On the previous page, we looked at how to use a sound/story phonics system for phonemic awareness. Here, you’ll see how to use sound/story phonics materials to help a child absorb — through writing — the many different ways to spell sounds in English.
This pages describes how to use it with Key Words — with beginners and with more advanced, independent writers.
That requires making 2 kinds of charts. So we look first at creating a single chart for beginners.
Create Sound/Story Charts For Key Words
First, have each of the large cartoons reduced to approximately 2 x 3 inches.
Then create a chart for beginners. Here’s an example of the first row of the chart that will include the 26 letters of the alphabet: the 21 consonants and 5 short vowels (as in pat, pet, pit, pot, and pup.)
Using The Sound/Story Charts With Key Words
You will use this chart when giving Key Words at Steps 2, 3 and 4. Post the chart somewhere away from where you’re writing Key Words. It should be far enough away that a child must get up and walk away from your table to see the cartoons clearly.
A child just beginning with Key Words uses the chart to spell ONE new sound each day. To give you an idea of how this goes, following are the first 3 directions for the adult who’s writing a child’s Key Word for them:
- Say each sound as you write the child’s Key Word. Hesitate between letters — waiting to see if the child can supply any of the letters. You’re looking for ONE common spelling they need to learn. For instance, a child has asked for “robbers.” So you would make the “r” sound, asking if they know how to spell that sound. If the child doesn’t know, ask, Which cartoon makes that sound? They might know that, and if so — keep going. But if not, say something like, It’s the one where the boy is pulling the rag away from the dog. See what letter the dog is making when it’s growling. Then come back and show me. (If they have trouble finding the cartoon, have them bring the chart back to your table and help them find it.)
- After they find the “rrrrrrrr’s” coming from the dog, they return and write “r,” it on the table, with the index finger of their writing hand. (If by the time they return, they’ve forgotten the letter, have them go back to look again. Needing to keep in mind that sound/letter connection for so long, most children will remember it from then on.
- After writing the “r,” say the names or sounds of each of the rest of the letters, as you slowly finish writing the word. (Only emphasize ONE new spelling each day.)
Once a child begins to write on their own, these cartoons are especially helpful for spelling. We look now at the materials for a child writing independently.
Wall Strip Dictionaries For Spelling (Steps 5 & 6)
For the classroom, you can use all the small cartoons to create a Wall Strip Dictionary for independent writers. Or if you’re working with just one child at home, you can use them in a Personal Dictionary.
By dictating and “reading back” sentences for their Key Words day after day, as beginners, children recognize and have absorbed the spelling for most of the “sight words.” So once writing independently, all they need help with is spelling difficult, unfamiliar words.
So I made a series of strips — each with a cartoon at the top that represented one sound. These were displayed, at child height, in alphabetical order. So a child would walk along the row of strips to find the cartoon for the beginning sound of a word they needed.
Once they found the correct strip, they would first look for the word. If they didn’t find it, they’d take the strip to an adult. We’d check to see if the word was already there (because another child had already asked for it).
If there, we’d cover the words below and above it — leaving 4 or 5 words for the child to choose from. They would then usually recognize the one they needed and copy it. If the word was not there, they’d help supply the letters needed, as we spelled it together.
In the set I’m showing you here, not all of the cartoons show all the uncommon way(s) to spell the sound. In this case, for example, the Rrrrr sound can be also be spelled with a “wr,” as in “wrong.” But that option was initially missing from the strip. So when a child needed to spell wrong, we’d simply added it, as shown in the image.
So you do not need to know ahead of time all the different ways the many sounds in English can be spelled. For you’ll discover and add what’s missing — as you use them.
More About The Dictionaries
In the classroom, children favored the Wall Strip Dictionary. At one point, I tried offering Personal Dictionaries to all independent writers. Most wanted one, while others stayed with the strips. But soon, I found that only two children actually kept using their Personal Dictionaries. All the rest had reverted back to the wall strips.
The time and trouble it took to create this spelling system was worth it. We had no other spelling program, yet children in my classroom became very good spellers. And going to the trouble of using these materials to spell correctly didn’t seem to slow them down. For they created long stories, wrote fluently, spelled correctly — and enjoyed doing it. (They also made intricate drawings to go with their daily writing.)
The Personal Dictionaries are made of letter-size paper, folded in half. Each page had at least 2 cartoons at the top, with space below for the words the child asks for. (Look for ways to make fewer pages, by placing sounds seldom found at the beginning of a word — such as X, Y, and Z — together on a page.)
The Wall Strip Dictionaries were made of heavy chart paper, cut to approximately 4 x 30 inches. I reinforced the holes at the top of the strips and used cup hooks to attach them to wooden strips along the wall. They hung in alphabetical order.
They started out blank, each new school year. To save time, I cut the top section off and taped a new long strip onto it.
Reminder
Again, if this type of sound/story cartoon system isn’t available to you, or it seems like too much trouble, please recall that you can accomplish a lot with Key Words and a self-made alphabet chart. You don’t need to use a more complex phonics system.
What’s most important is that a child spend lots of time talking, writing and drawing about things they’re truly interested in. And that they read their finished work to others who will listen to and appreciate it.
Where To Find This Sound/Story System
This type of system isn’t that easy to find. I didn’t have a professionally produced set of cartoons available to me for my K-2 classroom. So I traced pictures in children’s coloring books to make a set.
But I’m happy to say that recently a member of the Facebook Group I established, Helping All Kids Write To Read, told me of this colorful set. It’s made by Jolly Learning. So that’s the one I’ve been showing you here. The only drawback to them is that not every cartoon has a character making the sound. Some are using nouns to indicate the sound. But they’re good, and you could make up a story in conjunction with the noun, so they could work.
You can find the large cartoons by going online and searching for Jolly Phonics Frieze. (Look for the image of the snake, shown above, as each picture is larger (approx. 9″ X 10″) and could be used when telling the story, as you would hold a book. (The other wall charts are too small and have too many pictures all together to use as an individual cartoon.) Jolly Learning also has corresponding workbooks that I would have offered as one of many choice activities in my classroom.
Also, I’ve been told that Open Court has a sound/story set. I haven’t seen it, but you might find one in your local school district materials library.
Finally, the Mary Baratta-Lorton Foundation has given me permission to give away copies of their black and white pictures below. So you can copy and use these. Her work is always very accurately done. So they are very complete and better than any other I’ve seen for making up stories that would easily evoke a sound. But as you can see, they would take some work to produce and make colorful, if that’s important to you.
If you know of other sets of sound/story cartoons, please write a comment in my Facebook Group to let me know.
