The
Grapheme Flash Cards with Pictures are proving to be a really great piece of kit!
Here is how I have been using them:
At this point in the year, our Reception children (age 5 years) have already been introduced to the letter/s-sound correspondences of units 1 to 5. Some children know all of these correspondences, some children have forgotten a few of them or have never learnt all of them, or have not learnt them thoroughly and automatically enough.
First of all, then, I have started with the sets of Flash Cards from the beginning units to check the gaps in Alphabetic Code knowledge.
We flash through the cards with no pictures to see if there are any letter/s-sound correspondences not known or which take 'longer to think about'. We make two piles of cards - graphemes known and graphemes not known well. Remember that there are grapheme cards without pictures provided in each set so you do not have to sort out any groups of cards from other sets of Flash Cards that you may already use.
We take the cards of graphemes not known well and match them up to their corresponding cards with the pictures on.
We spend a little bit of time looking at the picture and segmenting the picture word orally to extract the 'sound' which matches the focus grapheme.
Bear in mind that sometimes the position of the focus sound in the picture word is not the first sound of the word but may be the last sound or occasionally the middle sound.
The language to use should be along the lines of, "This grapheme [point to the focus grapheme] is code for /ou/ as in 'owl'.
I found that as the picture Flash Cards are being used for revision purposes rather than for first-time learning, the children needed little or no prompting to recall the sound of the focus grapheme.
Once the few seconds of chat about the grapheme, picture word and phoneme has taken place, once again use the pile of cards of the graphemes not known to flash through them again (not the picture ones). Some or all of these graphemes may now be recognised.
You may want to make a note of the graphemes not-known-to-automaticity to repeat the flash card exercise for the next few days until they are known as automatically as the other graphemes.
Please note:
It is very effective and very important to keep up some form of games and activities which teach and revise the automatic response of saying the sounds on seeing the growing list of graphemes (letters and letter combinations).
This could be simply the adult flashing through sets of Flash Cards as the letter/s-sound correspondence bank grows. [As the bank of graphemes grows, focus on the letter/s-sound correspondences which are newer and proving more difficult to recall, but every now and again, look at ALL the correspondences].
The
Say the Sounds Posters now in units 1 to 12 can be used as well for this purpose of 'see the grapheme, say the sound' (and it's reverse - 'hear the sound, point to the grapheme'). These posters are invaluable.
I am in the process of extending the range of
Grapheme Flash Cards with Pictures because I do think that they are a worthwhile addition to the Phonics International programme.
Please remember, however, that you do not HAVE to use picture mnemonics to teach letter/s-sound correspondences. Many learners will be perfectly able to be introduced to a letter shape or group of letters with the simple instruction, "This shape [point to the shape 'b'] is code for /b/ as in the word 'bat'" or "This grapheme [or these letters] is/are code for ..... as in the word ......... ".
Followed by:
Show the grapheme in example words and model the blending process [so show written words] and model the segmenting process [so say spoken words, split them up into their phonemes, and then write down the word or show it in printed form].
Please do let me know via the message forum how you find the
Grapheme Flash Cards with Pictures.
Thank you.
IMPORTANT
Many learners can make the simple audio-visual connections with the simplest of processes - for example; "This grapheme is /ar/ as in the word 'artist'" [show the grapheme followed by the written word - orally segment the spoken word].
It is better if learners can learn from simple processes and avoid the more convoluted process of using mnemonics.
Use mnemonic systems (aids to memory) when they seem necessary and appropriate.
The more the instruction is DIRECT followed by putting new information TO USE, the more effective and rapid is the teaching and learning.
