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.

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 (7^th 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 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.

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.

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