More about Fun Phonics
Fun Phonics is a decoding program, not a traditional phonics program. It teaches children to decode words by following the sounds of the letters from the beginning to the end of the word. In contrast, traditional phonics programs teach children to use the sounds as cues, along with context, or meaning, to help them recognize the words. Traditionally, the children first learn to use the beginning sound, then the ending sound, and finally, sometimes, the middle sound.
Learning to decode words means learning to give the sounds of the letters, then learning to sequence these sounds correctly, and blend them into words or syllables. It also means learning to respond to the changes in the sounds of certain letters that are signaled by the differing arrangements of these vowels and consonants. For two-syllable words, it means learning to pronounce, sequence, and combine syllables, and learning to respond to a set of new code signals. Fluent readers internalize these complex rules and code signals, and utilize them without conscious thought. The organization and presentation of the materials presented in Fun Phonics are designed to provide focused practice that enables struggling readers to internalize these “rules.”
To recognize words efficiently, children must learn to respond to letters, and patterns of letters, by using an internal set of “phonetic rules” or signals. It is not necessary for the reader to be able to recite these rules. For example, when reading the word “ necessary, ” you do not say to yourself “ c followed by e says ‘ s ' and y at the end of a multi-syllable word says long e ,” but your experience helps you recognize and respond to these familiar, yet complex, patterns.
The materials in the Fun Phonics series help the complex decoding rules “make sense” for children who need a structured presentation to develop good word recognition skills.
Fun Phonics relies on the strategy of carefully planned, step-by-step decoding instruction. Each Kit provides many experiences reading and writing words that require children to apply each new decoding skill, along with supportive spelling activities. These decoding and spelling activities need to be accompanied by time spent reading stories orally. The stories children read should usually be those they are also reading in their classrooms, so stories are not furnished in the Fun Phonics Kits.
In Fun Phonics programs, reading a large number of words on each word list is one of the major strategies for helping each child learn to sequence and blend the sounds and respond to each rule or code signal. In Fun Phonics, children do not learn a rule by memorizing the rule and then reading one or two examples to illustrate it. At the beginning of each lesson, they are told the rule and shown a few words that illustrate it. Then they learn to respond automatically to the new signals by reading many, many words on carefully organized word lists that illustrate the new rule. On each list the words contain only one new rule, along with sounds and signals that the children have already learned. Gradually they learn to respond automatically to the new rule or new code signal. Although they may not always be able to recite the rules, they are able to read new words with these signals on other lists and in stories.
