Assessing Phonics

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Assessing Phonics

• Kelly Hunter,
• Literacy Fellow
• Thursday, February 1, 2007
• 415 - 530 PM
• Winter Conference
• Stamford, CT

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Continuous Professional Development Stage 2
Adult experience

• The 4 part phonics lesson
• Hear
• Read
• Write
• Revise

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Continuation of Phonics Focus Group

• What your staff needs to know
• Research highlighting the importance
• Definition of phonics terms
• Phonics Scope and Sequence (Stages 1-7)
• Four-part phonics lesson
• Opportunities for assessment on the go

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The Four-Part Phonics Lesson

• The lesson, no matter which stage or
• which scheme, should be divided into
• 4 parts
• Hear
• Read
• Write
• Revise

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1. Hear

• Only pictures or actions should be used (no word
  cards, no writing)
• Are all the children making the sound?
• If roboting or using fingers to segment, is the
  teacher clearly separating the sounds? (not
  blending the consonant cluster, e.g. s m a sh not
  sm a sh)
• Does the teacher ensure that each time a word is
  segmented, it is always blended?

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2. Read

• Is the grapheme card or word card clearly shown?
• Do all the children read and make the sound?
• Are sets of word cards mixed once the new set is
  taught?
• Is the robot withdrawn once the children have
  read a few cards? (It can be brought back if an
  error is made.)
• In stage 2, is the mnemonic clearly and
  succinctly explained?

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3. Write

• Are all the children given the opportunity to
  write in response to hearing the sound/word?
• After the initial letters are taught, are the
  sets of words mixed so that children are not
  reliant on using the rhyming string?
• When writing words at the later stages, are the
  children making sound buttons/lines under their
  words?

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4. Revision

• At the early stages (learning letters and CVC
  words) are all the letter cards revised?
• Does the teacher prompt to the mnemonic/robot/fing
  er when an error is made?
• Are mixed sets of word cards and grapheme cards
  revised?
• Is revision carried out at pace?

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Lesson Example 1

• Marci Marcus and Cami Murace,
• Coaches at Springdale Elementary School

"Show Me"
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Lesson Example 2

• Sarah Santasiero,
• Coach at Julia Stark Elementary School

"Demonstration"
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Lesson Example 3

• Tamyra Childs,
• Coach at Hart Magnet Elementary School

"Get Up Go"
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Next Steps

• Research highlighting the importance
• Definition of phonics terms
• Phonics Scope and Sequence (Stages 1-7)
• Four-part phonics lesson
• Opportunities for assessment on the go
• Phonics assessment

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Phonics Assessment Stage 1

• Speech sound discrimination
• e.g. can identify a classmate voice alone.
• General sound discrimination
• e.g. can identify an instrument by sound.
• Rhyme
• e.g. clap the rhythm in own name
• Rhyme
• e.g. can supply the rhyming word when teacher
  forgets what comes next in a rhyme.
• Alliteration
• e.g. can repeat an alliterative sentence.

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Phonics Assessment Stage 2

• Initial phoneme identification
• Show child one letter at a time, not in alphabet
  order. (a-z plus sh, ch, th).
• Ask the child what is the sound?
• What is the name of the letter?
• Do you know a word that begins with this letter?
• Score one mark for every correct response.
• Repeat test every 6 weeks until child scores
  above 70. (Highest score possible is 87).

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Phonics Assessment Stage 3

• Final phoneme identification
• Ask child what is the last phoneme that they can
  hear and give one or two words with clear final
  sounds e.g. shred, horse.

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Phonics Assessment Stages 4-6

• Each child will need to read a silly sentence
  correctly. If successful, ask them to write a
  dictated sentence. Each sentence must be scored
  and the child must reach the minimum score to
  progress to the next stage.
• Score one point for each phoneme that the child
  has analyzed and recorded that is numbered on the
  examples. If a letter does not have a number
  underneath it, then it receives no score.
• Do not score for letters that the child has added
  or omitted.
• The use of capital or low case letters whether
  correct or not, does not affect the score.
• Reversed letters are not correct if they could
  represent another letter.
• Where the child has made a change in letter order
  take one mark off that word.

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Phonics Assessment Stage 4

• Blending and segmenting cvc words
• Ask the child to read this silly sentence
• Pat got a big red bug.
• If the reading is successful, dictate another
  sily sentence for the child to write
• A wet dog can hug a nit.
• The score must be 15 or higher to move on.

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Phonics Assessment Stage 5

• Consonant digraphs
• Ask the child to read this silly sentence
• A king rang a bell and a quick witch got a block.
• If the reading is successful, dictate another
  silly sentence for the child to write
• Dash and bring a quick phonic spell to a witch in
  a black dress.
• The score must be 35 or higher to move on.

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Phonics Assessment Stage 6

• Vowel digraphs and trigraphs
• Ask the child to read this silly sentence
• Can a sheep make each ugly white cow moo?
• If the reading is successful, dictate another
  silly sentence for the child to write
• A boat blew smoke to try and make a train go on
  time at noon today.
• The score must be 38 or higher to move on.

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Phonics Assessment Stage 7

• Vowel digraphs and trigraphs
• Ask the child to read this silly sentence
• The girl found the hurt mouse under the tall
  chair.
• If the reading is successful, dictate another
  silly sentence for the child to write
• Sh/are her four farm toys out on the dirty
  ground.
• The score must be 38 or higher to move on.

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For more information

• Refer to the Tower Hamlets Phonics (Our London
  colleagues resource)
• Refer to Progression in Phonics
• (Another resource from the U.K.)
• Ask your Literacy Fellow for continued
  professional development