Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
of
Phonics and Friends
Moves Your Students from Phonics to Literacy!
Systematic and explicit instruction
Simple, effective, and fun to teach
Focuses on one phonetic element at a time
Multiple levels for maximum flexibility
Easy to connect to your core Reading/Language Arts curriculum
I. Introduction: The Research Base of Phonics and Friends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 3
II. Overview of Phonics and Friends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 4
III. Evidence of Effectiveness of Phonics and Friends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 6
IV. Phonemic Awareness Instruction in Phonics and Friends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 7
V. Phonics Instruction in Phonics and Friends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 11
VI. Fluency Instruction in Phonics and Friends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 16
VII. Vocabulary Instruction in Phonics and Friends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 18
VIII. Comprehension Instruction in Phonics and Friends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 21
IX. Support for English Learners in Phonics and Friends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 24
X. Assessment in Phonics and Friends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 26
XI. References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 28
The Research Base of Phonics and Friends
Hampton-Brown 1
The Research Base of Phonics and Friends 2
The most recent initiatives within the new
No Child Left Behind federal legislation have
generated a commitment to ensure that all
children learn to read well by the end of third
grade. Along with this commitment, is the
need for schools to use research-based,
research-proven reading curriculum designed to
support all children as they become successful,
proficient readers.
Hampton-Brown used the most current
scientifically based research in the development
of the supplemental reading program Phonics
and Friends. More than 20 years of reading
research, the same research that was endorsed
and found to be most effective by the National
Reading Panel, is the foundation for the
reading instruction in Phonics and Friends. The
research that was used is cited in this report and
comes from the current documents that define
scientifically research-based reading instruction,
including the National Institute of Child Health
and Human Developments (NICHD) report of
the National Reading Panel, the National
Research Councils report Preventing Reading
Difficulties in Young Children, and other studies
that focus on scientifically research-based
reading instruction.
Hampton-Brown is dedicated to providing
research-based and research-proven instruction
in early literacy using systematic, explicit
reading instruction for all children, including
English Language Learners, to help develop the
skills needed to become proficient readers.
The Research Base of Phonics and Friends
Hampton-Brown 3
Overview of Phonics and Friends
Phonics and Friends is a supplemental PreK
through Grade 3 reading program designed to
provide direct, systematic, and explicit
instruction in the areas of phonemic awareness
and phonics and strategic application of those
skills in reading and writing. The program is
designed to help children read with
automaticity and accuracy, and write with
conventional spelling, ultimately supporting
them as they become independent readers and
writers.
The instructional design of Phonics and Friends is
based on the most current research providing
systematic, explicit instruction in phonemic
awareness, phonics, vocabulary, comprehension,
and fluency, the same five essential reading
components defined in the report from the
National Reading Panel. Phonics and Friends is
not a revision of an existing program, but an
all-new series, released in 2000, and specifically
designed to take advantage of the considerable
body of recent research.
The instruction in Phonics and Friends begins by
building phonemic awareness and phonics
skills, bridges these skills with word building
and decoding strategies, and finally applies all
of these skills with reading application to build
vocabulary and comprehension skills. Fluency
is also supported as children read interesting
and motivating fiction and nonfiction selections
with natural-sounding language that feature a
high percentage of words with the targeted
phonics element as well as previously taught
high-frequency words. In a well-designed,
research-based reading program, Good
training in phonological awareness should be
combined with systematic, direct and explicit
instruction in phonics as well as rich
experiences with language and literature to
make a strong early reading curriculum
(Torgesen and Mathes, 1998).
Essential Components of Reading
from the National Reading Panel
Phonemic Awareness
Phonics
Fluency
Vocabulary
Comprehension
The Research Base of Phonics and Friends 4
The instructional design in all levels of Phonics
and Friends involves explicit, systematic
instruction using a three-step Teaching Plan
designed to build mastery of each phonics skill
and to ensure application in reading and
writing. For Levels A and A+, the three steps in
the Teaching Plan are as follows:
1) Listen and Sing focuses on skill practice
related to phonemic awareness,
2) Learn the Letter is designed for strategy
building related to sound-symbol
correspondence, and
3) Read and Write provides opportunities to
model and apply phonics skills and strategies in
reading and writing.
For Levels B through F, the three steps differ
from those in Levels A and A+ due to the
complexity of skills:
1) Introduce focuses on phonemic awareness,
sound-symbol correspondence, and strategies
for meeting individual needs,
2) Practice is designed for hands-on blending,
spelling practice and explicit instruction of
decoding strategies while providing practice in
decodable text, and
3) Read and Write provides many opportunities
for application to literature and writing.
Three-Step Teaching Plan
SKILLS
Phonemic Awareness and Phonics
DECODING STRATEGIES
Modeling and Practice in Decodable Text
APPLICATION
Vocabulary, Comprehension, and Fluency
Hampton-Brown 5
Effective, research-based teaching and learning
practices, as set forth in the reading and
language acquisition research, are those
incorporated in Phonics and Friends. Specifically,
the results of the findings of the National
Reading Panel in 2000 in the areas of phonemic
awareness, phonics, vocabulary, comprehension,
and fluency confirm the effectiveness of the
instructional strategies in Phonics and Friends.
Phonics and Friends has been implemented in
numerous districts across the country since its
release in 2000. Hampton-Brown is in the
process of conducting formal research studies
on the implementation and effectiveness of
Phonics and Friends with data becoming available
in 2003. These studies analyze the successful
implementation of Phonics and Friends in a
variety of PreK through Grade 3 settings
including mainstream literacy programs,
reading intervention, and ESL settings.
Student reading and language acquisition gains
are being measured to demonstrate the
effectiveness of Phonics and Friends as part of an
overall English reading and language arts
curriculum with diverse groups of learners.
The Research Base of Phonics and Friends 6
Evidence of Effectiveness of Phonics and Friends
Phonemic awareness is the ability to notice,
think about, or manipulate the individual
sounds in words (Torgesen and Mathes, 1998).
Phonemic awareness is a powerful and proven
predictor of learning to read. The findings of
the National Reading Panel concluded that
teaching children to manipulate phonemes in
words was highly effective under a variety of
teaching conditions, with a variety of learners,
grade and age levels, and that it significantly
improved reading more than instruction that
lacked any attention to phonemic awareness
(National Reading Panel, 2000). The research
in Preventing Reading Difficulties in Young Children
concluded that when phonemic awareness
instruction is in place, the reading and spelling
growth of children is accelerated and the
incidence of reading failure is diminished
(Snow, Burns, Griffin, 1998).
The research of Keith Stanovich, Hallie K.
Yopp, as well as research found in the report
from the National Reading Panel on the
discrete skills of phonemic awareness was
invaluable in the development of the phonemic
awareness strand and its instructional
approaches in the kindergarten and first grade
levels of Phonics and Friends.
The phonemic awareness instruction in Phonics
and Friends starts at a broader level of
phonological awareness with tasks such as
rhyming and counting syllables and moves to
narrower phonological awareness tasks such as
working with onsets and rimes and individual
phonemes within words (phonemic awareness).
Phonological awareness follows a developmental
sequence with easier tasks developed in
preschool and early kindergarten and more
difficult tasks (awareness of individual
phonemes) developed in kindergarten and first
grade. This instructional approach is supported
by the findings of the National Reading Panel.
Phonemic Awareness Instruction in Phonics and Friends
Hampton-Brown 7
Fun and engaging songs, chants, and rhymes
are used to begin building the necessary
phonemic awareness skills starting in the PreK
levels of Phonics and Friends, moving to more
advanced phonemic awareness tasks in the first
grade levels. Lundberg, Frost and Peterson
(1988) found that phonemic awareness can be
taught in a fun, engaging, and interactive way.
Their research also demonstrated that 15 - 20
minute daily sessions were sufficient to help
develop the phonemic awareness skills children
need to become successful readers. Each lesson
plan within Phonics and Friends supports the
playful nature of phonemic awareness
instruction, using explicit instruction in daily
15 - 20 minute sessions. Children are actively
engaged in the phonemic awareness activities
and tasks as they notice, think about, and
manipulate the individual sounds in words.
The following chart lists the phonemic
awareness tasks that are explicitly taught and
incorporated in all lessons of Phonics and
Friends, PreK through first grade. The skills on
this chart are arranged in order of difficulty,
with the easiest tasks listed first.
The Research Base of Phonics and Friends 8
Phonemic Awareness Tasks in Phonics and Friends
The most difficult tasks,
but also the most
directly correlated with
reading success.
Counting Words in a Spoken Sentence
Counting Syllables in a Spoken Word
Rhyming
Matching Words
Matching Sounds
Blending Sounds to Form a Spoken Word
Isolating a Sound in a Word
Counting Sounds in a Word
Segmenting Sounds in a Word
Substituting a Sound in a Word
Adding a Sound to a Word
Taking Away a Sound from a Word
Mastery of these 12 phonemic awareness tasks is
monitored in Phonics and Friends using pre-,
progress, and post tests to help identify and
limit the number of phonemic awareness tasks
taught, ultimately informing decisions
regarding instruction.
A variety of instructional approaches within
Phonics and Friends, designed to help children
become phonemically aware, come from many
known and proven researchers. All of the
instructional strategies, focusing on the 12
phonemic awareness tasks and using the songs,
chants, and rhymes in Phonics and Friends, are
the same instructional strategies found to be
effective by the National Reading Panel.
Match Sounds: Say words one at a time
choosing -et words from the song and
the Word Bank. Children can hold their
arms out when they hear a word that
rhymes with jet and put their arms down
when a word does not rhyme. Repeat for
-ed and -en words.
Segment Words: Distribute counters and
3-square Grids to children. Using words
from the Word Bank, say words one at a
time and have children sound them out.
Have children slide a counter into each
square for each sound they hear as they
segment the sounds.
Level B Sing-Along Songs Big Book
Example of phonemic awareness instruction in Phonics and Friends using Sing-Along Songs.
Hampton-Brown 9
The National Reading Panel also determined
that phonemic awareness instruction that
involves print was found to be more effective
than phonemic awareness instruction without
print (National Reading Panel, 2000).
Another phonemic awareness strategy, the use
of Elkonin Boxes* or sound boxes to help
segment sounds, is incorporated in many of the
kindergarten and first grade lessons of Phonics
and Friends. Researchers found that many
children had difficulty progressing in learning
to read because they could not hear the sound
sequences in words. A technique based on the
research of Russian psychologist Elkonin uses
sound boxes to help teach children to hear the
sound sequences in words (Beck and Juel,
1992). This technique, used in Phonics and
Friends, uses Elkonin Boxes* to help support
children as they hear and segment sounds and
identify the individual sounds in words.
The Research Base of Phonics and Friends 10
* Elkonin Boxes
Phonics instruction focuses on teaching
children the correspondence between letters
(graphemes) of written language and the
individual sounds (phonemes) of spoken
language. The goal of phonics instruction is to
help children understand and learn the
alphabetic principlethe understanding that
there are systematic and predictable
relationships between written letters and spoken
sounds, and to ensure that children know how
to apply this knowledge in their reading and
writing (National Reading Panel, 2000).
The research of Marilyn Adams, Linnea Ehri
and others influenced the development of the
programs scope and sequence in the order and
manner in which new skills are introduced.
A full array of letter-sound correspondences is
explicitly taught in Phonics and Friends focusing
on high-utility letters in the PreK and
kindergarten levels and moving on to more
advanced phonics skills in the upper levels. For
example, in Level A+, instruction begins by first
introducing the high-utility letter-sound
correspondences, e.g. /m/, /s/, /t/, etc., then
moves to the introduction of a vowel so
children can begin to decode words. Mastery of
sounds and letters and beginning decoding
skills, through instruction in Level A+, prepares
students for exploring more complex concepts,
such as CVC word patterns in short vowel words
in Level B; long vowels in Level C; blends and
digraphs in Level D; long vowels, r-controlled
vowels, and inflections in Level E; and variant
sounds, diphthongs, suffixes, and prefixes in
Level F. The chart on the following page
describes the scope and sequence of Phonics
and Friends.
Phonics Instruction in Phonics and Friends
Hampton-Brown 11
Many different instructional approaches,
including onset-rime instruction, phonics
through spelling, and analogy-based phonics
are used in Phonics and Friends to explicitly teach
phonics skills, providing an abundant amount
of practice with these skills to support children
as they read and write. The three instructional
approaches previously mentioned are described
in the National Reading Panels report as being
systematic and explicit and more effective than
other approaches that do not use systematic and
explicit instruction, such as embedded phonics.
Research has also shown that systematic and
explicit phonics instruction using these
strategies significantly improves reading,
spelling, and comprehension skills in
kindergarten, first, and second grade children
(National Reading Panel, 2000).
Phonics and Friends Scope and Sequence
Sounds and Letters
Sounds and Letters + Decoding
Short Vowels
Long Vowels and Inflections
Blends and Digraphs
Long Vowels, R-Controlled Vowels, Inflections
Variant Sounds, Diphthongs, Suffixes and Prefixes
Level A
Level A+
Level B
Level C
Level D
Level E
Level F
Children learn to identify the sound
of the letter or letters before the
first vowel (the onset) in a
one-syllable word and the sound
of the remaining part of the word
(the rime).
Onset-Rime Instruction*
Children learn to segment words into
phonemes and to make words by
writing letters for phonemes.
Phonics through Spelling*
Children learn to use parts of word
families they know to identify words
they dont know that have similar
parts.
Analogy-Based Phonics*
* National Reading Panel, 2000
The Research Base of Phonics and Friends 12
After children have finished the phonemic
awareness activities in Phonics and Friends and
matched the sound to the symbol using the
Rhyme Cards, the instruction moves on to
various practice activities where children
physically manipulate letters to focus on the
patterns and structures within words. One of
these instructional strategies, connecting
phonics and spelling, comes from the research
of Patricia Cunningham and is called Making
Words. This activity helps children hear and
see the patterns and structures within words
and has been shown to increase the decoding
abilities of children, as compared to children
who have not had explicit phonics instruction
(Cunningham and Cunningham, 1992).
The Making Words activities in Phonics and
Friends bridge the phonemic awareness and
phonics skills that were previously taught with
the decoding strategies that will be introduced
later in the lesson. Children have the
opportunity to focus on encoding as they make
new words focusing on letter-sound
correspondence. Word Pockets and Letter
Cards (pictured below) are used during this
activity so each child has an opportunity to be
actively involved. Making Words is a powerful
activity because within one instructional format
there are endless possibilities for discovering
how our alphabetic system works. It is a quick,
every-pupil response, manipulative activity with
which children get actively involved.
(Cunningham and Cunningham, 1992).
Hampton-Brown 13
Level B Rhyme Card
(front and back)
Word Pocket and Letter Cards
In addition to teaching the alphabetic system
and patterns and structures in words, children
need practice applying this knowledge while
they read (National Reading Panel, 2000). The
decoding instruction in Phonics and Friends
provides an intermediate step between skills
instruction and the application of these skills in
guided and independent reading and writing.
Explicit instruction of decoding strategies
supports children as they become successful,
proficient readers. The following chart explains
the decoding strategies that are explicitly taught
in all levels of Phonics and Friends using the Big
Phonics Storybooks and the Lets Read Big
Books. These decoding strategies align with the
strategies that the National Reading Panel
found most effective in the research studies they
reviewed.
Strategy Instruction
Phonics and Friends Level
A+ B C D E F
Sound Out Words
Use Word Patterns
(Phonograms, CVC, CVCe, etc.)
Predict from Pictures,
Confirm with Print
Use Word Structures
(Plurals, Verb Endings, Affixes)
Break Words into Syllables
Use Word Chunks