Overview
A reputable body of research substantiates the positive effects of well-designed phonics instruction and provides guidance about the form that instruction should take. The following research conclusions guided the development of Houghton Mifflin's newly published program, Invitations to Literacy:
In the Kindergarten level of Invitations to Literacy children are taught concepts of rhyme and beginning sounds, the most fundamental phonological awareness skills. They also become proficient in blending and segmenting onsets (the initial consonant or consonants, e.g., the s in sit) and rimes (the remainder of a one syllable word, e.g., the -it in sit). In addition to building phonemic awareness, instruction in onsets and rimes prepares children to read words by analogy. (For example, a child who knows initial consonants and the rime -it in sit can likely read hit.)
In Grade 1, phonological and phonemic skills are extended and refined. As children encounter words they cannot read, they are taught to use their knowledge of letter sound associations and to blend the phonemes into meaningful, spoken words. Segmenting the sounds of the spoken words and representing them with letters are taught and practiced frequently as children grow in their spelling abilities.
Letter Names/Shapes -- Knowledge of letter names is highly associated with success in beginning reading. In Invitations to Literacy children learn to recognize letters accurately and quickly. Letter names are, in most cases, good clues to letter sound associations. Being able to form letters quickly is important for writing, which reinforces and extends phonological awareness, knowledge of letter/sound associations, and familiarity with the form of written and spoken words.
Concepts of Print -- Children become familiar with concepts of letter, word, sentence, and the relationships of printed and spoken words. They develop the understanding that there is a correspondence between the number of words printed and the number of words read, and they are taught to use this concept to track print.
High Frequency Vocabulary -- While phonics skills can be used to identify printed words, many frequently used words (the, to, was, etc.) are not phonically regular; these words must be recognized accurately and quickly. In Invitations to Literacy children are taught these words and have frequent opportunities to practice them in reading for fluency and in their writing.
Phonics instruction is explicit; children are directly and clearly taught about relationships between letters and sounds. They have many opportunities to practice and apply these learnings in a variety of ways, including manipulating letters to build words and applying phonics skills to decodable texts and to writing. Through phonics and spelling instruction children develop the ability to segment and blend phonemes and to sound out words by blending letter sounds from left to right.
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