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Reading Lesson, Phonogram Method

Shelley Yamnitz

October 16, 1996

Strategy: Phonogram Method

Objective

Student will learn to generate various words from phonograms and create sentences to use the words in context.

Reasoning

Providing structure in learning phonograms with repetition will give the students much practice and experience with many words. This strategy helps them to realize that many words have the same sounds in them. It can also increase their ability to decode words when reading, which in turn will aid them in overall comprehension skills. Providing the opportunity to use newly learned words in sentences allows for a sense of achievement and confidence in their learning.

Materials

Four handouts per student with one particular phonogram per page to create

5-7 words

Markers

Blank sheets of paper

Procedure

Each student was given four handouts with four different phonograms listed. The students brainstorm different words for each phonogram. If the students reach a point where they can't think of any more words, some additional coaching may be needed. After completing all four lists, have the students choral read the words they listed together.

Have each student pick one (or more) of these words to use in a sentence. The students write these sentences (in their own inventive spelling) on the blank sheets of paper. After they have created a sentence with a new word, they can illustrate the sentence on the same sheet of paper.

Reflections

Only half of this lesson plan worked well in actual practice with Ethan and Jeff. They both did very well on brainstorming the words from the separate phonograms. While doing this, they maintained a high level of interest and participation, thinking of most words completely on their own.

The problem arose when they had to write their own sentences with one of the words. They just rushed through this part in order to be able to draw the pictures. Jeff did a fairly good job of creating two sentences, each with a different phonogram word in it. He didn't spell either word correctly, however. But this was allowed as his own inventive spelling. Ethan had more problems with this. He only wrote the phrase "bumpy road" (he spelled it differently) instead of a whole sentence. This indicates that maybe I shouldn't have assumed that they knew what a sentence was. To write this phrase, Ethan looked off of the lists for help writing the words. His first attempt produced "bake be road". Therefore, he obviously hadn't gotten a strong enough foundation for a deeper understanding of the phonogram method.

Looking back, I would have structured this lesson differently. More time should have been spent developing a strong understanding of phonograms and their related words before going on to applications in context. Unfortunately, this often proved impossible due to time constraints. Ideally, I would have spent more time developing the skill learning of the phonograms, and then even more time applying this in context.