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Alphablocks: Letter Fun App Review

Jaymi Thiessen on November 8, 2024

Exploring Letter Sound Learning with the Alphablocks: Letter Fun App

Check out phonics.org to see more detailed literacy app reviews and make informed choices for your students or children.

Continue reading to learn more about the Alphablocks: Letter Fun app.

What is the Alphablocks App?

The Alphablocks: Letter Fun app is inspired by the popular BBC series Learning Blocks TV. It features beloved characters from the Alphablocks, Number Blocks, and Colour Blocks educational TV shows.

The Alphablocks segment specifically focuses on literacy, drawing from the rich content of the TV show, which boasts over 80 episodes. The Alphablocks: Letter Fun app aims to help young children master learning the connection between letters and the sounds they represent in an interactive way. Currently, it is available in British English only and is offered as a paid app.

Are the Alphablocks: Letter Fun Apps Easy to Use?

The following factors impact the overall usability of the Alphablocks: Letter Fun app.

Getting Around Alphablocks: Letter Fun

The Alphablocks app is generally easy to navigate. Settings are cleverly accessed by holding a “Grown Ups” button which also provides a description of the Alphablocks.

There are two main areas for learners to explore:

Meet the Alphablocks – hear a letter sound, play 4 mini games for each letter

Bubble Pop – pop bubbles to match letter sounds
Paint Me – letter sounds game
Favorite Things – pop things that start with a certain letter sound
Hide & Seek – spot a hiding Alphablock

Sing Along

A to Z – every Alphablock sings its letter sound song

Choose to play in sequence or mix it up randomly—it’s all about fun and learning!

*The Home screen in Alphablocks: Letter Fun*

Settings

The Alphablocks: Letter Fun app offers a few customizable settings on the grown-ups’ page. Parents can toggle between letter sounds and letter names, enabling children to engage with the game in different ways. Additionally, there are options to adjust game settings or reset progress, although it would be beneficial to include the ability to add multiple users for shared experiences.

Instructions

One notable feature is the absence of distracting music, which is a significant advantage for a game focused on letter sounds. However, the inability to repeat instructions in the minigames can be a drawback. Without the option to revisit instructions, young players may find it challenging to navigate some of the minigames.

Engagement in Alphablocks: Letter Fun

The following factors influence the engagement that learners may have with the app.

Gameplay

The appearance of the animated characters from a known TV show definitely works to capture the attention of kids who will be drawn into the game. The design, animations, and songs are cute and engaging for young kids.

The four mini-games in the Alphablocks: Letter Fun app are predictable and repetitive, but this design is intentional—routine and repetition are important for helping children solidify the connection between letters and their corresponding sounds. More children could consistently and actively participate in the app by adding the option to repeat instructions for each game.

*The Favorite Things mini game asks players to match things with the same initial letter sound*

Feedback & Rewards

In the Alphablocks: Letter Fun app, the emphasis is on educational games rather than elaborate reward systems. When kids answer correctly, they receive positive sounds, stars, and verbal praise, which reinforces their achievements. There are also nice little touches, like when the Alphablocks celebrate completing all four mini-games with a cheerful song. Overall, the app effectively maintains a focus on educational goals while keeping the experience engaging and enjoyable.

Literacy Learning With Alphablocks: Letter Fun

These factors impact how effective the Alphablocks: Letter Fun app is at teaching kids important literacy skills.

Letter Sounds

The Alphablocks: Letter Fun app does a great job of providing accurate letter sounds in British English, which is essential for effective learning. Most games are pretty good at teaching letter sound connections, but there are a few glitches to note. For instance, in the Bubble Pop game, kids are asked to catch bubbles that say /k/, but only the letter <C> is counted as a correct answer.

On the positive side, the app uses repetition of letter sounds which is excellent for helping kids make those important connections. However, some representations of letter sounds in the alphabet song could be more distinctive. Overall, while there are a few hiccups, the app mostly provides a solid foundation for learning letter sounds.

Phonemic Awareness

The Alphablocks: Letter Fun app primarily focuses on teaching letter sounds, which is a worthy goal for an educational literacy app. There are additional phonemic awareness exercises in the app such as identifying the first sound in a word (known as phoneme isolation).

In the Alphablocks: Letter Fun app all letter sounds are taught at once in any order the child chooses. While there’s nothing wrong with learning all the letter sounds at once, some reading programs opt to teach a few sounds first and emphasize blending them to read words. This method can help speed up the learning-to-read process.

Is the Alphablocks: Letter Fun App Good for Learning?

Overall, the Alphablocks: Letter Fun app is easy to learn how to use and is fairly engaging for young children who are learning their letter-sound associations. The easy-to-use app uses cute animated Alphablock characters from the TV show with catchy songs to engage children in learning some foundational literacy skills.

The app has a simple system for teaching letter-sound associations through four repetitious mini games. These games are useful, well-designed and developmentally appropriate, but could be improved by adding repeatable instructions for the games. There are also minor letter sound errors in the game, which could be occasionally confusing for kids. Overall, The Alphablocks: Letter Fun has a helpful method for teaching children the valuable goal of learning letter sound correspondences.

Want to discover more phonics education apps? Check out Phonics.org for a growing library of honest reviews from literacy experts!

Alphablocks: Letter Fun – Overall Ratings

Quality of Literacy Instruction: 3 / 5

Usability: 4 / 5

Engagement: 4 / 5

When Can Kids Write Their Name?

phonicsorg on September 6, 2024

If you’re a parent, you likely anticipate your child’s developmental milestones with awe and excitement. One of the most memorable milestones in a child’s life is when they begin to express themselves through pen and paper—and especially when they learn to write their own name! This early literacy skill marks the beginning of your child’s writing experiences that will carry them through school and life.

So, when can kids write their names? And what can you do to encourage their learning? Let’s look at this fascinating developmental process and consider some of the ways you can support your child as they become rooted in language and self-identity.

Childhood Developmental Stages of Name Writing

Children go through several learning stages as they begin to learn how to write. Since a child’s name is one of the first words they ever learn how to write, recognizing these different stages can help you recognize their progress and provide the necessary support.

While the following stages are typical of many children, remember that every child develops at their own pace. Some kids might learn letter-writing quickly and easily with basic guidance, whereas others may develop slowly and require extra support. There’s no “perfect” timeline to aim for here—it varies from child to child.

Scribbling Stage (1-2 years)

By 12-18 months old, many toddlers have the dexterity and curiosity to scribble. They can sit up on their own, hold objects in a fist, and create loose movements with a writing utensil, making random marks on paper.

While these scribbles don’t yet resemble anything legible, they represent your little one’s first attempt at communication through writing. It’s helping them build the essential motor skills they’ll need to one day write words and sentences.

Making Shapes Stage (3-4 years)

By age three, kids can typically produce markings on paper that resemble common shapes. These include circles, triangles, lines, dots, and curves. Early-developing children might make “controlled scribbles” that result in sloppy shapes, whereas kids with more practice might begin drawing whole circles and straight lines.

Writing Random Letters Stage (3.5-4.5 years)

When kids begin recognizing their first alphabetical letters and copying them onto paper (around 3-5 years old), they go through phases of writing random letters. They’re at the point where they understand that writing involves alphabetical symbols, but they might not be able to replicate individual symbols from memory with any set purpose yet.

It’s common for children at this stage to write letters backward or upside down, confuse certain shapes in letters, or write random letters for fun.

Semiphonetic Stage (4.5-5 years)

Writing whole words and sentences requires confidence in letter-sound correspondences—in other words, being able to connect alphabetical letters and the sounds they represent. This is a crucial phonetic skill, making up a big part of early phonics education.

When children enter the phonetic stage of writing (typically by age 4 or 5), they’ll start writing the first letter of their name correctly. Then, they may include other letters they hear when their name is pronounced, even if those letters aren’t in the proper spelling of their name. Other kids, however, are explicitly taught their name from the beginning, and learn to practice spelling their whole name from memory.

Name Writing Mastery (5-6 years)

The most common age at which children can write their whole names legibly is around 5-6 years old. At this point, they ideally know letter formations and can produce their name with proper capitalization and spelling. Name-writing is especially focused on during kindergarten. In school, it’s often expected that students know how to write their names by the end of this grade.

Things That Impact Children’s Name-Writing Milestones

A few things impact a child’s writing development early on. Whether your child is struggling to write their first letters or you notice them behind the rest of the kids in their class, consider these factors.

Fine motor skills are the physical ability to control small muscles and joints such as hands, fingers, and wrists. Writing involves these fine motor skills. Children who are susceptible to fine motor difficulties might struggle with writing.
Letter recognition is a required skill for learning to write. Your child must know (or currently be learning) the alphabet to determine what certain letters look like and be able to reproduce them.
Phonological awareness is the ability to recognize and manipulate the individual sounds of speech. This is involved in “sounding out” words to transcribe them into writing. It’s been proven that children who struggle with phonological awareness are likely to have reading and writing difficulties.
The amount of exposure and practice your child receives to letters, reading, and writing can heavily influence their development. This is one reason why parents are encouraged to create a literacy-rich environment and facilitate practice with their children during early literacy.

Signs Your Child is Ready to Write Their Name

Some signs that indicate your child is ready to practice writing their name include:

They show interest in drawing and writing
They’re learning to hold a writing utensil correctly (tripod grip)
They’re learning the alphabet
They recognize or point out some letters in print
They try to copy shapes and letters on paper

If you notice your child taking an interest in writing, it’s likely time to help them learn to write their name!

How to Encourage Your Child to Begin Writing

Fostering your child’s interest in writing needs to be fun and educational. Here are some tips to encourage them and nurture their budding literacy skills.

Make Writing Approachable: Set up your child’s space with plenty of writing materials so they can easily grab a crayon and paper to draw or write when they want to. You can also provide alphabet cards, letter tracing worksheets, and books to encourage a literacy-rich environment.
Model Fluent Writing: Let your child watch you as you write on a piece of paper. Explain what you’re doing as you write your name (or theirs), making it interesting and educational for them.
Practice—and Make it Fun: Provide plenty of practice activities and get creative with it. Pencils and paper are necessary, however, feel free to include alternative writing exercises using finger paint, clay, dry-erase boards, sand, and fun utensils (such as glitter pens or scented markers).
Celebrate Small Victories: Acknowledge your child’s attempts at writing, even if it isn’t legible or accurate yet. Offer kindness and patience as you help them practice, correcting mistakes as they go.

Children’s Name Writing as Part of Phonics Education

Kids learn to write their names as part of early phonics education. They must first learn how to connect sounds with letters, understand basic decoding and encoding concepts, and practice literacy skills in a supportive, systematic instructional environment.

While classroom instruction is foundational to your child’s reading and writing, a lot of their earlier phonics exposure begins at home. Learning to talk, building a vocabulary, strengthening their phonemic awareness, and observing literate adults in their lives are all beneficial before entering formal literacy instruction.
To prepare your child to become a strong reader and writer, make phonics instruction fun and effective early on. At Phonics.org, we provide a library of resources to help families understand phonics education for kids. Check out our phonics tips for parents to help your child at every phase of literacy development.

Simple 10-Minute Phonics Lessons for Busy Parents

phonicsorg on August 16, 2024

If your child is learning phonics, you might be wondering how to help them practice at home. Phonics practice sets the foundation for how future reading skills are developed. But when family life is busy and you have multiple kids in school, it can be hard to find the time to sit down and dedicate the time a child needs to strengthen their phonics knowledge.

Thankfully, there are quick and simple ways you can still incorporate phonics lessons at home without spending hours focused on studying. In this article, we share some approachable, 10-minute phonics lessons that busy parents like you can include in their daily routines.

8 Short Phonics Lessons You Can Do Anywhere

Even if it’s just ten minutes per day, consistent phonics practices can help your child along their literacy journey. Consistency is key. At Phonics.org, we share effective activities and phonics apps that young learners love.

You can fit these activities into small, 10-20 minute pockets of downtime at home while also making it fun for your kids. Practice during breakfast, while waiting for dinner to be ready, during car rides, while standing in line at the mall, or even while waiting in a medical office. The goal is to make phonics a meaningful part of your child’s life.

Lesson 1: Letter Sound Matching

Matching letter sounds is a simple way to reinforce letter-sound correspondences for kids who are early in their phonics education. You can play with alphabet cards, pictures, objects in the room, or even verbal names of family and friends.

Ask your child to say the word of the picture, letter, object, or name you are presenting to them. Then, see if they can identify the letter sound the first letter makes, such as /d/ for dog. If they pick up on the concept easily, see if they can come up with another word that begins with the same letter sound—in the case of /d/, they could say a word like “dentist” or “duck.” Repeat with as many words as you can in 10-20 minutes.

Lesson 2: Rhyming Words

This word match is a great activity for curious, active kiddos. It helps young children develop their phonemic awareness through rhyming. All you need are household items or objects your child can identify in their surroundings.

Choose a simple word like “cat” and then ask your child to go and look for words that rhyme with it. They might point out a hat, a mat, or a baseball bat. If there are no items that rhyme in your physical surroundings, ask if they can come up with a rhyming word on their own.

Lesson 3: Blending Sounds

Blending is when a child combines every letter sound in a word to pronounce the full word. To practice blending, gather a set of alphabet cards, plastic fridge magnets, or letter blocks. Choose letters that will spell simple words such as “sit,” “dad,” or “hot.” Present one letter at a time and have your child sound it out, then place the next letter and have them sound it out, and so on. Once the full word is spelled, ask your child to blend the whole word together. Help them if they get stuck.

Lesson 4: Sort the Word Families

Sorting word families helps kids recognize word patterns and sound segments. You can do this mini-phonics lesson by using alphabet cards or a list of written words that are appropriate for your child’s skill level. In random order, write out words from the same “families” (such as words ending in -at, -ig, -an, -in, etc.). Have your child go through and read the words out loud, offering guidance if they need it. After they read the words, help them go through the list again and circle each word family in a different colored pencil. For example, words ending in ‘-in’ would be circled green and words ending in ‘-ar’ would be circled in pink.

Lesson 5: Identify the Initial Sound

Phonics scavenger hunts help kids identify the initial sounds in everyday objects. This includes household items, items in TV shows, and pictures in children’s books. Give your child a specific phoneme (sound of speech) and have them look for items that start with that sound. This could be sounds like /sh/, /oo/, /l/, /s/, or /p/.

Lesson 6: Words With Deleted Letters

This short phonics lesson helps kids manipulate sounds in words and can be done anywhere. All it requires is some verbal communication and play. To do this activity, say a word and ask your child to repeat it without a specific sound—such as “cat” without the /c/ sound. They’ll say, “at.” Play around with this game and make it fun! See if they can figure out how to say “pepper” without /p/ or “banana” without /a/. Let them choose words for you to say and then delete one sound, too.

Lesson 7: Phonics Memory Cards

Memory games are another fun activity to play at home with minimal supplies. You can create homemade cards with alphabetical letters on one set and a picture representing each letter sound on another set of cards. Place the cards randomly on a surface and have your child flip over a card, one by one, and then see how many pairs they can correctly match.

Lesson 8: Read and Draw

To connect phonics skills to reading comprehension, this phonics read-and-draw activity is simple and only requires a pencil and paper. Write out simple sentences using words that follow phonics patterns your child is familiar with. Have them read the sentence and then draw a picture to illustrate what it means. For example, “The dog ran” or “A ball is flat.” This is a great mini-lesson and practice for children who enjoy art and are gaining new reading skills quickly.

More Resources for Parents Helping Their Kids Learn Phonics

To help you and your child get the most out of simple, time-saving phonics lessons like the ones mentioned above, check out the resources recommended by Phonics.org.

Phonics learning apps: Many free and affordable learning apps incorporate phonics lessons to give your child a variety of tools to practice with. Digital phonics programs are a great way to supplement classroom and face-to-face learning!
Printable worksheets: You can find educational worksheets to print out at home for more phonics practice with your child.
Decodable books: Decodable books help your child reinforce the concepts they learn when beginning to read. Reading.com has many effective decodable books in its app which can make reading practice effective and fun.
Phonics program reviews: Find the best digital phonics lessons that can help your child master their early phonics skills. The Phonics.org reviews page contains honest, expert-vetter program reviews that assess usability, quality of instruction, and engagement.

Practicing phonics for ten minutes a day is better than no practice at all. So if your household is hectic and you think you can’t prioritize these lessons at home, don’t worry—you can do it! Start small, do a little bit daily, and use the resources available to you and your child.

To learn more about helping your child with their phonics education, follow us at Phonics.org to stay updated on the latest tips, program reviews, and research.

How to Compare Phonics Reviews and Choose the Best Program

phonicsorg on June 7, 2024

If you’re a teacher or parent of young readers, you’ve likely faced the overwhelming number of educational programs and apps on the market today. How do you choose the best phonics program when teaching children how to read and write?

Because phonics instruction plays such a critical role in children’s literacy development, choosing which programs and apps to use with your students is not a decision to take lightly. There are several core aspects to consider when comparing your options. In this article, we explain the top criteria to review and how to compare them so you can make informed decisions.

Continue reading to learn from the literacy experts at Phonics.org! Plus, discover some helpful phonics apps and programs that we’ve thoroughly reviewed for you already.

Criteria to Follow When Reviewing Phonics Programs

Whether you’re reading reviews for your own online research or writing a phonics review to share educational feedback, a few criteria can help you gain a full picture of the program. These include effectiveness, user engagement, overall usability, and other factors that determine whether or not a program is proven to support children’s reading success.

Knowing what to look for can mitigate confusion. Here are some of the criteria we suggest.

Quality of Phonics Instruction

There are different types of phonics programs that use different instructional approaches. Mainly:

Synthetic phonics teaches children to correspond letters with individual sounds, and how to blend them in print to form words.
Analytic phonics focuses on analyzing whole words to identify phonetic patterns.
Embedded phonics uses context clues and implicit reading to teach concepts “as needed.”
Analogy phonics focuses on using word patterns and word families to create “analogies” for new concepts.

Synthetic phonics instruction is widely recognized for its efficacy in reading instruction. Synthetic phonics uses single speech sounds to teach word-reading and spelling. Studies that have compared the different types of phonics, over time, have found synthetic phonics to be the most effective method. When looking for a phonics program, a focus on synthetic instruction is key.

Similarly, when comparing phonics reviews, it’s helpful to look at the program’s scope and sequence—how concepts are introduced and built upon. Research shows that systematic phonics instruction significantly improves reading skills, especially for young learners and struggling readers.

Bottom line: check if the program is explicit, systematic, and involves teacher guidance. It should involve regular assessments to monitor student progress. Feedback from educators and parents who have used the program can also help you learn about the program’s scope and sequence.

Alignment With Evidence-Based Practices

Evidence-based literacy instruction includes methods that have been proven effective through the science of reading. To determine if a phonics program aligns with these practices, consider whether or not it’s based on instruction that is supported by research and shows measurable success in reading development.

Check if it follows a structured, systematic approach and includes regular learning assessments. Read program reviews from literacy specialists on websites like Phonics.org to see which ones follow these principles, providing structured, research-backed instruction to support children’s literacy development.

By choosing programs that align with evidence-based instruction, you prevent your students from learning faulty reading methods that could stunt their reading development or cause them to fall behind.

Level of User Engagement

Content engagement is crucial for young learners as it keeps them motivated and interested in the learning process. For a good level of engagement in a phonics program, it should include interactive activities, multimedia elements, fun lessons, structured pace, and digital apps that balance entertainment with educational challenges. Programs that incorporate games, songs, and hands-on exercises tend to be more engaging.

To experience the engagement level for yourself, see if the program offers free trials or demos. Observe how children interact with the content and whether they remain focused and enthusiastic. Feedback from other parents and educators can also provide insights into the program’s ability to captivate and maintain children’s interest.

Overall Usability of the Program

Usability in the context of phonics programs refers to how easy and intuitive the program is for children and adults to navigate. Features of usability include ease of use, clarity of instructions, accessibility options, troubleshooting, and customer support.

When reading phonics program reviews, pay attention to what people say about the overall experience. If it’s a phonics app, does it have a user-friendly interface, clear and concise instructions, and accessible features for learners? Is the app’s customer support helpful, difficult, or non-existent? Gather more feedback on usability by reading reviews from independent education sites, talking with educators, or by trying the program yourself to see how smoothly it operates in practice.

Feedback from Existing Phonics Program Reviews

Reading user reviews lets you consider people’s subjective experiences with the program and notice patterns of these experiences. To find authentic reviews, explore different reading organizations, parent forums, and teacher blogs. Look for detailed feedback that discusses the strengths and weaknesses of each program.

Assess these reviews to identify common themes, such as functionality, bugginess, quality of literacy instruction, affordability, and engagement. This will help you make an informed decision about whether the program is suitable for your child’s or students’ needs.

Opportunities for Instructional Guidance

Effective phonics instruction requires ongoing support and professional development for teachers. Whether you’re a parent or educator, consider the level of adult guidance, program facilitator resources, and ongoing support provided by the app or program developer. This can help you deliver the educational activities effectively while engaging in your student’s literacy development.

Observations of Program Implementation

One of the best ways to evaluate a phonics program is to observe it in action. Look for opportunities to visit classrooms or schools where the program is being implemented. Download phonics apps and sign up for free trials of online programs so you can view the lessons for yourself.

Pay attention to how the lessons are structured, the level of engagement they provide from a child’s perspective, and the educator’s ability to effectively support the program’s instruction methods.

View the Latest Phonics Reviews at Phonics.org

Taking the time to read through different types of phonics program reviews is a necessary step in finding the right educational content to help students learn to read.

If you’re a parent, we hope these tips help you understand what to look for and what to stay away from so you can encourage your child to develop strong reading skills.

If you’re a teacher, we hope you not only benefit from reading phonics reviews but also feel encouraged to stay updated on the latest phonics programs and apps in development.

To stay up to date, join the community dedicated to improving literacy education at Phonics.org. Explore our latest phonics reviews, leave your own feedback, and send any phonics program recommendations you’d like to see reviewed! Together, we can support the development of strong readers through evidence-based phonics instruction.

10 Tips for Parents Teaching Phonics at Home

phonicsorg on March 29, 2024

Teaching phonics to kids is no easy feat. Reading and writing are complex skills that must be explicitly learned, practiced, and mastered over time if children are to become proficient readers.

Whether your child is learning phonics in their classroom or you’re educating them from home, a consistent and proven phonics program can have positive outcomes.

In this guide, we share practical tips on how parents can start teaching phonics at home—in ways that are proven to support kids’ development. Let’s dive in!

1. Create a Phonics Routine

The first thing you need to do if you want to teach phonics at home is to start an at-home phonics routine with your child.

Consistency is important not only for children’s emotional development but cognitive development as well. Practice, routine, and clear expectations help children feel more comfortable and confident in their everyday lives.

When learning something new such as phonics—even if it’s challenging—children benefit from daily routine. Whether it’s ten minutes or thirty minutes per day, a structured learning practice makes a big difference.

2. Read Aloud With Your Child

Read books to your child regularly when they’re little. As they learn basic phonics skills, read with them, making a point to include them in the reading process.

Let your child choose books they want to read with you
Welcome your child’s questions about the story and characters
Take turns reading and kindly correcting each other’s mistakes
Encourage active participation, using questions and real-world connections

When you read to (and with) your child, you model fluency and reinforce positive reading experiences. Even when you might not notice it, your child is “absorbing” a lot of useful information from reading aloud with you.

3. Prioritize Letters and Sounds

No matter what you include in your child’s phonics education at home, make it a priority to practice letter-sound correspondence.

This is the relationship between alphabetical letters and the sounds they represent in spoken language. It’s the fundamental basis of reading because essential skills like decoding rely on knowledge of letter sounds. To learn a few letter-sound teaching exercises, read this article from phonics.org.

4. Make Phonics Education Playful

Try playing some entertaining phonics games with your child to keep them interested and engaged. Kids typically learn best through play, so make this an opportunity to enjoy quality time together and strengthen those budding phonics skills.

For example, to focus on letter sounds, play games like “I Spy,” where you silently identify an item in your surroundings and give letter clues. For pineapple, you’d say: “I spy something that starts with <P>.”

5. Take a Multisensory Approach

Leverage the use of multiple senses during phonics instruction to go beyond sight and sound. Ideas include:

Tactile objects (foam letters, alphabet tiles, writing in sand)
Auditory cues (alphabet songs, nursery rhymes)
Physical movement (jumping/clapping along with syllables, letter hopscotch)

Sensory phonics games are especially helpful for kids who hate sitting still or those who need a break from focused “work” at a desk.

6. Apply Phonics to Everyday Life

Use real-life situations as opportunities for phonics instruction. Ask your child to sound out words on restaurant menus, find a specific letter on a street sign, point at labels in the grocery store, and do other fun quests.

7. Use Educational Technology

Learning phonics isn’t limited to print. Thanks to the development of digital learning today, some educational apps and resources can enhance your child’s phonics learning.

For kids who are digital natives, online phonics programs can be useful, beneficial, and fun. Put screen time to good use and choose a phonics app that implements proven instruction methods, engaging activities, and user-friendly experiences.

To find online apps that help kids learn to read, check out our phonics program reviews from literacy experts.

8. Extend Patience and Encouragement

Seeing your child progress in their phonics lessons is so exciting! It’s easy to provide words of praise when they’re doing so well. When a new concept or skill doesn’t come naturally, though, it’s even more important to extend patience to your child and offer encouragement.

According to Havard’s Center on the Developing Child, consistently encouraging children to learn through curiosity, play, and social interaction can have a direct impact on the level of intrinsic motivation they experience into adulthood. So in addition to words of encouragement, model curiosity to your child and show them it’s okay to make mistakes when learning.

9. Monitor Your Child’s Strengths and Weaknesses

Every child has strengths and weaknesses when it comes to literacy development. Regardless of their skill level or expected abilities for their age, it’s important to monitor their unique experience. That way, you can notice which areas they need more support in.

Ensure your child has a reading assessment to understand where they’re succeeding and if they need additional support. Generally, children are assessed or screened for reading difficulties three times a year – at the beginning, middle, and end of the school year. Some children may require additional help and could be monitored more frequently to track progress and next steps.

Some reading assessments are more reliable than others. The DIBELS (Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills) is a reliable resource for this. Explore the DIBELS screening tips for parents and families.

10. Give Your Child the Support They Need

Adequate phonics instruction provides a solid foundation for kids to become avid learners. When children know how to read and write effectively, the world is theirs to discover. With these tips, we hope you can better support your child’s phonics journey at home.

An additional note: It’s worthwhile to acknowledge that sometimes, children may need more help than what we can offer as parents. If a student experiences underlying issues that result in reading difficulties—such as stress, learning disorders, or a behavioral struggle—those issues must be addressed. If you and your child’s teachers have tried everything but still notice little improvement, talk with a clinician or reading specialist.

No matter where your child is on their path to literacy, you can learn more reading education tips from our parent resources at phonics.org.

Common Phonics Mistakes to Avoid When Teaching

phonicsorg on March 15, 2024

Ahhh, phonics instruction. It’s such a special experience in a child’s education! Helping kids learn how to read and write is fascinating, rewarding, and developmentally necessary.

Unless it’s not.

If you’ve been trying to help your child or student(s) learn phonics but aren’t seeing reasonable progress, you may need to rethink some of the methods being used.

Nobody’s perfect. There’s always room for improvement, whether it be for students, teachers, or parents. However, several common phonics mistakes in teaching can result in ineffective (and sometimes, detrimental) learning outcomes.

Here are the mistakes to avoid so you can pivot your approach and equip your students with the literacy skills they deserve.

Neglecting Decoding

It used to be common practice in phonics to take a “top-down” approach, beginning with whole words and breaking them down. Some instruction methods today still focus on similar methods. Those involving memorization of whole words or sight words neglect the process of decoding (sounding out words using letter-sound knowledge). Plus, these top-down methods push students to guess words they don’t know, which comes with a whole other set of problems.

Decoding is the most practical and effective skill to teach early readers because it gives them a way to tackle unfamiliar words on their own while still welcoming guidance from parents and teachers. It builds confidence and provides an avenue to overcome new challenges as the child learns phonics.

Reading decodable books is one way that students can put their budding phonics skills to practice. These are books that follow concepts the child has been taught so far. Students can typically read decodable books with great accuracy and then move on to a more advanced book as they grasp new concepts.

Once decoding skills become quick and automatic, students can move onto reading phrases or short sentences. This movement from words to sentences builds fluency and confidence as kids advance from decoding words to sentences, and then whole passages.

Ignoring Vocabulary

Phonics instruction should always be connected with meaning. While children are learning to decode, always discuss the meaning of the words they are reading. Connecting words to meaning while decoding helps with memory and builds language comprehension skills.

It makes sense why: children can’t comprehend the text if they don’t know how to decode the words. At the same time, expanding their vocabulary has also been shown to improve reading development.

Introduce vocabulary words to your child or student so that when they decode new words in print, they’ll be able to successfully comprehend what they’re reading.

Advanced Phonemic Awareness Training

Some phonemic awareness skills, like segmenting and blending, are crucial in learning to read and spell. Several reading programs advise spending a great deal of time on building phonemic awareness skills. Sometimes this instruction is entirely oral and does not use written letters (graphemes).

A recent (2021) study found that “At present, recommendations to spend instructional time on advanced phonemic awareness training outside of print, or that students should develop “phonemic proficiency” to become proficient readers, are not evidence-based” (p. 31).

Focusing on important phonemic awareness skills such as segmenting and blending to spell and read words is advisable. This instruction is better when paired with letters (graphemes).

Lacking Consistent Review of Previous Instruction

If your instruction follows a scope and sequence, great job. To achieve mastery, students need to constantly go back and practice the skills they’ve already learned. You can’t just teach new skills and then move on.

Create opportunities for kids to practice the concepts they’re learning, being careful not to present a rule and then never bring it up again. Use lessons that contain the smallest concept (such as -at endings, -ack endings, or both) and scaffold them into more challenging words or even sentences if the child is at that level.

Repeated review gives students a chance to strengthen the main skills they’re focused on learning but also recall the simpler skills they learned previously.

Failing to Differentiate Instruction

Differentiation is crucial for many students, especially struggling readers or children with learning disabilities. While proven phonics strategies are effective for a majority of learners, not all kids obtain the required skills through standard lessons.

Parents and instructors can seek differentiated instruction to address a child’s learning needs. There are several ways to intervene and/or accommodate a student (or group of students) who may be struggling with phonics so they can still become successful readers. Options include multisensory learning, adapting how a lesson is taught, extending timed tests, or providing one-on-one support.

Following a Phonics Curriculum That Isn’t Explicit or Systematic

Most kids can’t learn to read on their own. The extensive science of reading has proven this. Students need explicit instruction—especially when developing fundamental literacy skills.

Avoid a type of phonics instruction that:

Requires rote memorization of whole words
Encourages guessing strategies via context cues (i.e. look at the picture to guess the word)
Fails to prioritize decoding skills
Disregards phonemic awareness practice
Relies heavily on sight words
Lacks consistent, effective instruction
Resists differentiated instruction options for struggling students

There are multiple approaches to teaching phonics, several of which can supplement students’ learning when used appropriately. But to instruct phonics in a way that most children can master, teaching must be systematic (following a sequential, logical order) and explicit (providing direct rules, explanations, and guided applications).

Phonics is complex. So, if this list of mistakes to avoid during instruction seems overwhelming, it’s because it can be!

That’s why we’re here.

To find more credible insights related to phonics and literacy development, explore the resources from phonics.org.

What is Phonics? An Introduction for Parents and Educators

phonicsorg on February 7, 2024

Anyone who can read and write in an alphabetical language has mastered an important set of skills. They know the connection between letters and the sounds each one represents. They can decipher letter and word combinations when reading and encode which sequence of letters to spell when writing. Understanding these letter-to-sound principles is one of the most important aspects of literacy; a precious ability of human communication.

If you’re reading this, congratulations! You’ve already mastered these skills in English. You likely learned them through phonics instruction, although you may not remember how.

If you’re an educator or parent who’s helping a child learn to read, you might find yourself wondering: what is phonics? And how should I be teaching it?

In this guide, we’ll refresh your memory and explore what phonics instruction is meant to be.

Phonics and the Reading Pyramid

Phonics is one of the foundational pillars of the reading pyramid. Once children understand the sounds of their language and how to verbally manipulate words (phonemic awareness), they can gradually move up the pyramid.

With continued instruction, they move up the pyramid to build fluency—the ability to read with ease, accuracy, and expression. As they grow in fluency, children build their vocabulary. Eventually, they develop all the essential reading skills and can experience reading comprehension with little adult guidance.

How Phonics Works

Phonics instruction builds knowledge about letter-sound correlations in reading and writing. It is simply, “the relationship between speech and print” (Beck, 2006, p.16). It is an umbrella term for several important skills children acquire through development and instruction.

Learning the Sounds of Language

Phonemic awareness, or the ability to hear, recognize, and manipulate the different sounds in language, develops in a child’s early years of life. It sets the foundation for spoken language.

The more that children develop and engage in literacy activities with family members, they develop pre-reading skills. They learn things like concepts of print, rhyming, several alphabetical letters, and more. Soon, they’ll be ready for phonics instruction to begin.

The Alphabetic Principle

Before kindergarten, children typically start learning the alphabetic principle. This is the understanding that words are made of letters. It’s the concept and practice of connecting letters with their corresponding sounds (otherwise known as a “grapheme-phoneme correspondence” or GPC). Children often learn the alphabet song and know that the letters make certain sounds, like the letter <m> representing the sound /m/. With early phonics instruction, they gradually learn, for example, that the letters <ch> make the /ch/ sound as in ‘chocolate’ and /th/ is the beginning sound of the word, “thanks.”

Blending Letter Sounds to Form Words (Decoding)

The more grapheme-phoneme correspondences a child knows, the more they can practice blending. Phoneme blending is combining individual letter sounds in a word to read the whole word. This can also be called sounding out or decoding. During instruction, a child might come across a new word. The child can blend the sounds such as /m/ /a/ /t/ to read the whole word, ‘mat’.

Segmenting Words into Letters (Spelling/Encoding)

Inversely, children learn segmenting in phonics instruction, which is the opposite of blending. Kids learn early spelling techniques when they can spell their names, loved ones’ names, and simple words based on the individual sounds that make up a word. For example, if a child wants to spell ‘skip’ but doesn’t know how, they can gradually segment the word into its individual phonemes from start to finish: /s/ /k/ /i/ /p/.

Types of Phonics Instruction and Their Efficacy

There are four different types of phonics. Any phonics instruction for early readers is better than no phonics instruction at all. However, some methods do have more efficacious results than others.

Regardless of the approach in the type of phonics, instruction should be explicit and systematic. This means determining a pre-established sequence or “scope and sequence” to directly teach phonics concepts. In this way, children can start learning with easier concepts and slowly increase complexity in different stages.

Synthetic Phonics

Synthetic phonics teaches the association of individual language sounds (phonemes) to alphabetical letters (graphemes). Then, learners are explicitly taught to “sound out” each letter and then blend the sounds to form the whole word. For example: the letter sounds /s/ /a/ /t/ are blended to decode the word ‘sat’.

There is research-based evidence that synthetic phonics is the most efficacious type of phonics to use when teaching children to learn to read. Moore (2021) says, “It is sensible to employ an approach that makes the systematic instruction and revision of sound-spelling correspondences most comprehensible for both teachers and students. Synthetic phonics offers the simplest way to achieve this” (p. 24).

Analogy Phonics

Analogy phonics is a top-down approach. This means the instruction starts with whole words instead of individual sounds. In analogy phonics, common “word families” or “rimes” are used to

learn words instead of blending individual letter sounds. It starts with a word a child already knows (sat), breaks them down into the onset and rime (s-at, c-at), and then introduces similar words in that pattern (mat, fat, rat, pat, etc.).

Analytic Phonics

Also known as implicit phonics, analytic phonics teaches kids to process a new word by “analyzing” its parts (phonograms) and relating them to previously learned words. For example, a child may know the words cat, sad, ran, and mat. When presented with the new word, rat, they must sift through what they know— c/at/ + m/at/ + /r/an— to conclude /r/ + –at is ‘rat’.

An analytic phonics approach may not be effective for all children. Typically children perform better on reading and spelling with a synthetic phonics approach.

Embedded Phonics

The embedded, or incidental, phonics method provides reading instruction using whole texts. It is based on a theory of reading instruction called “whole language.” Instead of teaching explicit, systematic phonics skills, it requires opportunistic learning through practices like sight words (the, it, and, was, etc.) and context clues (words, letters, or pictures that hint at meanings or other words in the sentence).

Embedded phonics practices are often considered “real world” reading but can hinder a child’s decoding skills, which are essential for reading new words. Relying on context clues is considered a bad habit as it can stunt overall literacy development.

Phonics, Explained Simple Enough for a Child to Understand

Reading is like a fun treasure hunt. You can explore all sorts of stories and ideas to find the golden nuggets you’re looking for, and sometimes, discover amazing prizes you never imagined. This treasure hunt happens in the world of words, where endless adventures of learning and imagination live.

But when children first enter the world of words, they don’t know where to go. Everything looks squiggly and confusing because this world is made of secret codes. These secret codes are letters of the alphabet.

The first adventure is to learn to crack the code, which is what phonics teaches. Every letter makes a special sound; many of them you already know how to speak. Every time you learn a new letter and the sounds it makes, you crack another piece of the code.

As you learn more of these letters and their sounds, you’ll be able to decode words. Soon, the world of words will come to life and you’ll collect many treasures as you explore. With practice, you can enjoy new and exciting treasure hunts for life.

Resources to Help a Child Learn Phonics

There are countless phonics programs available today. But like the different phonics instruction methods, not all programs are the same or offer the best results.

To help you decide which phonics programs might help your child learn, phonics.org offers:

Educational articles and guides: Gain a deeper understanding of phonics principles, teaching strategies, and best practices.
Phonics program reviews: Compare expert-reviewed assessments of popular phonics curricula to help you make an informed decision.
Fun phonics activities and games: Browse the top resources that make learning phonics fun and interactive.

Whether you’re teaching your child at home or a group of students in a classroom, there are affordable, effective phonics programs to help their learning process. Explore the resources at phonics.org to find the right one!

Have a phonics program or app you’d like us to review? Reach out to us at [email protected] to let us know.