These routines align to the UFLI curriculum, but similar routines will be found in many structured literacy lessons.
Step 1) Phonemic awareness: Ability to identify and manipulate individual speech sounds (think of the sounds it takes to make the word mat: /m/ /a/ /t/).
Students need to be able to accurately and automatically segment, blend, and manipulate sounds. Take note: sounds, not written letters. Students can do this with their eyes closed since this skill is all about sounds. Sometimes it is helpful to have visuals to touch to represent the sounds. Any item can be used such as loose buttons, cotton balls, playdough balls, etc.
Blending sounds:
Being able to blend sounds is the basis for reading words. An example script for a blending sounds activity could go like this, “We are going to play a game called detective blender. I say the sounds and you figure out what word I am saying. /s/ /t/ /i/ /k/”. The correct answer the student should say is: stick. Make sure you are saying the sounds the letters make, not the names of the letters. This is key because when we read, we are not saying the names of the letters, but rather the sounds they are making.
Segmenting sounds:
Ever wonder why students might be missing letters in a word they are spelling? Part of the reason could be that students need practice in identifying individual sounds in a word. When we write a word, our brain must be able to hear each sound in a word so that we can match those sounds to written letters (graphemes). Some words have tricky blends that when we speak, it can be difficult to make a distinction between the sounds. An example of a word with a tricky end blend is the word swept. Some students may need to work on identifying ending blends that are made up of two different sounds, for example the sound /p/ and /t/ in the word swept. This skill takes practice!
An example script for segmenting sounds practice could go like this, “We are going to play a game called Robot. I say a word the normal way and you will say the word in the robot way by saying each sound in the word. It will sound like this, I say best and you reply, /b/ /e/ /s/ /t/.
You can use visual items such as bingo chips to help add a visual and physical representation for segmenting sounds. The adult says the whole word, and the student says the sounds, touching one item per sound. In my classes, we use our hands for segmenting sounds because we always have our hands with us no matter where we are! We start with our right hand with a closed fist and put up one finger for each sound, starting with our thumb. Even if a student is left handed, I tell them to segment sounds with their right hand so that the sounds mirror the direction of written words, left to right. If a student is having difficulty segmenting a word, I like to use the bingo chips or other visual representation.
Manipulating sounds:
This more advanced skill is important for helping build automaticity and fluency. The adult will ask the student to repeat a word, and then change one sound at a time to create a new word. An example script could go like this, “Say bat. (give wait time for student to repeat). Change /b/ to /m/ and the new word is…(give wait time for student to say mat). Now change the /t/ to /p/ and the new word is…” Remember, always say the sounds, not the letter names. I especially like to start out with visuals (bingo chips, etc) for this activity, and once the students gain accuracy and automaticity with this skill, I take away the visual.
(Image from Reading Rockets, https://www.readingrockets.org/reading-101/reading-and-writing-basics/phonological-and-phonemic-awareness)
