The Importance of Phonics

Here's a great exercixe by by Dolores G. Hiskes

A long, hot summer can breed forgetfulness and cover up shaky skills that may never have been too solid in the first place. Make sure your child is up to snuff with this quick checklist and tune-up of basic reading skills:
1. Does he really know the short-vowel sounds, or has he just memorized the words? Here's an easy way to find out: Make up a list of nonsense words comprised of regular short-vowel sounds such as these: taffy, paz, nude, bis, void, meck, litchi, gig, and zendy, and see if he can read them correctly.
2. Another excellent assessment tool is to write the short-vowel sounds across the top of a blank sheet of paper, and draw vertical lines between each letter. (There is a downloadable master "Short Sheet of Vowels" at http://www.dorbooks.com/pdfs/PhonicsGuide.pdf on page eight.) Dictate some words to your child and have him write the word under the correct vowel heading. You will soon see which vowels he may need help with!
3. For remediation, make up short-vowel flash cards. Put a picture on each card that begins with that sound -- for example, apple /a/, evergreen /e/, igloo /i/, octopus /o/, and umbrella /u/. (Or if you have "The Train Game" use the cards from that game.) A quick one-minute review once or twice a day is better than a longer lesson only once a week. Think of brushing your teeth: would they look any better if you only brushed them once a week for a full half hour, rather than just a few minutes every day?
4. Does he experience difficulty blending words smoothly? "The Train Game" was created to address this issue specifically, as do the top sections of Reading Pathways and beginning lessons in Phonics Pathways.
5. Does he experience difficulty reading whole sentences? Have him read two-word phrases first, then three-word phrases and sentences, and gradually work up to longer sentences. Put your own words together, or use the exercises in Reading Pathways which were designed for this purpose.
6. Does he stumble over multi-syllable words? Write words by syllables on cards and have him read them. Multi-syllable word exercises such as those in Reading Pathways will develop this skill beautifully, as will the "Building Blocks" section in Phonics Pathways.
7. Does he have difficulty comprehending what he has read? Review Phonics-Talk newsletters Volumes 8 and 13 (http://www.dorbooks.com/, click on "Dorbooks Newsletter" to see the archived volumes.) These two newsletters discuss Comprehension issues extensively and offer useful tips for remediation.
These quick-and-easy remedies will soon get your student up to speed, and he is sure to be one of those shining faces happily bounding off to school this Fall!