Phonics is an approach to reading instruction that teaches the principles of letter-sound relationships and how to sound out words.
Decoding is the ability to apply knowledge of letter-sound relationships, including knowledge of letter patterns, to correctly read words. Understanding these relationships gives children the ability to recognize familiar words quickly and to read words they haven’t seen before. This video shares more about phonics milestones, including encoding and decoding, across grade levels. If you’d like to learn more about the milestones for all the essential literacy skills, visit our online module here.
What does it look like when a child is struggling with phonics, including encoding and decoding?
What this feels like to me
- “I just seem to get stuck when I try to read a lot of the words in this chapter.”
- “Figuring out the words takes so much of my energy, I can’t even think about what it means.”
- “I don’t know how to sound out these words.”
What I see at home
- She often gets stuck on words when reading. I end up telling her many of the words.
- His reading is very slow because he spends so much time figuring out words.
- She’s not able to understand much about what she’s reading.
What I see in the classroom
- She doesn’t correctly complete blending activities; for example, putting together the sounds /k/ /i/ /ck/ to make the word kick.
- He doesn’t correctly complete phoneme substitution activities; for example, changing the /m/ in mate to /cr/ in order to make crate.
- She has a hard time telling how many syllables there are in the word paper.
- He struggles to sound out words with sound and patterns we have already learned.
- By the time she has sounded out the entire word, she has forgotten the beginning sound(s) of the word.
- The child is reluctant to read out loud and independently.
How do we support phonics, including encoding and decoding?
What I can do to help myself
- Play with magnetic letters. See how quickly you can put them in order while singing the alphabet song.
- Look at written materials around your house and at road signs to see if you can spot familiar words and letter patterns.
- Write notes, e-mails, and letters to your friends and family. Represent each sound you hear as you write.
What I can do to help at home
- For a younger reader, help your child learn the letters and sounds of the alphabet. Occasionally point to letters and ask your child to name the letter and its sound.
- Encourage your child to write and spell notes, e- mails and letters using what he knows about sounds and letters.
- Talk with your child about the ”irregular” words such as said, are, and was that he needs to recognize “at sight.”
Find more information about what you can do at home to help your child in the box below!
What I can do to help in the classroom
- Consider teaching phonological and phonemic skills in small groups since students will likely be at different levels of expertise.
- Make sure your school’s reading program and other materials include skill building on phonemes, especially in kindergarten and first grade, and systematic instruction in phonics.
- Assess which letter-sounds the child knows and plan how to teach the remaining sounds/patterns.
- Ensure your reading program and lessons provide explicit strategies to support children when sounding out words.
What are some fun and easy activities I can do at home to support phonics, including encoding and decoding?
These are just some examples of activities that you can do at home with your child to support phonics, including encoding and decoding, depending on the stage of your child’s reading. To find more easy activities to do at home that support all the essential literacy skills, visit our online module here.
- Letter Bag: Write the letters or patterns your child is learning about at school on cards and place in a bag. Have your child take a card and say the sound(s) the letter or pattern makes.
- Decodable Texts: Ask your child’s teacher for copies or titles of decodable books that your child can use to practice specific letter sounds and patterns. This document provides short decodable passages that are appropriate for kindergarteners.
- Multisensory Writing: Provide 2-3 sound words for your child to write using fun techniques such as using a stick in the sand, using their finger on shaving cream etc
- Build a Word: Using the cards available at the link or by making your own, have your child build and record words with three sounds (ex. Hat, mug, win). As your child learns new letter sounds and patterns, add them to the deck of cards. Discuss the meaning of the words with your child, as shown here.
- Decodable Texts: Ask your child’s teacher for copies or titles of decodable books that your child can use to practice specific letter sounds and patterns. Linked are first grade and second grade decodable passages.
- Decoding Error Correction: This resource describes common decoding errors and provides prompts for how to support your child when they read a word incorrectly.
- POP IT: Write the alphabet on a pot it using a marker. Pop out the letter as you make the letter sounds “c-a-t”
- Word Sorts: Cut out words and sort them by words that have the same letter rules
- Decodable Texts: Ask your child’s teacher for copies or titles of decodable books that your child can use to practice specific letter sounds and patterns.
- Decoding Error Correction: This resource describes common decoding errors and provides prompts for how to support your child when they read a word incorrectly.
- You can find more activities on the 95% Group website
Adapted from
Reading Rockets, a collaborative project of Reading Rockets, The Access Center and LD OnLine,