Phonetic Strategies

Phonetic Strategies

(the ability to manipulate sounds)

Learning new words can be challenging for your child.  Try the following phonetic tips:

• Play word games.
• Use rhyming words as your child is figuring out a new word.
• Break a word down to individual sounds.
• Have your child create as many words as possible using a particular sound. For instance /ch/ -cheese, chat, etc.
• Sound out words.
• Clap out words or tap. This helps emphasize sounds, rhythms and syllables.
• Use synonyms.
• Read aloud. Read together. Run your finger under words as you read them.
• Be patient!

Other phonetic resources:

• http://www.k12reader.com/effective-strategies-for-teaching-phonemic-awareness/
• http://www.readingmanipulatives.com/resources/LiteracySkills/TipsDecoding.htm
• 2^nd grade phonemic awareness: http://www.internet4classrooms.com/grade_level_help/language_phonemic_awareness_language_arts_second_2nd_grade.htm

Try these tips using:

Relf, P. & Speirs, J. (1995). The magic school bus plants seeds: A book about how living things grow. Baton Rogue, Louisiana: Scholastic Books.

Free pdf: K-W-L chart

As you read with your child or student, encourage the following reading and studying practices:

• Briefly scan through the book looking at the organization within. Point out headings, graphs, illustrations and charts.
• Have your child create a list of questions and items they would like to learn.
• Use the K-W-L chart.
• Look for:
  • Cause and effect
  • Relationships
  • Sequences
  • Definitions
  • Compare and contrast
  • Problems and solutions
• Help your child choose other books to learn more about the topic. See Alyson Beecher’s article on how to choose a book for tips. (http://www.scholastic.com/bookfairs/experience/articles/2013/jan/powerful-practices-help-students-connect-with-nonfiction-texts.asp)
• Read the book with your child, pulling out any difficult verbage.
• Help your child create a list of unfamiliar words and discuss their meanings.
  • Introduce the word in context. Help your child to figure out the meaning by what is around the unfamiliar word.
  • Use synonyms.
  • Try the PET system. P –pronounce the word. E –explain the word, both meaning and use. T –try it. Let your child try using the word in another context (Silverman, 2013).
• You don’t have to read every page in non-fiction. Let your child search for what they want to know.
• Take your child to the library to find more books on plant life.
• Search the internet for information on plant life for children.
  • http://www.jumpstart.com/common/life-cycle-of-a-plant
  • http://www.vrml.k12.la.us/2nd/homework/science/links/2_scienceu3.htm
  • http://www.education.com/worksheets/second-grade/science/

By Tracy Atkinson

Tracy Atkinson, mother of six, lives in the Midwest with her husband. She is a teacher, having taught elementary school to higher education, holding degrees in elementary education and a master’s in higher education. Her passion is researching, studying and investigating the attributes related to self-directed learners. She has published several titles, including Calais: The Annals of the Hidden, Lemosa: The Annals of the Hidden, Book Two, Rachel’s 8 and Securing Your Tent. She is currently working on a non-fiction text exploring the attributes of self-directed learners: The Five Characteristics of Self-directed Learners.