Phonics with Christmas

The holiday season brings an assortment of objects and activities. Objects depicting the Nativity story which include - Mary, Joseph, the baby Jesus, angels, shepherd, a manger, stable, donkey, sheep, star, wise men from the east - can be easily purchased at local department stores. 

We  celebrate the season of love, joy and peace by decorating our homes with evergreen trees decked with lights, bows, candy canes and tree ornaments. We deck the halls with boughs of holly while we enjoy the sights and sounds of winter: jingle bells, snow, sled, sleigh, snowman, ice. We make a gingerbread house. We send Christmas cards to friends while children write letters to Santa Claus. We give each other gifts wrapped in colorful papers tied with red, green, silver or gold ribbon.  We sing carols and recite the poems. On our dining tables we light candles while we enjoy cookies, plum pudding and fruitcake.

Christmas is in the air and Christmas is everywhere. Why not capitalize on the abundant supply of high interest sights and sounds to help students learn phonics? Most of us teach our students the phonic sounds of the 26 letters of the alphabet and how to build words with short vowels like man, cat, bed, cup, pin and pot. We often neglect to teach the rest of the 44 sounds of the English language represented by two-letter combinations. With these holiday objects within easy reach, lessons on the long vowels, phonograms, digraphs and silent letters follow spontaneously after introducing the object and talking about it.

                                                     gingerbread  house

We can start with any object.  The procedure is simple.  We take one object, say gingerbread house.  We name the object; match the word label to it, read the label while pointing with the finger from left to right. We bring to attention that gingerbread is a compound word made up of two words, ginger and bread. It is a house made of gingerbread.  We point out that the “g” in the word does not sound like “girl.” It has the sound of “j,” as in “gem,” (like a diamond) or  “gym” (place to play and exercise). An animal with a long neck is called a “giraffe.”  It is spelled with a “g” as in “j.” Another story we have read was about Jack and his encounter with the “giant.” We also had a story about a “gentle giant.” Word cards for each of the words presented are laid out in a vertical column.

gem

gym

giraffe

giant

gentle

The student then builds the word, “gingerbread” with the printed movable alphabet using red letters for “g” with the sound of “j” and blue for the rest of the word.  After recording the word in one’s copybook and drawing a simple gingerbread house, one returns everything to its proper place and find another work.  For art activity, a gingerbread house may be made out of Graham crackers glued together with a thick powdered sugar paste.

The following day, the student may be encouraged to continue the activity with other words containing “g”  with the sound of “j” like angel or manger.   Sentences containing these words may be prepared on sentence strips.  The student points out these words. The student may construct original sentences with these words. 

angel

manger

One word leads to another.  A chain of lessons follow.  Introducing  angel and manger as words with “g” with the sound of “j” leads to introducing the long vowel sound of “a.” The “a” in angel does not have the sound of “a” as in “apple.”  It has the long “a” sound as in “angel.”  We build  the word “angel” this time using  a red letter for ”a” and blue for the rest of the word. Similarly, we spell “manger” as noted below. We might use the dictionary at this point to find out the meaning of “manger,” eating trough for animals.

angel

manger

Three objects also have the long “a” sound similar to angel and  manger:   Mary,   baby and stable. 

Mary	baby	stable

Mary   had   a   baby.

Stable leads us to words ending in le where the e is silent. Table, cradle, candle, little jingle, twinkle and dimple are other examples.

stable	little
table	jingle
cradle	twinkle
candle	dimple

You will find a donkey in the stable. Mary rode the donkey in her journey to the city of Bethlehem.  The word chimney is spelled using the same pattern.

donkey

journey

chimney

Mary rode the donkey in her journey to the city of Bethlehem

      Mary and baby both end in “y” with the sound of “ee” as in candy cane.

 candy  cane.

We now build multi-syllable words ending in “y” using red letters for “y” and blue for the rest of the word.

merry	jolly
happy	holly
cherry	ivy

    

Nearby, in the same country, shepherds watched their flock of sheep by night. An angel told them good tidings of great joy, “Unto you a child is born in the city of David, our saviour.  You will find him wrapped in swaddling clothes lying in a manger.”   

shepherd

sheep

joy

sheep	see	joy
worship	sleep	boy
ship	street	toy
	green	enjoy
	tree	joyful

The word “wrap” introduces words with silent letters.

Silent w	Silent gh	Silent l	Silent t	Silent b
wrap	night	calm	whistle	lamb
write	bright	balm	thistle	dumb
wrong	highest	palm	Christmas	numb
wreathe	light	psalm	listen

Three wise (silent e) men from the east,(ea as in ee) guided by a star found the baby in the manger.  They worshipped him and brought him gifts of frankincense, (c as in s) gold (o with long o sound) and myrrh.

The word “wise” opens the door to words with the silent “e” marker giving the vowel a long vowel sound.  Thus we have a…e, (long “a”) e…e, (long e) i…e, (long i) o…e (long o) and u…e (long u).

Long a (a…e)	Long e (e…e)	Long i (i…e)	Long o (o…e)	Long u (u…e)
came	Pete	ride	hope	yuletide
bake	Eve	white	spoke	rule
cake	eve	yuletide	nose	tune

Wise Men from the east

star

incense

gold

Wise men from the east  ea as in ee	star ar as in car	incense c as in s	gold o long vowel
hear	far	face	old
near	hark	ice	cold
fear	harp	nice	hold
team	scarf	peace	told

We can continue building vocabulary in like manner using songs, poems, literature associated with winter, the Nativity and holiday celebration. Let us not forget Santa Claus in our study.  The “au” as in law or Paul is easy to remember when we associate it with the image of Santa Claus.

Santa Claus

Studying high interest words in this manner builds on the excitement of the season to strengthen phonics skill and word study skills.  When one sees a candy cane, one would first associate it with spelling words ending in “y” with the sound of  “ee.” Words thus studied will stay longer in one’s consciousness and would most likely be recognized in one’s reading and will be used in  speaking and writing.

Here’s hoping that this little lesson on building vocabulary and spelling through the holiday theme shed light on your path to give you love, joy and peace this Christmas and  the New Year.

Thanksgiving

We celebrate our national holiday of Thanksgiving on the last Thursday of November. It is associated with the first thanksgiving that our forefathers celebrated with the native Americans after surviving the first year of settlement in the New World.  With the help of the Native Americans the first settlers learned how  to  plant corn or maize, squash and other food crops that easily grow in this land. In a spirit of friendship the natives and the new settlers feasted together with the fruits of the land as well as the meat of the forest. The shared meal was a symbol of the gratitude the first settlers  had for surviving the harsh winter, the adjustment of living in a strange environment and for finding freedom in a new land.

Eating is not just an activity to satisfy our physical hunger, it also allows us to soak up the energy captured by the plants in its tissues.  The plants are specially adapted to utilize the energy from the sun to convert the elements of water and carbon dioxide from the air through the process of photosynthesis to produce its own food.  The main product, carbohydrates, is then circulated throughout the plant to nourish the plant and produce the tissues that we eat as food.  Another product of photosynthesis is oxygen.  It is a by-product because the main product is carbohydrates.  This by-product, which is given off by the plants, serves our vital need for respiration.  We need oxygen from the air we breathe to enter into various chemical reactions inside our body necessary to maintain life.  In the process of respiration, we produce carbon dioxide, which we exhale into the atmosphere.  This carbon dioxide is then used by the plants for photosynthesis, thus  allowing the cycle to continue, a cycle which pictures the mutual dependence of plants and animals. 

It only takes us a few  minutes  to eat what took days and months and sometimes years for the plant to produce the leaf, stem, flower, fruit or seed that we eat. As we eat, let us give thanks for the wonderful process of  plant growth from the seed germination to growing its various plant parts to the harvest of the leaf, fruit or stem which we then eat. Let us consecrate the act of eating as a prayer of thanksgiving just as the poet, Joyce Kilmer , in his poem “Trees”   speaks of the tree as looking at God in prayer.

A tree that  looks at God all day

And lifts its leafy arms to pray.

Eating as a communal activity was practiced by our Lord, Jesus, as described in the scriptures.  He sat to eat with his disciples, He fed the multitude who had come to hear Him talk with five loaves of bread and two fishes.  On the night before He suffered to be crucified, He ate His last supper with His disciples.  At this sacred feast, He  instituted the Holy Eucharist, a sacrament whereby Christ’s special blessings are given to us through partaking of the consecrated host and wine.  Once again, we see that the host is made of wheat, a plant whose fruits, (grains), are ground into flour to be made into the wafer that we eat during communion.  The wine comes from grapes, crushed to extract its juice to be made into wine.  Our token of Christ’s life-giving gifts come from plants.

We gather as family members to feast together to thank God  for  the  wonderful blessing we received during the year.  Even the trials and tribulations we encountered can be seen as blessings.  They  make us humble, they purify our hearts and cleanse our souls so we can get rid of some back log of negative consequences accumulated from the past lives or even from this life.

Let us give thanks to each member of the family, our companions in this life’s journey.  We have been together through many lives playing various roles, sometimes as brother, sister, husband, wife or father or mother.  Each has a lesson to teach, each has a lesson to learn from each other.  We  forgive others who may have inflicted pain and suffering to us just as the Lord uttered from the cross, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.”  Some are difficult to get along but let’s love them anyway. Let us pray that we accept each member of the family with love as fellow workers in God’s vineyard, working in one’s own unique way to bring about the coming of the kingdom.  From the Lord’s prayer, we say,

              “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth

                As it is in heaven.”

We come together to celebrate the Holy Eucharist, which literally translates as “thanksgiving.”  Through this wonderful sacrament, Christ’s power and blessings is poured forth among His people. Let us thank the clergy and servers who minister faithfully at His altar, the men and women who serve in the Board, those who serve us refreshment after the service, those who perform various functions to keep our parish clean, beautiful and financially viable.  Let us thank the members who join us in this weekly celebration of the Holy Eucharist.  They help build the spiritual temple for the distribution of Christ’s power through their presence and active participation.

There is so much to thank for: the beauty of the sky, the warmth of the sun, the wind, water, earth and fire.  These elements reflect God’s transcendent glory in whose light, all things live, move and have their being.  As we contemplate on the significance of this Thanksgiving Day, we  pray,

         “From the rising of the sun even on to the going down of the same, the Lord’s name shall be magnified..”

               “Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.”

Why Johnny Can't Read

                     Why  can’t Johnny read?  He had not been taught to read.  He had been taught to look at words and say what the word says.  He had been taught to recognize forms and shapes in the same way that you call an elephant, elephant and a dog, a dog by simply recognizing how it looks.  Unless someone identifies that word to you, you have no way of decoding what those letters say.  

        It is a word guessing game.  To add to this methodology, one is taught to match the picture with the words on the page as a strategy.  So, a child reads, “Mother buys a ……”  

        Teacher says, "Look at the picture, what is Mother holding?"

        Child says, ”Bread."

        Teacher says, "Yes.  Mother buys a loaf of bread."

        To promote this style of word recognition, books or readers specially made for this purpose are presented to the child with a select number of words repeated in awkward sentences to facilitate word recognition through repeated encounters with the words.  So the child can read a number of words in the first grade, another two hundred added to that in the second grade and so on.

        Let me share a secret with you.  Each publisher makes up its own category of words of first, second, third, etc grade. It is possible that a child who can read at third grade level in Florida using their adopted text can barely read first grade books in Illinois with Scott Foresman’s selections.

        Furthermore, the child has been memorizing what each word stands and saving a memory slot for that word in the brain.  Our short-term memory can only retain so much.  After a while some things previously learned will be kicked off.  Reading in this manner obviously has produced non-readers in so many generations. There are high schoolers who are still struggling with reading  at a time when reading is the mainstay at school. Failure to read leads to failure in understanding content areas and failing in school.

        Let me present to you how reading can be taught in a systematic way which guarantees mastery of the reading process after 72 lessons.  Rudolph Flesch wrote a book, Why Johnny Can’t Read and what you can do about it.

         Here are some important points in the method:

1.         Reading is decoding what the letters say, blending them together to sound something familiar and finally recognizing what one has just said to be a word one has known in daily conversations.       M-a-n blended together says “man.” The word card saying man can be matched to the picture card of a man.

2.           Reading instruction begins with preparatory activities prior to formal reading instruction.  Matching and sorting according to color, size and shape develop hand-eye coordination and visual discrimination. Working with puzzles develop or expand vocabulary.  Activities with art, washing activities and building activities develop manual dexterity necessary for writing.  Games on sequencing pictures, (what happened first,  what next, what happens next),  prepares one for comprehension. 

               Even  before a child can read independently, one can follow a story,  answer questions about the story and  even suggest possible answers to critical thinking questions. Singing, reciting poems sharpens articulation. Being read to leads to love of reading and therefore invites them to learn how to read.

3.            Developing  phonemic awareness comes next.  
These are activities encouraging the play of sounds that make up our words.  At this level, we do not use letters.  We simply listen and participate verbally or with a motor response without using letters.  Some of these activities include --

            Rhyming,

            Segmenting

            Blending

            Counting the number of syllables,

            Adding a sound at the beginning of a word

            Adding a sound at the end of a word

            Substituting a vowel in the middle of a word

           

4.           Phonics--- there are 44 sounds of the English language.  Since we only have 26 letters of the alphabet, we combine two letters together to make a new sound.  So if we know the letter sound or letter- combination sound and blend all the sounds of the letter-symbols from left to right, we can read any word. 

5.            The systematic method is arranged into five big steps and these organized into 72 lessons.  There are 40 weeks in a school year.  Let’s suppose a child can only learn one lesson a week, 72 lessons can be accommodated in two years.  After two years, a child can read anything.

        Would you like your child to be guessing what this word says all through his/her life or would you give him/her the key so one can decipher what each word says independently?  What are you waiting for?  Get hold of this book, read the argument for teaching the phonics method and follow the systematic lessons laid out.  After 72 lessons, your child can read anything and would like to read.