Phonetic Reader: Primary Grades

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Well, my middle daughter took it right out of my hand, plopped on the couch, and started reading it! I saw Explode the Code recommended many times in homeschooling circles for kids who were struggling with reading.

I have a little bit of an obsession with easy phonics readers so I have a larger library of these books than most homeschool moms. To me, it is important to keep tons of books on hand so that my kids have plenty of variety as they learn to read. 1. I Can Read It! Enrich the IPA-phoneme correspondence list. For English, eSpeak recognizes 96 phonemes ( dictsource/dict_phonemes). Currently, only 55 are mapped using lexconvert and there may have been mistakes in interpreting lexconvert's conversion scheme. Additional correspondences should improve pronunciation.Learning IPA for the first time can take a couple of hours, but it’s worth the time. Get into these habits, and your pronunciation will be clearer and more accurate, and it doesn’t need much effort from you. When you’re reviewing vocabulary, you should read the words out loud to practise the pronunciation. When you do this, look only at the IPA. Don’t think about the spelling of the written word. Look at the IPA and say the word out loud. Current research supporting the Science of Reading (SOR) shows that decodable texts are needed to establish effective reading skills to reinforce the phonics skills taught. So we’ve been searching high and low to compile a list of totally free resources and want to share with you. Miss Rhonda’s Readers come in 2 sets with 8 books in each set. They are written with minimal sight words and engage kids with “real life” stories.

practice pronunciation of every word using the audio recordings of real people (if available) or high-quality text-to-speech voices. Each of the ten little books introduces only 3-4 new letters at a time and builds words with large text and vibrant, colorful images. These are similar to the A Beka Readers, in that they progress slowly and steadily, but they begin with only one vowel (Aa), and add more vowels as they are progressively comfortable for the child. My son, a struggling and impatient reader, has been gaining confidence with these little readers, and I hope they benefit your child as well!! Many parents and teachers will encourage their kids to look at pictures and use context clues to figure out words. If you are teaching a solid phonics program, that is unnecessary. I personally find the pictures to be distracting to my kids, and encouraging them to guess will decrease their confidence when they come across books with no pictures. Some English words are spelled the same, but are pronounced differently and have different meanings. They are called homographs. Compare: This phonetic translator supports three most common English dialects: British, American and Australian. The number of English words for each dialect in our database is indicated in the following table:The next set of books focuses on digraphs, such as “wh” and “gn.” There is also a corresponding video. This would definitely be a more advanced phonics concept.

How defeating for young children to come across these things in what is supposed to be fun books for beginners. This isn’t a problem. Different people learn in different ways. If you find IPA confusing and you don’t feel that it’s helping you, don’t feel that you have to use it. It’s just a tool. You can use it if it’s helpful, but there are other ways to learn, too. Sometimes just writing the word somewhere else has helped my kids to see it differently. 3. Cover the Pictures

14. Miss Rhonda’s Readers

The release of this report does not mean that we should let go of “sight words.” Certainly children need to know those too! The core of reading instruction should be based on phonics patterns and methods. Of course we, as adults, do not sound out the words we read; so our goal is for children to commit words to memory for both reading and spelling. But for beginning readers, it is most beneficial to sound it out. You will be prompted to select the transcription and enter the meaning/translation of the word (the latter for most languages is optional). This tool will serve you as an English pronunciation guide and will help you save time. You will no longer need to look up the pronunciation of words in a dictionary. Why do you need IPA? Well, you don’t have to learn it, but it can help you with English learning. Here’s why.

If you’re interested in learning about using decodable AND leveled readers appropriately, watch this informative webinar. Be assured, there is a place both types of texts within your classroom for your students! The Free Resources Dutch, English, French, German, and Italian (by 1989); later to Norwegian and Swedish (by 1992); and subsequently to Greek, Portuguese, and Spanish (1993). Under the BABEL project, it has now been extended to Bulgarian, Estonian, Hungarian, Polish, and Romanian (1996). Under the aegis of COCOSDA it is hoped to extend it to cover many other languages (and in principle all languages).These readers may work for your child as a review of the letter sounds or if you think they can distinguish easily between the vowel sounds. The second two sets of phonics readers are excellent for fluency and early story comprehension: Animal Friends Books, and Basic Phonics Readers Set. Now, you already know a lot about how to read in IPA. What do you need next? 2. Reading IPA – Vowels