Multi-Level Dictation Meets Word Families

Kudos to Beth Gleisten, Literacy Network’s Community Literacy Coordinator, for this tip. Beth takes the concept of the multi-level dictation (see previous tutor tips message on the blog), and applies it to teaching word families. Below you can see a super-simple passage she wrote to feature the short ‘i’ sound. As with all dictations, you first read the passage aloud to the learner. Then you give him or her the passage with blanks for them to fill in. The attached documents have higher-level dictations, i.e. more blanks. Beth has categorized them by color. “Green” is the easiest, “blue” has more blanks and “red” is, of course, the most challenging.
The idea, in this case, is to reinforce the idea of the short ‘i’ by using word families. By repeating the pattern, the learner begins to see the connection between the letter and the sound. You can find more phonetically similar stories like this one in Angling For Words, Voyager F and other phonetically intense texts. Also, the Bob Books come to mind. Sometimes phonetic stories look a little like typing exercises because of the limited set of letters they use.

To paraphrase an insurance commercial, "cut, paste, print." As always, comments and questions are warmly welcomed.

A Big Visit

Jim is a big kid. He is six years old. Jim visited his sister Mindy in the spring. Mindy is twenty-six years old. Mindy has a thin chin, big lips and wears a thick wig. The visit was not good. Jim was sick on the first day. On the second day, a pin hit him in the shin. On the third day, he wanted to swim so he took a dip in the lake. A fish was swimming in the lake and bit Jim. On the fourth day, he tried to kick a soccer ball but slipped and hurt his rib. On the fifth day, a kid hit him in the chin. This was Jim’s limit. On the sixth day Jim took a ship back home.

A Big Visit _ level 1

Jim is a ________ kid. He is six years old. _________ visited his sister Mindy in the spring. Mindy is twenty-six years old. Mindy has a thin __________, big lips and wears a thick wig. The visit was not good. Jim was ___________ on the first day. On the second day, a pin hit __________ in the shin. On the third day, he wanted to swim so he took a ___________ in the lake. A fish was swimming in the lake and ____________ Jim. On the fourth day, he tried to kick a soccer ball but slipped and hurt his ___________. On the fifth day, a ____________ hit him in the chin. This was Jim’s ­­­­­­­­­____________. On the sixth day ___________ took a ___________ back home.

A Big Visit _ level 2

Jim is a _________ kid. He is ___________ years old. _________ visited his sister Mindy in the ___________. Mindy is twenty-six years old. Mindy has a thin __________, big ______________and wears a thick wig. The visit was not good. Jim was ___________ on the first day. On the second day, a ___________ hit __________ in the shin. On the third day, he wanted to ____________ so he took a ___________ in the lake. A ____________ was swimming in the lake and ____________ Jim. On the fourth day, he tried to ___________ a soccer ball but slipped and hurt his ___________. On the fifth day, a ____________ hit him in the ______________. This was Jim’s ______________. On the sixth day Jim took a ____________ back home.

A Big Visit _ level 3

Jim is a _________ ________. He is ___________ years old. _________ visited his __________ Mindy in the _________. Mindy is twenty__________ years old. Mindy has a thin __________, big ________and wears a __________ __________. The _________ was not good. ___________ was ________ on the ________ day. On the second day, a ___________ hit __________ in the ________. On the ________ day, he wanted to _________ so he took a ________ in the lake. A ________ was _______________ in the lake and ____________ Jim. On the fourth day, he tried to ___________ a soccer ball but ___________ and hurt his ___________. On the ___________ day, a ____________ ___________ him in the ______________. This was Jim’s ______________. On the _____________ day Jim took a ____________ back home.

Jim is a _________ ________. He is ___________ years old. _________ visited his __________ Mindy in the _________. Mindy is twenty-_________ years old. Mindy has a thin __________, big ________and wears a __________ __________. The _________ was not good. ___________ was ________ on the ________ day. On the second day, a ___________ hit __________ in the ________. On the ________ day, he wanted to _________ so he took a ________ in the lake. A ________ was _______________ in the lake and ____________ Jim. On the fourth day, he tried to ___________ a soccer ball but ___________ and hurt his ___________. On the ___________ day, a ____________ ___________ him in the ______________. This was Jim’s ______________. On the _____________ day Jim took a ____________ back home.

An Inexpensive Resuorce: "Bob Books"

Literacy Network Tutor Connie Gruen reminded me of a low-cost resource for teaching phonics, the very popular “Bob Books.” Connie writes, “I used Bob Books with my learner—all the boxed sets….[they are] good because they isolate sounds, start with most common, and have simple pictures that correspond to text.”

Bob books are available at common outlets such as Amazon and Borders Books. You can buy one of the boxed sets pictured below for something in the neighborhood of $10 to $15 at Amazon. The sentences stick to a specific phonics concept. Looking at the illustrations you can see that they are clearly made for children, which may be inappropriate for some adult learners, but do not rule them out without taking a look at them. Connie is not the only tutor who says that this issue never even comes up when she uses the books. For beginning readers Bob may be the best thing you can use at the lowest price you can find. They’re worth a look. (more below)

Thanks, Connie! And remember to bookmark the blog, especially of you don’t always receive my e-mail messages. You’ll find announcements of two upcoming in-service workshops on the right side of the page. Please keep in touch. I enjoy getting your questions and hearing about your new ideas.

Bucket-o'-Phonics

Take a look at a resource that Deb Martin, new ABE tutor found for us at Wal Mart for just under $5.00.

There are two types of tiles available. The brightly colored ones spread out on my desktop in this picture are grouped into four colors, namely: pale blue single letters, yellow consonant blends, orange vowel pairs, and purple combinations of vowels and consonants. The plain white ones are single letters in upper and lower case. Each 176-piece bucket-o’-phonics costs about $4.95 plus tax. Tutors and learners can use them as manipulatives, that is pieces to push around the tabletop to represent the way you move sounds around when you decode (sound out) words in reading. This idea works the multi-sensory principle that I push so heavily in tutor training. Of course, Scrabble tiles work almost as well, but not everyone has a game set, and these are cheaper.

Phonemic Awareness Tasks

For today’s tutor tip I return to one of my favorite free resources on the internet, Scholastic.com. The website, www.teacher.scholastic.com/reading/bestpractices/phonics/explicit_systematic.pdf may be familiar to some of you, as I have recommended it in the past. This time I recommend one specific part of the article. It lists five tasks of phonological awareness that can help you and your learner get more comfortable with taking words apart and putting them back together again. This can help the ESL as well as the ABE learner, since everyone has to read a little bit, and focusing on the sounds gives you one more way to approach pronunciation.

The article recommends going through the tasks using a “playful” approach and lively pace. There is no need to work through every single task, but trying some of them can open up the mind and get a person thinking about how words are made up of component sounds, and that those sounds are represented by the letters of the alphabet. It is not about mastery. My suggestion is to try a little practice with these tasks as a warm-up before the lesson, or try them in the middle of a lesson to get your learners to pay attention to the sounds of a word they are trying to read.

As always, you can find this or any other tutor tip on the BLOG OF LITERACY, at www.literacynetwork.blogspot.com. This helps in two ways. First, you can comment for all to see and share ideas, and second, you can find the tips there if your e-mail server mistakes these messages for spam. The U.W.’s mail server tends to bounce my messages back every time if you don’t have your spam filters set to accept this address. The five tasks are below:

According to Adams (1990), there are five basic types of phonological

awareness tasks. Within each task type are progressively more complex

activities. These task types and sample activities include the following.

• Task 1—The ability to hear rhymes and alliteration

a. rhyme

Example: I once saw a cat, sitting next to a dog. I once saw a bat,

sitting next to a frog.

b. alliteration

Example: Six snakes sell sodas and snacks.

c. assonance

Example: The leaf, the bean, the peach—all were within reach.

• Task 2—The ability to do oddity tasks

a. rhyme

Example: Which word does not rhyme: cat, sat, pig? (pig)

b. beginning consonants

Example: Which two words begin with the same sound: man, sat,

sick? (sat, sick)

c. ending consonants

Example: Which two words end with the same sound: man, sat,

ten? (man, ten)

d. medial sounds (long vowels)

Example: Which word does not have the same middle sound: take,

late, feet? (feet)

e. medial sounds (short vowels)

Example: Which two words have the same middle sound: top, cat,

pan? (can, pan)

f. medial sounds (consonants)

Example: Which two words have the same middle sound: kitten,

missing, lesson? (missing, lesson)

• Task 3—The ability to orally blend words

a. syllables

Example: Listen to these word parts. Say the word as a whole.

ta . . . ble—What’s the word? (table)

b. onset/rime

Example: Listen to these word parts. Say the word as a whole.

/p/ . . . an—What’s the word? (pan)

c. phoneme by phoneme

Example: Listen to these word parts. Say the word as a whole.

/s/ /a/ /t/—What’s the word? (sat)

• Task 4—The ability to orally segment words (including counting

sounds)

a. syllables

Example: Listen to this word: table. Say it syllable by syllable.

(ta . . . ble)

b. onset/rime

Example: Listen to this word: pan. Say the first sound in the word

(the onset) and then the rest of the word (the rime).

(/p/ . . . an)

c. phoneme by phoneme (counting sounds)

Example: Listen to this word: sat. Say the word sound by sound.

(/s/ /a/ /t/) How many sounds do you hear? (3)

• Task 5—The ability to do phonemic manipulation tasks

a. initial sound substitution

Example: Replace the first sound in mat with /s/. (sat)

b. final sound substitution

Example: Replace the last sound in mat with /p/. (map)

c. vowel substitution

Example: Replace the middle sound in map with /o/. (mop)

d. syllable deletion

Example: Say baker without the ba. (ker)

e. initial sound deletion

Example: Say sun without the /s/. (un)

f. final sound deletion

Example: Say hit without the /t/. (hi)

g. initial phoneme in a blend deletion

Example: Say step without the /s/. (tep)

h. final phoneme in a blend deletion

Example: Say best without the /t/. (bes)

i. second phoneme in a blend deletion

Example: Say frog without the /r/. (fog)

Attention Span Issues

Below is a tip that arose when a tutor asked how to help a learner who gets distracted easily.

From: Melanie Ulland
Sent: Monday, December 11, 2006 5:07 PM

My learner has had difficulty with phonics (especially consonant blends and short vowel sounds). She is excited about using Lexia SOS so we have scheduled to use the software on Wed at the Alicia Ashman Library. We also have 2 meeting days scheduled for next week.

Do you have suggestions for working with someone with ADHD?
P___ admits that she finds it very difficult to sit still long enough to read a book or watch a movie. I will try to keep the explanations I give her short and to the point because I can tell she starts to fidget if I talk for more than a couple minutes.

Thank you for your time!

Sincerely,
Melanie Hamilton Ulland

Melanie:
Thanks for the news and questions. I have a few suggestions for you.
Here's one: if possible, meet twice during the week for a shorter period, perhaps 50 - 65 minutes at most. When you're together, keep several things available for her to do. These include some of the things I mention below, with some links for you to see them at your own convenience.

• Manipulatives. Try Scrabble tiles, kitchen magnet letters or foam letters. Many tutors get them at the Dollar Store--for a dollar! You always want to think multi-sensory, so having something to move around keeps the hands busy and helps her learn in a different way, appealing to the kinaesthetic sense.
  
• Whiteboard. Bring a small whiteboard so she always has something to write on. Write as large as you like and then some.
  
• Computer. Good idea that you're considering the Lexia S.O.S. program at Alicia Ashman. Also look into using the internet and some of the sites referenced at our new website .
• Sing. If you go to the website for PBS Kids, you'll hear some really fun stuff that helps a person remember the rules for reading and spelling.
  
• Take breaks. After 20 or 30 minutes, take a scheduled break and have a cookie with some milk.
  

Now you also mentioned problems with blending and short vowel sounds. For a website with helpful tips on those issues, click here.
What it all comes down to is that you can plan your lessons with productive short activities that keep her engaged. I heard your concern that you don't want ADHD to take you on a ride, so to speak, away from your planned lesson. Hope this all helps.
Brian