High-payoff practice is the key to high levels of progress, especially when working with below-level readers.
Student vary in the amount of practice they need to master a skill. Some struggling readers may need two or three times as much practice as the average learner needs. The key is to provide as much practice as is needed.
high-payoff Practice activities
The most efective practice is to read selections that incorporate the target skill–for instance, reading about how grapes are turned into raisins when studying long-i patterns. Other high-payoff practice activities include Make and Break, Word Wall, Secret Word, Making Words, Secret Message, Sorting, Cut-Up Sentences, and Rhymes.
Make and Break
A technique known as make-and-break is an excellent on-the-spot device for reinforcing phonics patterns. Selecting a word such as man the teacher forms it with magnetic or cutup letters, says the word, and requests that the student say it. The teacher then scrambles the letters and asks the student to recreate the word and say it. Once the student is able to do this without hesitation, the teacher forms other words using the rime. Substituting v for m, the teacher says that the word is now van. The student says the word. The letter v is removed, and the teacher explains that the word now says an. The student is asked to make the word van and read it. This process is repeated with pan and tan. Make-and-break works especially well when students need an on-the-spot review of a pattern or fail to note all the sounds or letters in words.
Word Wall
One way to emphasize essential or troublesome printed words is to place them on the wall. Being placed on the wall, they are readily reviewed. They also serve as a handy reference for students who are trying to decode or spell them. Newly learned pattern words can be placed on the wall as can high frequency words such as what, one, and is. Words should be arranged in alphabetical order so they are readily located. Pattern words should be arranged by the first letter in the rime, rather than the initial consonant. Thus, –ag words would appear together and would appear before –at words. Because their vowel spellings may be irregular, high frequency words should be placed in order by initial letter. To keep the two systems straight, put them on different walls. To help students further differentiate among words you might use a variety of colors. Short-vowel words might be green. Long-vowel words might be blue. Irregular high-frequency words might be red. You might also group some words by category: animals, colors, numbers, for example. A sample word wall of high-frequency words is shown below.
Word Wall
a b c d
a be call do
all boy come dog
an by could down
Secret Word
Choose a familiar pattern word and write it down on a slip of paper but don’t tell students what the word is. Select a word that will provide a review or extension of a pattern or other element. Tell students that the word is a secret and that you are going to give them a series of clues and see who can guess the word using the fewest number of clues. Ask students to number their papers 1-5. Give a series of five clues as to the identity of the word. After each clue, students write down their guess. Possible clues for the secret word trunk include:
The secret word is in the –unk pattern.
It has five letters.
It can be used to pick up things.
It belongs to an animal.
For its nose, the elephant has a long ____.
After supplying the five clues, show the secret word (trunk) and discuss students’ responses. See who guessed the secret word first. If the word is one that appears in a story students are about to read, have them find it in the selection.
Making Words
In a making words activity, students compose words by putting letters together. To create a making words lesson, decide what pattern you wish to reinforce. Then decide what words the students will assemble. Students might start with two-letter words and work up to words that contain five or more letters. The last word that students put together contains all the letters. The last word is a challenge word. Instead of telling what the word is, ask students to see what word they can make using all the letters. To reinforce –ape, -ate, -at, and –ap patterns, you might distribute the following letters: a, e, l, p, and t. Students are then asked to do the following:
• Use two letters to make at.
• Add a letter to make pat.
• Change two letters to make the word lap.
• Change a letter to make tap.
• Add a letter to make tape.
• Change two letters to make late.
• Use all the letters and see what word you can make (plate).
Students place the letters to be assembled on their desks. Words are assembled in letter holders. (Letter holders can be constructed from file folders.) After each word has been formed, the teacher checks it. The teacher has a set of large letters. The teacher calls on a volunteer to assemble the target word with large letters placed in a pocket chart or on a chalkboard ledge. The teacher has also placed the target words on large cards. The teacher places the large word cards in the pocket chart. That way, after all words have been assembled, the words can be reviewed and/or sorted. Students check their words to make sure they have assembled them correctly. (For management purposes, store words and letters in folders or 8.5 by 11 envelopes.)
Here are the steps in a making words lesson:
Step 1: Letters are passed out by helpers. Each helper distributes one letter to each student and later collects that letter. Letters should be uppercase on one side and lowercase on the other. Alert students when uppercase letters are needed.
Step 2: The teacher holds up each letter and has children do the same to make sure they have the appropriate letters and can recognize them.
Step 3: The teacher gives the directions for assembling each word. Children assemble the words.
Step 4: The teacher calls on one child to use large letters to assemble the word in the pocket chart. Children check their spellings. The teacher can go over the word sound-by-sound. The teacher places the word card in the pocket chart.
Step 5: The teacher goes on to the next word.
Step 6: Students form the secret word.
Step 7. The words are reviewed and discussed. Students might be asked to select words that rhyme or begin with the same sound. Words might be sorted. Students might suggest other words that have the same pattern as the assembled word or they might be asked to read words that incorporate –ate or another pattern. After assembling plate, students might be asked to read date, gate, and hate. For more information about making words, see Cunningham, P. (2016). Phonics they use (7th ed.). Boston: Pearson.
Letters and words for possible making words lessons are listed below. Lessons are arranged according to the phonics element being reinforced. Phonics elements are listed from easiest to most advanced. Words are placed in the order in which they might be presented. The last word is the secret word.
Short-a Lessons
Lesson 1: Letters: a, l, n, p, s, t
Words: nap, tan, ant, ants, pan, plan, plant, plants
Lesson 2: Letters: a, m, p, s, t
Words: sat, Sam, Pam, map, maps, pat, tap, taps, sap, Sam, stamp
Lesson 3: Letters: a, p, s, t
Words: as, sat, sap, tap, pat, past
Short-i Lessons
Lesson 4 : Letters: i, l, p, s, t
Words: it, its, sit, sip, pit, lip, tip, lit, split
Lesson 5
Letters: i, n, p, r, t
Words: in, tin, pin, nip, rip, print
Lesson 6: Letters: g, i, n, s, t
Words: in, tin, pin, sit, sin, sing, sting
Lesson 7: Letters: c, i, k, s, t
Words: sit, kit, sick, tick, stick
Lesson 8: Letters: i, n, p, s
Words: in, is, sin, pin, pins, nip, nips, sip, spin
Short-o Lessons
Lesson 9: Letters: o, p, s, t
Words: pot, pots, top, tops, stop, spot (Ask students to tell what word in addition to stop can be made using all the letters.)
Lesson 10: Letters: m, o, p, s, t
Words: mop, mops, Tom, pot, pots, top, tops, stop, stomp
Short-e Lessons
Lesson 11: Letters: e, l, p, s, t
Words: set, let, pet, pets, slept
Lesson 12: Letters: e, n, s, t
Words: net, nets, ten. set, sent, nest, tens (Ask students to tell what words in addition to sent can be made using all the letters.)
Lesson 13: Letters: e, p, s, t, w
Words: set, let, pet, pets, wept, swept
Lesson 14: Letters: e, n, p, s, t
Words: net, nets, ten, set, sent, nest, pest, pen, pens, spent
Short-u Lessons
Lesson 15: Letters: h, n, s, t, u
Words: hut, huts, sun, nut, hunts
Lesson 16: Letters: g, n, r, s, t, u
Words: gun, run, sun, rug, rugs, tug, runt, grunts
Long-a Lessons
Lesson 17: Letters: a, i, l, r, s, t
Words: tail, tails, tail, sail, tail, tails, trails
Lesson 18: Letters: a, i, n, p, t
Words: pat, pan, pin, tin, tan, pan, pain, paint
Lesson 19: Letters: a, p, r, s, s, y
Words: say, pay, pray, ray, rays, pays, prays, sprays
Long-i Lessons
Lesson 20 : Letters: e, i, p, r, s, t
Words: pie, tie, tip, sip, rip, tip, trip, rip, ripe, stripe
Lesson 21: Letters: e, i, p, r, s, t
Words: Ed, led, lid, lie, lid, slid, Sid, side, slide
Long-e Lessons
Lesson 22
Letters: a, b, e, s, t
Words: bet, bat, best, beat, seat, eat, east, beast
Lesson 23
Letters: a, e, m, r, s, t
Words: me, met, mat, meat, seat, team, steam, stream
Long-o Lessons
Lesson 24
Letters: g, n, o, r, w
Words: no, go, row, grow, grown
Lesson 25: Letters: c, d, l, o, s, s
Words: so, old, sold, cold, colds, scolds
R-Words Lessons
Lesson 26: Letters: a, i, r, s, t
Words: sit, sat, rat, sir, stir, air, stair
Lesson 27: Letters: e, o, r, s,t
Words: rot, rest, or, sore, tore, store
AW-Words Lessons
Lesson 28 : Letters: a, e, l, l, m, s, s, t
Words: Sam, sat, set, seat, all, tall, mall, small,
Smallest
Lesson 29: Letters: a, r, s, t, w
Words: rat, sat, saw, was, raw, straw
Lesson 30
Letters: b, g, h, o, r, t, u
Words: got, rot, rob, hut, bought, brought
Lesson 31
Letters: e, g, n, o, r, r, s, t
Words: set, get, got, rot, rest, song, strong, stronger
Long-oo Lessons
Lesson 32: Letters: n, o, o, p, s, s
Words: so, no, soon, spoon, spoons
Lesson 33: Letters: h, o, o, s, t
Words: so, to, too, soot, hot, hoot, shoot
Lesson 34: Letters: b, m, o, o, r, s
Words: so, sob, mob, moo, boo, boom, room, rooms, broom, brooms
OW (cow)-Words Lessons
Lesson 35: Letters: c, l, n, o, s, w
Words: so, no, low, slow, cow, cows, now, clowns
Lesson 36: Letters: d, g, n, o, r, u
Words: go, no, do, dog, gun, run, round, ground
Lesson 37: Letters: g, l, o, r, s, w
Words: go, row, low, slow, ow, sow, owl, owls, growls
OY-Words Lessons
Lesson 38: Letters: e, j, n, o, s, y
Words: no, Joe, Jen, yes, joy, enjoy, enjoys
Lesson 39: Letters: d, e, i, l, o, p, s
Words: led, lid, pod, oil, soil, spoil, spoiled
secret messages
Secret messages have been created to give students the opportunity to manipulate phonic elements and should be especially helpful for providing practice with onsets and rimes (Education Department of Western Australia, 1994). Secret messages are formed by adding or deleting parts of words and can be geared to virtually any decoding skill at any level of difficulty. At the easiest levels students can manipulate beginning and ending consonants. At more advanced levels they may manipulate vowels, syllables, prefixes, suffixes, and even roots. Once students become proficient at solving secret messages, they can be challenged to create their own. Secret messages should be composed in such a way that new elements being substituted for old elements have the same sound as the old elements. For instance, taking the r from raid and substituting p so as to make paid is acceptable. But substituting pl for r in raid would not be since the aid in plaid is not pronounced in the same way as the aid in paid. Although they are a game-like activity, secret messages should also meet specific instructional objectives. The sample secret message is designed to reinforce the –at pattern.
Sample Secret Message
Take the H from hats and put C in its place. __ __ __ __
Take the t from to and put d in its place. __ __
Take the h from hot and put n in its place. __ __ __
Take the b from bike and put l in its place. __ __ __ __
Take the b from bats and put r in its place. __ __ __ __
__ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __.
sorting
Sorting is a highly effective technique and should be used regularly. In addition to actively involving students, sorting helps students discover underlying relationships among words. For instance, students may be able to read am, ham, Sam, and jam but may not realize that these words all fit a pattern until they sort them. Here is how a sort might be conducted. Using ham, cat, and man as the model pictures, have students place rhyming picture cards under them. Once students are adept at sound sorting, have them sort the patterns according to sound and spelling. Again, using the picture of the ham, cat and pan as models have students place –am words under the picture of the ham, –at words under the picture of the cat and –an words under the illustration of the pan.
ham | cat | pan |
Pam | hat | van |
Sam | mat | man |
Students can work individually, in pairs, or in small groups. After a sort has been completed, have students read the words in each category and note what is the same about the sound and spelling of the words in each category. If students have completed a sort under your guidance, have them sort the items a second time for additional practice. If students are simply sorting the words according to their spellings and not noting the sounds of the words, try blind sorts. In a blind sort, the teacher or a student calls out a word, and the student points to the model word it would fall under. For instance, the teacher would call out “bat” and the student would point to the model word cat.
Vowel patterns can be sorted in a number of ways. Short vowels can be contrasted with long vowels and can also be contrasted with each other. Vowels can be sorted according to sound or according to sound and spelling. Long a, for instance, could be sorted according to its ai (nail), ay (hay), and a-e (gate) spellings.
Cutup Sentences
After a pattern or series of high-frequency words has been presented, create or have students compose a sentence that incorporates some of the words that have been taught: The cat sat on the mat. Write the word on a strip of tagboard. Have students read the sentence. Then give it to them in cutup form and have them reassemble it: mat the sat the on The cat. Sentences can be reassembled by students working alone or in pairs. Keep cutup sentences in envelopes
Reading Rhymes
Reading rhymes is especially good for reinforcing patterns. Because they contain rhyming lines and a distinctive rhythm, verses, poems, and songs are easier to read and are more fun to read. They lend themselves to being read over and over again. Because of their rhyme and rhythm, they also promote accuracy of reading. Songs play a similar role. Rhymes are arranged according to the phonic element they incorporate. are The skill being reinforced is listed at the end of each rhyme.
Word Building A Rhymes: Short-Vowel Patterns
Word Building B Rhymes: Long-Vowel Patterns
Word Building C Rhymes: R-Vowel and Other-Vowel Patterns
Some of the rhymes, especially those at the beginning level may contain some unfamiliar words. Display the target rhyme so that all can see it. Discuss the target rhyme and then read it to students. Point to each word as you read it. Then reread it with students until they can read it on their own. To build fluency, have students reread the rhyme with a partner and take it home to read to caregivers