How to Teach Phonics - Lida Myrtle Williams

Whole "families" are discovered by placing the vowel with the initial or the final consonants, thus:

ca n	r at	f	an
ca p	h at		an	d
ca t	c at	s	an	d
ca b	b at	st	an	d
ma t	f at	l	an	d
ma n	s at	b	an	d

The children will enjoy forming all the families possible with the known sounds.

Short "a" Families or Phonograms.

ack

and

r ang

b ank

b at

c an

c ap

h ad

b ack

b ag

b and

s ang

r ank

c at

m an

g ap

l ad

h ack

f ag

h and

b ang

s ank

f at

p an

l ap

m ad

J ack

j ag

l and

h ang

t ank

m at

t an

m ap

g ad

l ack

l ag

s and

f ang

bl ank

p at

r an

n ap

b ad

p ack

n ag

st and

cl ang

cr ank

N at

f an

r ap

c ad

r ack

r ag

gr and

spr ang

dr ank

s at

b an

s ap

f ad

s ack

s ag

br and

Fr ank

r at

D an

t ap

p ad

t ack

t ag

str and

pl ank

h at

N an

tr ap

s ad

st ack

w ag

th ank

th at

V an

str ap

gl ad

sl ack

st ag

sn ap

br ad

tr ack

br ag

wr ap

bl ack

dr ag

After a little drill in analyzing the words of a family, (sounding the consonant and phonogram separately) they should be pronounced at sight, analyzing the word only when the pupil fails in pronunciation.

The teacher's chart of phonograms as she works it out for herself may be something like this.

ȃ	ĕ	i	ŏ	ŭ
at	et	it	ot	ut
ack	ed	ick	ock	ub
ad	en	id	od	uck
ag	est	ig	og	ug
an	end	im	op	um
ap	edge	in	ong	un
and	ent	ip	oss	uff
ang	ess	ift		ung
ank	ell	ing		unk
ash		ink		ump
amp		ill		ush
				ust

While this gives the teacher a working chart, it is neither necessary nor advisable that the above order be always followed in teaching the phonograms and sounding series of words, nor that they be systematically completed before other phonograms found in the words of the reading lessons are taught. Such phonograms as "ound" from "found", "un" from "run", "ight" from "bright", "est" from "nest", "ark" from "lark", etc., may be taught as soon as these sight words are made a part of the child's reading vocabulary.