Teaching our children to read is a crucial life skill. Teaching the letter or letter group sound is known as teaching phonics. In contrast to sight words, where the kid learns the word as a whole, the youngster learns to read the word letter by letter. In this article, we will discuss how to teach phonics to young students using 3 common stages.

It follows that the letter A is not taught by saying "Aye," but rather by the sound "ah." Alternatively, the sound "duh" rather than the letter D is used to teach students.

For instance, in order to read CAT as phonics, we must teach the child to read it as "cah" - "ah" - "tuh" letter by letter. Last but not least, show the kid how to "blend" the letters together to make the word CAT.

Although teaching phonics can be scary, this approach gets the kid ready to read any word. With sight words, the child can only learn words from a certain list. Some words that aren't on the word list might be challenging for them to read.

There are some words in the English language, though, that defy phonics. Such words as the, go, was, and you don't adhere to phonetic rules. During reading, sight words can be beneficial.

How to teach Phonics

Phonics instruction is frequently staged. Learning the letter sounds is the first step, followed by fusing the sounds to create words.

Letter sounds are stage one 

To teach letter sounds effectively, you can use a variety of engaging and interactive methods. Begin by introducing the letters of the alphabet one by one, emphasizing their sounds rather than their names. You can use visual aids such as flashcards or charts to display the letters, accompanied by corresponding images that depict objects starting with the target sound. 

For example, when teaching the letter "A," show a picture of an apple or an astronaut.

Explain the sounds that each letter makes. To educate this, we made use of YouTube videos like the Phonics Song. We watch the same 1 or 2 videos every day for a few weeks. Also, you can download free phonics-related apps. Choose the ones without the grating advertisements.

Phonic Toys like LeapFrog Letter Factory is also a nice tool to make learning just like playing.

To reinforce learning, encourage students to repeat the letter sounds after you, emphasizing proper pronunciation. Engage them in activities that involve identifying words that start with the specific letter sound. You can play games like "I Spy," where students have to find objects in the classroom that begin with a particular sound. Additionally, you can use phonics-based books like Oxford Phonics World and stories that highlight the target letter sound, encouraging students to recognize and pronounce the sound within words.

Blending is stage two

Once the youngster is familiar with the sounds of each letter, it's time to blend the letters to create the word. Be patient as this may take some time.

Blending involves combining those individual sounds to form words. This skill is crucial for reading fluency and comprehension. To teach blending effectively, begin by selecting a small set of consonant-vowel-consonant (CVC) words that use the letter sounds the students have already learned. Display the words clearly, ensuring that each letter is visible. 

Guide students to sound out each letter sound separately and then gradually help them blend the sounds together smoothly. You can use hand gestures or sound cues to emphasize the blending process. 

For example, for the word "cat," point to each letter as you say its sound and then smoothly sweep your hand from left to right while saying the word “cat.”

Engage students in repetitive practice, gradually introducing more complex words and incorporating sight words as their skills progress. Reading aloud phonics-based stories and providing opportunities for students to practice blending in context will further reinforce their skills. By mastering blending, students become more proficient in reading and gain confidence in decoding a variety of words.

Start with short, three-letter words that follow the CVC or consonant-vowel-consonant structure. Make sure to select phonetically correct terms. A phonics wheel and phonics-based books like BOB Books are useful tools.

Because the mixing is related to one another, we primarily used phonic wheels. With words like bat, cat, fat, hat, mat, pat, rat, and sat, we created phonic wheels. The distinctions between the letter sounds are amplified by this. To learn how to create phonic wheels at home, go here.

Clusters. Stage three. 

These more difficult phonic sounds are created by combining two letters to create a single sound. Examples include vowel and consonant blends like EE, OA, and OO, or consonant and vowel blends like CH, SH, and TH. Digraphs are another name for them.

On Stage 2, we advise spending more time and increasing your reading comfort. After the child is comfortable with his blending abilities, the digraphs in Stage 3 will come readily.

We wanted to create a love of teaching reading rather than just educating people on how to read. Enjoy and have fun at each stage as a result. Do not rush. The process of learning the letter sounds took several weeks. Several months to practice mixing will follow. After reading various books, Stage 3 just naturally came to us.

Have fun reading. Enjoy the trip.