LB IS2-'^ '^ PHONICS STICHTEE, ^^- ^^' ^ JN presenting this little booklet to the teachers, I don't claim to be the originator of very much of it. Some I learned at training school; some I have jotted doAvn at various times from other teachers and from lectures; some came through teach- ers' magazines; some I got I know not where, and a little of it, I be- lieve, I worked out for myself. Its only merit is the gathering of it to- gether between two covers for prac- tical use. Neither do I present it as a method in itself but believe that any teacher, regardless of the meth- od or combination of methods which she effects, will find it a help. KATHERIXE STICHTER. Second Edition {Copyrighted hy Kat/icrine Sticfitcr, ]9I7) Press Co. Print, Wasliinglon, Ioa:a Word recognition is the essential basis of all reading, and the best method of teaching word recognition, is the one which makes the child most independent of the teach- er, and gives him, in the shortest time, the power of rapid and accurate word recognition. At the same" time the reasoning ability must be developed, the mind must be alert. The chief business of the first year reading, it seems to me, is not to impart interesting information. This should be done at other periods, for opening exercises, general lessons, language, geography and history. But it is to get the mechanics of reading rapidly in hand, so that the child may arrive at the much desired thought-getting, thought- expressing period. All primary teachers must grant that there is of ne- cessity a phase in the teaching of reading which is purely mechanical and either by total neglect or by over use, this mechanical phase has been much abused. There could be great objections made to the exclusive use of i^honies or a phonic method at first, in that it takes weeks and months to master all the sounds and symbols that a. child must have in order to interpret sentences in- dependently. He would gain nothing in thought power and the necessary" drill, drill, drill, would soon become "stale, flat, and unprofitable." But when used gradually and by easy stages, while the child is learning to read by any method which emphasizes the fact that reading is getting thought from the printed page, it gives him a key to independence that no method can do which does not have a good, strong, phonic basis. 7)918 €)GI.A4798(ii> I The child must possess phonic recognition power be- fore he becomes independent in recognizing new words. II The use of phonics makes him helpful from the first day. III The phonics develops and preserves the child's inter- est from the first. IV By using phonics the child's work is not a mere repe- tition of memory processes, but a working process of a constructive nature. V The knowledge he gains in learning the sounds is at once put into use, for the child fixes the sounds and powers of the letters in his memory by using them, and not by drill. VI Phonics helps materially in securing distinct articu- lation and clear enunciation. Steps For Phonic Work. I The ear must be trained to recognize sounds. II The voice must be trained to imitate sounds. III The pupils learn to give sounds from characters. IV The pupils learn to sound words from characters and to give the word sounded. y The pupils are taught to make out new or unfamiliar words. 5 VI The pupils are taught to use diacritical marks. YII The pupils are taught simple rules for markings, and hoAv to apply these rules. Diacritical Marking. 1 Diacritiea,' marking is the use of a system of char- acters and marks to distinguish the various sounds of the letters of the alphabet. Macron " Tilde ~ Breve •. . . ^ Broad sound a Circumflex " Cedila , 2 Key to the sounds based upon AVebster's Internat- ional Dictionary, Vowels. a as in cake e as in they a as in mat I as in ice a as in care i as in sit a as in far i as in bird a as in all u as in use a as in grass il as in up o as in snow ur as in curl as in not q as in rude 6 as in for 6 as in move ii as in put oo as in moon o as m son e as in leaf "^^ as in foot e as in met Y as in fly er as in her y as in lady Consonants. 1, 111, f, r. d, z, b, k, s, s, g, g, li, j, K w, c, c, n, u, p, q, t, t, V, x, x, y, sh, \vh, th, cli, 00, 00. g as in gem x as in exact c as in call ^ as in boys g as in get c as in city x as in except Tied Sound. ell as in chain j^l^ as in she til as in this ti^ as in with ■^y-^ as in white oi as in oil oy as in boy OAv as in owl Blended Sounds. pi, br, ci', str. s])r, sni, bl, wor, fl, sp, sbr. tr, fr, gl, scr, sw, yr, si, st, thr. Endings. ful, Ic, tion, eel ed, (t), ly, teen. Some of the more Common Keys or Families. at. an, ad. ft, ed, ay, ow. inu. ack, ook, ight, and, ink, old. all, en, in, ip, ap. 7 The First Step in Teaching Phonics. Slow Pronunciation of Words. Before we associate the sounds with the letters that stand for them the children must be trained to recognize these sounds and to give them clearly and correctly. Exercises for slow pronunciation. . I. Have familiar objects on chalk tray or in a box. Words printed in black are sounded. Touch the ball. . Bring me the flower. Show me the nest. Touch the chalk. II. Phonetic names of actions which children may perform. Skip to me. Run to the window. Clap your hands. Hop to the table. Shake hands Avitli some one. (Later the wliole sentence may be sounded.) III. Have pictures of familiar animals pasted on chart. Show me the cow. Show me the dog. Touch the horse. Touch the bird. Touch the baby. IV. Phonetic names of part of the body. Touch the eyes. Touch yoni' nose. Toncli the ears. Touch your knee. Touch your toe. y Tell what I say. Listen for the first sound for it will tell von what the word is. Teacher then, say more quickly, a family of words, such as, ball, hall, small, tall. etc. VI. Tell short story, having children tell the words sounded. ' ' ,; ' ' One day a little boy had a new red ball. He ran out doors as fast as he could, to see how high he could throw it. He threw it as high as the top of the old apple tree. YH. Child chooses picture on the chart. Guess which picture I am thinking of. ' ■ Children— in turn— guess Is it the dog? '. No, it is not the dog. ' -\ ■ \\ The fhildfcn continue guessing until right picture is named. VIIT. F(Mir or five pupils stand, facing class, witli hands behind them. Objects arc placed in the hands. The children tell, bv feeling it, what the object is, and say the name slowly. The children in the class then pronounce it. The words used in this work should follow as nearly as possible the words that will be first used in the reader. 9 Second Step. Letters are marks and marks interest children only as they represent life or action. Most children learn to know the common animals, not by their name, but by what they say. The dog is the "bow-wow." The cow "moo," etc. So in order to associate more readily the sounds with the letter, a very liberal use of fancied resemblances should be used. This can be done very interestingly through the story form, either by using one long continued story, telling a little of it each day, or a complete short story for each sound. Any live, wide awake teacher can easily work out a story for herself, which will suit her oAvn particular needs and environments. The folloAving is merely a suggestion : Once upon a time there lived in a town, a boy, whose name was Ned. Every year when it was just about time for school to be out Ned began counting the days, for he knew that the very next day after the last day of school, his grandfather would come in from the country and take him out to the big farm, where he could see all the chick- ens and the pigs, and the cows, and could hear the birds sing, and could pick flowers in the meadow and down by the brook, and could have, oh ! such a good time. And sure enough, this time that I am telling j'ou about, the very day after school was out, grandpa did come, and away they started for the country, and Ned was about the happiest boy you ever saw. 10 As they were riding along, Ned heard such a funny hum- .ning noise that sounded something like this, 1-1-1-1-1-1. Af- ter a while he said: "Grandpa, what is that noise I hear, which sounds like 1-1-1-1-1-1." And his grandpa laughed and said, ' 'Whj^ that is the noise in the telephone pole. It is made by the wind blowing through the telephone Avires." How many of you children have heard the same sound 1 And do you know, children, that we have a letter, which looks a good deal like a telephone pole, and, which is almost the same thing. (Teacher writes I upon the board and gives sound. Now we will make a lot of poles, just like the ones Ned saw when he was driving along with his grandpa, and you may tell me what each one says.) It was almost dark when grandpa and Ned got home, but grandma had supper all ready, and how Ned did eat. He was so hungry. After supper grandma said he could take some of the food, which was left, out to old Rove)". Now who do you think old Rover was? Yes, he was a dog. Ned put the pan down, and then he whistled for Rover. Rover came bounding up from the barn and when he saw who it was that had whistled for him, he was so happy that he never looked at his supper, but began barking and barking and jumping up on Ned. But old Tabby, the cat, had seen the supper, and she was having such a good time eating it, when Rover hap- pened to see her and, my ! how he did growl at her ! Just like this, r-r-r-r-r-r. She got away from there in a hurry, I can tell you. She didn't go very far though, and then she got up on a post, where she knew she would be safe, and spit at him like this, f-f-f-f-f-f. But Rover Avas eatinj^ and didn't pay any attention to her. Let's make a picture of Tabby sitting upon the post and see if we can remember 11 M'hat she says, aud Avhat Rover said when he growled at her. The next morning Ned was up bright and early for there Avere so many things for him to see, and so many things for him to do. First he must run down to the barn to see old Bess, the cow, then across the meadow to see if the little fish were still in the brook, where he had seen them last summer. Of course Rover went along, run- ning and jumping, and barking at every thing. Once Rover stopped and kept barking and barking at some- thing in the grass, so Ned went back to see what it was. He found that it was a little snake, and it didn't seem to like Rover's barking very well for it was saying, s-s-s-s-s-s. Ned saw that it was only a little garter snake, and knew that it Avould do no harm, so he coaxed Rover away froin it, and they went on. Next he saw some old sheep resting under the trees, and he wasn't going to pay any attention to them, but all at once he heard a faint little sound some- thing like this, a-a-a-a-a-a. "Oh, I know what that is,'' he said. "There are same little lambs with the old sheep. I want to see them." So he went and talked to the little lambs a while, and it sounded just like they were trying to talk to him, when they said, a-a-a-a-a-a. This letter "which I am writing on the board, says just what the littie lamb said. What -was it? The story can be continued and elaborated as much as the teacher desires, to introduce other sounds, these usually being associated in some such way as the following: b-Bess, the cow, d-dove, g, the frog sound, z-,bee hum, h, the tried sound. i-Ned trj'ing to squeal as the little pig did, e-what the deaf old lady kept saying, u-trying to lift something 12 very heavy, wh-blow out light, sh-hush sound, o-don't touch, m-top spinning c-getting fish bone out of throat, p-puff sound, w-wind blowing ch-sneeze. The use of tliesn resemblances is merely temporary aid. In a very short time they need not be referred to at all, and the drill on' sounds be given by simply saying, what does 1 say? What does m say? etc., using the name of the letter. In this way the children learn the names of the letters at the saniv; time he is giving the sound and it is one way of teaching the alphabet, wiiich some fond parent is always so afraid we primnry teachers never will teach. As soon as the vowel a, is learned with such conson- ants as s, 1, m, n, b, d, f, h, the teacher should begin build- ing these into families. This will immediately give the child a greatly increased vocabulary. (These families are given at the close of the book.) The last half of the first year the teacher begins using diacritical marks. The children do very little marking. At the beginning of the second year, the following simple and more common rules for marking are taught. By the end of the second year a child should be able to apply any of these rules and mark the word. Unphonetic words, in which unfortunately, our language abounds, are taughi:, and usually referred to , as "run-a-way" Avords, becauKO they do not mind the rule. These, as well as quite a num- ber of other common words, are learned as sight words j words to be learned by sight, without regard to diacritical markings or to rules. 13 Rules For Marking. I. One vowel in the word, and it is not at the last; mark it short. — nest. II. One vowel in the word, and it is at the last; mark it long'. — she. II. Two or more vowels in the word; mark the first one long-; the last ones silent. — cake. IV. Double consonants; last is silent. (Children say silent ; both sound alike) bell. V. t before eh is silent — catch. VI. Effect of r upon vowels, ar, ar, ur, ir, or, yr. (Chiklren say, a before r, a, or e before r, er.) VII. 1 long before gh^ — gh silent- — high. VIII. 5 before e, i, y, gent, gity, gycle. IX. g before e, i, y, general, ginger, gypsy. X. a before u, w, I, haul, lawn, walk. XI. Initial k before n silent, knife. XII. Initial w before r silent, wring. XIII. Initial y is always a consonant. (No excep- tions.) XIA'. 11 before k sound, drink. Suggestions. I. The phonic period is not a reading period. It should have its own place on the program. 14 II. As far as possible, let the words used in the phonic drills be from the reading lesson. III. Drill npon the sounds, until the power to use them is automatic IV. Know phonics thoi-onghly yourself before trying to teach it. V. Daily drill in phonics should be given in the first four grades. Material For Teaching Phonics. I. For the successfultcaching of phonies, the teacher should provide herself with some material besides chalk and black board, not only as a matter of interest to the children, but as a time saver for herself. Any of the foll- owing suggestions may be carried out with large sheets of manila paper, which is inexpensive, light to handle, and durable. Once made, they may be used over and over again. I. Make a chai-t of all the sounds used. I I. .Make a chart of equivalent sounds. 15 III. Make a chart of blended sounds and endings Avhieh are to be learned as sight phonograms. IV. Make a chart of each family. Have the chart headed by an attractive suggestive pic- ture. For example, the Perry picture of the rose breasted grose beak, could be used for the ing family with the word sing" below the picture and the other words in lists. A winter scene for old with the suggestive word cold leading the list. V. Make chart with circle on it. Have sounds around the outside, also inside the circle. This can be used as a "merry go-round" drill, "drop-the-handkerchief," "frog in the pond," "children skating," or the "tit-tat-toe" game. Other uses will suggest themselves. VI. Have all sounds printed on separate cards. These should be on cards about 4x6, just large enough to be handled easily. VII. Have about ten sounds printed on cards 10x10. These may be called gardens, boxes, etc. VIII. For seat work have spool boxes with all the "sounds in them, one for each child. IX. Have boxes with families in, and consonants needed for building these families. X. Have chart just the size of toj) of desk. Acrofis the top have pasted a bright little picture such as a flower, fish, apple, etc., with the name written beneath and the key sound or blended sound marked. In envelope pasted 16 on the buck have words with corresponding sounds, tlio child plaeiiig- each word ])eneath the word having the same sonnd. These charts are the best when printed with a rubber stamping outfit, (costing $1.50 and well worth that price as it can be. used for so many things and in so many ways.) However, a rubber pen Avould do, and even black crayolas could be used. Suggestions For Sound, Games and Drills. By means of games, and the game may be of the simp- lest character imaginable, phonics can be made one of the most interesting and pleasurable of all the beginning school work. The child needs but a mere suggestion to turn the most dry and formal drill iuto a spirited and en- thusiastic game. The result the teacher is working for, in either case, is secured much more quickly through the powerful medium of the game. A teacher will be surprised to find how many games she can think of once she is started. Every season of the year Avill bring its own suggestions, as well as every holi- day or special day. Usually the simplest ones are the best. But in giving work of any kind, the teacher must- understand that it is not always necessary to play games to drill on Avork, whcthei- it be phonics, words, numbers or what. Let your childr