1 Big Sign Your Child’s School Doesn’t Take Reading Instruction Seriously
What if a chemistry classroom had a periodic table with the wrong elements? This is the reality in many first and second grade classrooms. But it’s not the periodic table that’s the trouble, it’s the alphabet poster.
What can alphabet posters (and cards) tell us about reading instruction? Plenty.
Letters & pictures help teach the sounds of the alphabet and how to read words made of these sounds. When an alphabet poster has mistakes, it suggests the teacher doesn’t know the alphabet sounds — if there’s one thing reading teachers must know, it’s the sounds of the alphabet.
English Sounds & Letters
English is hard. But underneath all the special rules and grammatical quirks there are 44 sounds (with some variation depending on accent and articulation). They’re called phonemes. The 44 phonemes are represented by the 26 letters of the alphabet individually and in combination.
The first sound in fish is an example of a phoneme and it’s why well-designed alphabet posters and cards have a picture of a fish next to the letter F.
To teach the sound of the letter F, reading instructors hold up a picture card and say,
Today we are going to learn how to write the first sound in fish. What is the first sound in fish?
Students respond,
The first sound in fish is… At this point they make a voiceless sound with their front teeth and bottom lip.
Next the teacher gives the letter name, points to the keyword, and says,
This is the letter f and the way to write the sound… the teacher then makes the first sound in fish.
After that the teacher demonstrates how to form the letter and the students practice writing the letter and the sound the letter makes.
Red Flags
Giraffe
The big problem with the keyword giraffe is that it’s not English, it’s French (girafe).
If you teach a first grader g is the way to write the first sound in giraffe then soon they will wonder why get doesn’t sound like jet. Then someone will have to explain that even though there’s a giraffe on the alphabet poster the letter g is the way to write the first sound in girl.
Ice Cream Cone
To begin with, it’s three words which is confusing. But if a first grader is taught that i is the way to write the first sound in ice, they’ll wonder why fir doesn’t sound like fire. Then, like in the example above, they’ll have to ignore the ice cream cone on the poster and find a way to remember the letter i is the way to write the first sound in insect.
The bottom line is this: bad keywords = bad reading instruction.
How big is the problem?
Here’s a clue. One of the best selling alphabet posters on Amazon looks like this:
Can you spot the mistakes? Here’s a hint: the first sounds of each keyword should match the first sounds of these keywords: apple, boy, cat, dog, elephant, fish, girl, hammer, insect, jet, king, leaf, moon, nest, octopus, pen, queen, robot, sun, tiger, umbrella, valentine, web, box (last sound), yarn and zebra.
What can parents do?
Parents can look for red flags and ask questions. Be on alert if your child’s classroom has an alphabet poster with mistakes. Bad keywords are everywhere. Giraffe, ice cream, xylophone, x-ray, owl, orange, and whale should set off alarms. Ask your child’s teacher about sounds of the alphabet and the 44 sounds of English. Politely inquire about their knowledge of phonemes.
If you’re not satisfied with the answers, think about switching to a school that takes reading instruction seriously — that’s what we had to do (and we’re glad we did).
About the author: John Mayo-Smith is a parent who moved with his family to be closer to a school that takes reading instruction seriously. John is certified in Windward Teacher Training Institute PAF Multisensory Curriculum for Teaching Reading, Spelling and Handwriting (Phyllis Bertin and Eileen Perlman). He served on the board of the IDA, and has worked with leading educational nonprofits including NJCLD, Understood.org, and NCLD.
