Sight Words and Phonics: Friends, Not Enemies
If you’ve spent any time in early literacy circles, you’ve probably noticed something strange: people argue about sight words. One camp says memorizing sight words is essential. Another says it’s…
As an educator, you play a crucial role in children’s literacy development! Effective phonics instruction lays the foundation kids need to become curious, lifelong learners in the classroom and the world beyond.
Whether you’re considering which phonics instruction methods work best or looking for ways to introduce difficult concepts to students, phonics.org is here to support you.
Your child has been learning letter sounds for weeks. They can tell you that...
Right now, you’re reading these words without thinking about how you’re doing it. Your...
Most parents celebrate when their child can sound out words on a page. That’s...
Before a child ever sees a letter on a page, their brain is already...
Your child passed the eye exam with flying colors, but they still mix up...
Most people assume phonics and hearing loss don’t belong in the same sentence. After...
There is a well-documented shift that occurs around third grade, which literacy researchers have...
School administrators face an enormous challenge. Reading scores have declined, the achievement gap persists,...
You’ve just announced that your school is implementing a new systematic phonics program. You...
You’ve been working hard with your child on phonics. They’re blending sounds beautifully, sounding...
If you’ve spent any time in early literacy circles, you’ve probably noticed something strange: people argue about sight words. One camp says memorizing sight words is essential. Another says it’s…
Among kindergarten teachers, word sorting holds a quiet kind of reverence. It asks for nothing more than a small pile of word cards and a child willing to look closely,…
Most parents and teachers think of reading and writing as separate skills taught at different times of day. Reading comes first, the thinking goes, and writing follows once a child…
Walk into any kindergarten classroom, and you will see two very different books being handed to children learning to read. One says, “Sam can tap. Sam can nap.” The other…
When a child learns the short /a/ sound on Monday, blends CVC words on Tuesday, tackles digraphs on Wednesday, and then never returns to short /a/ again, something strange happens.…
Imagine handing a child a jigsaw puzzle with no picture on the box and no guidance about where to begin. A few kids might figure it out eventually, but most…
Here’s something that might surprise you: the order of a phonics lesson matters almost as much as the content inside it. A child who sits down for 20 minutes of…
Most parents only hear about reading problems when it’s already late in the game. A vague comment at a parent-teacher conference, a worrying score on a state test, a teacher…
Walk into any effective elementary classroom during literacy time, and you’ll likely see something that looks a bit like organized chaos. A teacher works intently with four students at a…
If your child’s school sent home a note about an upcoming “phonics screener,” you might have felt a flash of worry. Is it a test? Will my child pass or…
