[pinacolada]

Do you teach students to sound out words letter by letter or do you teach them to look for word parts.

For example, in the word cap you can say start at c then say the wounds /c/ /a/ /p/ but if the word is cape sounding it by each letter doesn't work.

I'm just curious to know what other teachers here do. When I was teaching and working as a reading specialist, I stayed away from teaching students to sound words letter by letter for the reasons listed above.

Instead, I taught them to look for word parts (using Words Their Way).

[ConnieWI]

I teach students to look for the onset and rhyme.

cap = /c/ (onset) and /ap/ (rhyme)

cape = /c/ (onset) and /ape/ (rhyme)

[Haley23]

Students need to be proficient in blending sounds together before moving on to something like looking for word parts. A student who is reading sound by sound should be focusing only on CVC words, and not being given a silent e word like "cape."

I teach students with significant reading difficulties, and they need very explicit and systematic phonics instruction in order to learn to read. Some higher level readers may certainly just naturally skip steps. I begin by teaching students to tap out each sound and blend them together to read a CVC word. Then we move on to whispering the sounds and saying the whole word out loud, mouthing the sounds and saying the whole word out loud, and then finally just thinking of the sounds and reading the whole word out loud.

Other phonics patterns aren't introduced until students are fluently reading CVC words without having to sound them out first. When students are ready to learn the silent e syllable type, we have them use their pointer and middle fingers to point to the first vowel sound and the e, as a reminder for the pattern. Our super strugglers say the vowel sound out loud first, and then read the whole word. Just like with the first steps, they wouldn't move past the silent pattern until they are able to fluently read those words without doing anything with the sounds first.

[pinacolada]

Right, what I'm saying is if you teach them to sound it out letter by letter once they get to words with long vowels, that strategy doesn't work.

That's why I teach word parts. So they are doing cvc words first but I teach it as part patterns (like word families).

[Song of Joy]

I approach it like Haley23. Eventually students should unitize letter combinations, but the CVC should be very solid first. The 6 jobs of Silent E also should be covered to address words like wave, have, five, give and also to provide strategies for "vowel naming" syllables.

[Keltikmom]

Both...in kinder your start with the individual letter sounds and once those are mastered (or relatively close) you start adding in blends and word parts.

[Sbkangas5]

I'm in kinder so we go sound by sound.

[pinacolada]

Interesting to see everyone's insight. Thank you.

When I was a reading specialist I worked with children in grades 1-5 (mostly 2-5). For them, I did word parts (like word families). That's when they started to make progress in their reading levels. However, I can see that individual sounds can be beneficial.

[Dr. A]

As a Kindergarten teacher for 21yrs & now a K-2 Reading Interventionist for 2 yrs here are my thoughts:


1. Both strategies are different

2. Both strategies are essential

3. Readers should have many reading strategies in their repertoire so..

4. Readers can apply when they need to decode a word when reading

5. Sounding out each sound comes 1st because beginning readers are taught to associate individual letters & sounds to read words CVC words (in addition to sight words). They would sound out “cap, bug, fan, etc.

6. Then word parts are taught so students can see the associations between various word so they can become more fluent (faster). For example. If they can read & write “cape” then they should know how to read & write the following words due to the same word parts “nape, tape, ape,” etc.

Happy Teaching!