Teaching Phonics to Students There are many research- based practices that have been used to teach phonics instruction this paper will highlight some of the key practices in the literature. First, all students should know their letters names and the sounds that they make, otherwise known as the alphabetic principle. Students cannot learn the sounds of the English language if they do not know their letters and sounds. As noted by Cooter and Reutzel (2016) The Common Core State Standards places an emphasis on one to one letter-correspondence and identifying letter sounds. If students can identify their letters and the sounds they make, and teachers allow students to identify these letters and sounds through environmental print and shared reading, students can begin to use to decode words and use the letter in writing (Cooter & Reutzel, 2016). One key program is called Making Words, in the Making Words program; children are individually given letters that they use to make words. Over the course of fifteen minutes, students spell up to 12 to 15 words, starting from two-letter words all the way up to five or six letter words. Often these words …show more content…
Word sorts allow students to “compare, contrast, sort words according to specific features” ((McIntyre, Hulan & Layne, 2011, p. 108). There is two types sorts that teacher can use with their students: open and closed. Closed sorts dictate what pattern the students should be looking for, this can be helpful when students are first learning a spelling pattern or students need intervention on a certain spelling pattern. Open sorts allow students to sort words into the patterns they see, this can be a helpful tool in seeing what patterns a student's knows and what patterns need further help with. Teachers can also used word family sorts and spelling sorts to help students learn how to manipulate and learn the spelling patterns of the English