I’ve been a huge advocate of parents teaching their children to read for decades now. But I rarely find parents who are willing to undertake the huge but rewarding task of teaching a child to read. I’ve often questioned, “Why don’t they understand how easy it really is using the phonograms and spelling rules.”
I tend to see the world through my eyes, not understanding the perspective of others who have not been through the process three times with their own children and multiple times with other children, in the classroom and through tutoring.
Since I have a blog and social media, I’ve decided to go into much greater detail than ever before by sharing the many reasons I believe parents should teach their children to read.
This may go to the other extreme as I go through the phonograms one by one in groups of four along with spelling rules and witty anecdotes, but at least I can assure myself that parents will have all the information they need to take up the task or not.
One of the perspectives that I have that may be rare is that I think all this information is freaking cool. I mean, how did I never know how structured our language is and how easy it is to explain why words sound the way they do using phonograms and spelling rules. I LOVE breaking down words with readers and witnessing them go from having no idea what a word is to easily reading it when they see the sounds and rules that apply.
It reminds me, as a parent, of not understanding why my children don’t listen to my advice based on my great wisdom garnered over my many years of life. If one has not had experience with phonogams how can I expect them to buy into them with the same level I do.
Let’s get started now with the first four phonograms. NOTE: I usually put the phonograms in quotes when writing about them but I’m going to let you use context to understand when I’m referring to specific phonograms because it is easier for me and not difficult for you.
The first four phonograms I teach are a, c, d, and f. You might ask, “Why the heck are you starting out with those four phonograms? The first four in the alphabet are a, b, c, d.”
There is an entire story behind it that is based on teaching handwriting using the clock. When I taught first grade I had to teach handwriting as well. The first eight phonograms all start at two on the clock, which made it easier for the students to get acclimated to the handwriting process. That method of teaching handwriting is almost as awesome as the phonograms. I HATED teaching handwriting prior to that.
Good God! I really need to stay focused on the job at hand. Sorry about that, but I told you this world is freaking cool Stay with me!
The first phonogram is a. What is so special about it?
First, there are three sounds. I only taught two sounds back in the pre-phonograms day. Short a and long a. No rules whatsoever about when you use them, either. A first-grade teacher and I was so uninformed. Criminal.
OK, let’s go.
The first sound of a is short a as in good old cat. It is first because it is the most common sound of a. If you are not sure which sound to use even after using the rules we will talk about, try short a first. There won’t be any rules to tell you to use short a, but there are rules for when you use the other two sounds. Most of the time. Much more often than is stereotypically thought.
The second sound of a is long a (says its own name) as in cane. There is usually a reason for a to make its second sound, i.e. there are spelling rules in play. Below I list those rules:
- The silent final e goes back and makes the a long (cane, lake). This is the first rule of silent final e and the only one of the five I ever taught. More on that later because those rules are very cool.
- When a comes at the end of a syllable it is usually long (mason, basin)
- I thought there were more reasons, but that must be because there are so many other phonograms that make the long a sound. So just the two rules listed apply to a by itself. My learning continues to evolve!
And finally, the third sound of a, which I never taught pre-phonogram, is the sound we use in the word all. Pre-phonogram this was one of the many times I had to say, “You just need to memorize that word since that isn’t a sound of a.” I really regret that as I look back to those two years of teaching first grade without the phonograms. There are two rules:
- When a comes at the end of a word it will make its third sound (ma, salsa, drama). Now you may say salsa and drama end with the “uh” sound, but it really should be the third sound of a. But if you WANT your child to say “uh” there, they will get the word anyway. This is the first instance of using a very powerful strategy I call proximity. It is close enough to “uh” that a reader will still get the word.
- Phonogram a may say its third sound after a w or before an l (wall, water, almond, almost, final).
There you have it, three sounds of a. Too cool, am I right?
When learning a, say the three sounds of a:
a, ā, ä
(cat cane all)
I was planning to do all four sounds of lesson one as mentioned above. But wow, between the introduction to the blog series and all the details around a, I think this is enough. The next post will only be about the remaining three phonograms of lesson one.
Keep reading and you too will see how cool the phonograms and spelling rules are!
