games and Fun. Adding in phonics games and fun activities can make the needed repetition more fun for everyone. Our phonics games page has ideas and links for free and inexpensive phonics and phonemic awareness game ideas.
5. Include Spelling. Including spelling is crucial—it reinforces reading skills, and both oral and written spelling should be practiced. For students with limited writing stamina, you can use magnetic letters for "written" spelling activities or try writing on a white board.
6. Decodable Books. Decodable books are another way to get in the needed repetition. Make sure you match the sounds in your phonics programs to the decodable book you are using.
Sight Words
Too many sight words taught as wholes can lead to guessing problems. Our sight word page explains how to teach nearly all of the 220 most common sight words using phonics. A good phonics program will just teach the patterns of the so called "sight words" as they come up. For example, Don Potter has a chart of the end of Blend Phonics showing when each "sight word" is taught, all 220 are taught by the end of the program.
Books for Beginning Readers
Beginning Phonics Books and Links
Phonics Pathways, This is a time tested method that has been popular for decades. It includes spelling tips and a lot of repetition and reinforcement. It teaches phonics to the 4th grade level
Florence Akins’ free to print Word Mastery. Another time tested method. It starts with easiest letters to blend. You can also purchase a physical copy of Word Mastery. It goes to the 3rd grade level.
Blend Phonics, 1st grade level, free from Don Potter, his Blend Phonics page includes fun supplements. You can also purchase a physical copy of Blend Phonics. It goes to the 1st grade level.
University of Florida Literacy Institute( UFLI) Toolbox, free lessons, games, and decodable stories. There is also a manual you can purchase. It is designed for classroom use but can be used for an individual student as well. Goes to 2nd grad level.
Vanessa Peters YouTube Phonics Lessons, watch and learn, can use pencil and paper instead of workbooks.
Denise Eide, Uncovering the Logic of English, phonics and spelling reference, well explained, organized and arranged in a different manner than “The ABCs and All Their Tricks.”
