Alphabet charts, aka a rant about the state of phonics in this country

[ktgrok]

holy cow, finding an alphabet chart that uses appropriate key pictures should not be this hard! No, SHEEP is not a good key word for the letter S!!! /Sh/ is a totally different phoneme than /s/!!!! And the first sound in Owl is not the short sound of the letter O, it is a totally separate sound! And given that the /ks/ sound is the more common sound of X, using xylophone as the key picture isn't really helpful either. Nor is using Fox, when every other letter in the chart has a picture that STARTS with that sound.

Even worse, one has what I assume is meant to be an iguana for I, except it is a picture of a chameleon, NOT an iguana! Not to mention my daughter was sure that the J must make the /l/ sound since she thought the photo was a leopard, when it was actually a jaguar. Hello, how about jelly, or jump rope, or jacks, or whatever? Not a generic spotted cat. 

I seriously have looked at a dozen now. and not found ANY I really like. The only one that had accurate pictures used ones that were sort of hard for the kid to figure out - like they meant for it to be a picture of "lips" for the letter L, but any kid would look at it and think "mouth" not "lips", etc. I can forgive them for that, but using an owl for O or sheep for S?!?!?!

No wonder we have a literacy problem!

[El...]

Hear, hear! 🙂

[HomeAgain]

Check out Jan Brett's.  She gives two for tricky sounds: https://janbrett.com/alphabet/alphabet_main.htm

[Hilltopmom]

I like the ones that go with a phonics or reading curriculum from the manufacturer-

Wonders or Wilson Fundations have decent ones- I’ve printed ones from TPT that go with those. Ditto for their flash cards.

[ktgrok]

5 minutes ago, HomeAgain said:

Check out Jan Brett's.  She gives two for tricky sounds: https://janbrett.com/alphabet/alphabet_main.htm

She has a heart for V, assuming it should be valentine, but doesn't really look like a valentine. And Xylophone for X. 

[ScoutTN]

7 minutes ago, Hilltopmom said:

I like the ones that go with a phonics or reading curriculum from the manufacturer-

Wonders or Wilson Fundations have decent ones- I’ve printed ones from TPT that go with those. Ditto for their flash cards.

Yes! Buy from a company that writes intensive phonics curricula, like Wilson, Spire, Barton etc. 

Edited April 20, 2022 by ScoutTN

[ktgrok]

I tried the wilson ones, and having same problem, things like "box" being used for X, when every other letter using a picture that starts with that sound, rather than ends with it. Barton doesn't have one. Neither does Memoria Press, or All About Reading. 

The Good and the Beautiful was the awful one with "sheep" for S and "owl" for O, and a chameleon for I. 

Edited April 20, 2022 by ktgrok

[ktgrok]

I may need to make my own. Canva should work. 

[ScoutTN]

Are there English words that begin with the correct sound of x? 
 

X is usually at the end of a syllable, so it seems a logical place to teach it, even though the pattern is different from the other letters. 
 

I have used the Wilson phoneme cards successfully with many students with dyslexia and multiple other LDs without any trouble. 

Edited April 20, 2022 by ScoutTN

[Hilltopmom]

Wonders uses Box for X too but underlines the x in red to highlight it.

is there a word that starts with the x sound? that would work better?? Totally blanking on that.

I liked having the cards that matched the poster 
 

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Alphabet-Chart-McGraw-Hill-Wonders-3370024?st=9fce606a4a1b89d963097107dd4fbf7e

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Alphabet-Cards-to-go-with-Wonders-reading-program-2159925?st=0f6038290cf1d2ea891acde758a930bb

 

[ktgrok]

X-Ray seems like the best word for X. Now, this is for teaching the letter sound correlation, not for actual reading instruction, which I think makes a difference to me. If this was a student that already had some letter/sound knowledge, and was older and able to remember that the /x/ sound is at the end usually, I'd be okay with box. 

So for say, an older kid remediating it would be fine for me. But for a just turned 5 yr old who doesn't have that yet, not as much. 

[mmasc]

17 minutes ago, ktgrok said:

I tried the wilson ones, and having same problem, things like "box" being used for X, when every other letter using a picture that starts with that sound, rather than ends with it. Barton doesn't have one. Neither does Memoria Press, or All About Reading. 

The Good and the Beautiful was the awful one with "sheep" for S and "owl" for O, and a chameleon for I. 

All About Reading has one included with their Pre-Reading packet. I remember having it hanging on our wall! It seems like it was slightly more obscure than I would have preferred—trying to use an animal theme for every letter. So yeah, not perfect either. 
 

Wouldn’t the “x” have to be at the end of the word to make its usual sound?? Maybe I’m missing something but that’s all I can think of!

[ktgrok]

16 minutes ago, Hilltopmom said:

Wonders uses Box for X too but underlines the x in red to highlight it.

is there a word that starts with the x sound? that would work better?? Totally blanking on that.

I liked having the cards that matched the poster 
 

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Alphabet-Chart-McGraw-Hill-Wonders-3370024?st=9fce606a4a1b89d963097107dd4fbf7e

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Alphabet-Cards-to-go-with-Wonders-reading-program-2159925?st=0f6038290cf1d2ea891acde758a930bb

 

Highlighting it does help! Then they can see visually it is at the end, even if they can't read the word itself. But I know my DD will think that photo for the letter I is a bug or a beetle, not an insect, lol. Might work though. 

Edited April 20, 2022 by ktgrok

[BlsdMama]

25 minutes ago, ktgrok said:

I tried the wilson ones, and having same problem, things like "box" being used for X, when every other letter using a picture that starts with that sound, rather than ends with it. Barton doesn't have one. Neither does Memoria Press, or All About Reading. 

The Good and the Beautiful was the awful one with "sheep" for S and "owl" for O, and a chameleon for I. 

There isn't a word that starts with /xs/ that I can think of so the average 6yo should understand the sounds is /ks/ like the end of box.  It's the only way around that issue - but I'm with you on this. I'm heartbroken and angry that no one is preparing teachers to teach reading correctly either.

[mmasc]

How about this one??

https://www.staples.com/teacher-created-resources-colorful-alphabet-chart-pack-of-6-tcr7926bn/product_24389931

[Bambam]

This sounds like an excellent opportunity to make and market your own accurate phonic wall chart! 

[Hilltopmom]

When I taught preK using the Wonders chart and cards, we used this process every time:

say letter name

say word

say sound

for example: 

A, Apple, /a/while holding up the A card

X, box, /ks/

etc

So really quickly they got used to the picture being what I said it was- I, insect, /I/ or  insect not bug 😉 

 

Edited April 20, 2022 by Hilltopmom

[Pam in CT]

Preventing Academic Failure is an Orton-Gillingham program similar to Wilson but you can order cardpacks and (really very, very good) controlled readers with corresponding workbooks a la carte.

Here's the basic phoneme chart (note the x is the END sound in "box" since the zzzzz sound of "xylophone" isn't the most common x sound); the card packs have all the long vowel, controlled-r, vowel combination, digraphs and etc as well.

PAF charts-keywords-for-alphabets.pdf PAF charts-keywords-for-alphabets in PDF.pdf

[Pam in CT]

8 minutes ago, Hilltopmom said:

When I taught preK using the Wonders chart and cards, we used this process every time:

say letter name

say word

say sound

for example: 

A, Apple, /a/while holding up the A card

X, box, /ks/

etc

 

This is exactly the technique that both PAF and Wilson use to teach the sounds. PAF also has the students "draw" the letter shape in the air to forment a gross-motor sense of the motor movement of the letter formation.

[rebcoola]

1 hour ago, ktgrok said:

I may need to make my own. Canva should work. 

If you make one will you share?

[Kanin]

1 hour ago, ktgrok said:

holy cow, finding an alphabet chart that uses appropriate key pictures should not be this hard! No, SHEEP is not a good key word for the letter S!!! /Sh/ is a totally different phoneme than /s/!!!! And the first sound in Owl is not the short sound of the letter O, it is a totally separate sound! And given that the /ks/ sound is the more common sound of X, using xylophone as the key picture isn't really helpful either. Nor is using Fox, when every other letter in the chart has a picture that STARTS with that sound.

LOL! This is a pet peeve of mine, too!

Funny story. A school I worked at started doing the phonics program from EL Education. (Great phonics program! Good job EL Education!) However... their alphabet chart was wonky. For the letter T, the picture was a tern... like... the seabird. But the kids had no idea what a tern was. So they'd be chanting: T!  /t/.... /t/... /t/.... BIRD!

I think there was another letter that had an equally unhelpful picture. 

Why make life harder than it needs to be for kids learning to read? I know, it's cool for 5 year olds to know what terns are. But... let's just use the simplest, most easy to remember pictures, shall we? It'll make life so much easier. 

I think making your own is an awesome idea!

Edited April 20, 2022 by Kanin

[EKS]

How about this one?  https://www.amazon.com/ABC-Alphabet-Poster-Chart-LAMINATED

[AmandaVT]

My Orton Gillingham teacher taught me to have kids make their own keywords and cue cards for tricky sounds. We have "clean" words to use, without any shwa sounds in them. For the first sound of x we use box and even my very dyslexic kiddos have no problems with that. If they have a tricky sound, I give them an index card and they write the letter and a picture of their key word on it. k - key (picture of a key) for example. The process of writing it down helps them store it in their memory, so it's a win win! 

[Janeway]

I like this….

https://www.boredteachers.com/post/worst-alphabet-book

[ktgrok]

1 hour ago, Pam in CT said:

Preventing Academic Failure is an Orton-Gillingham program similar to Wilson but you can order cardpacks and (really very, very good) controlled readers with corresponding workbooks a la carte.

Here's the basic phoneme chart (note the x is the END sound in "box" since the zzzzz sound of "xylophone" isn't the most common x sound); the card packs have all the long vowel, controlled-r, vowel combination, digraphs and etc as well.

PAF charts-keywords-for-alphabets.pdf 892.88 kB · 1 download PAF charts-keywords-for-alphabets in PDF.pdf 761.98 kB · 1 download

That ones is pretty good!

37 minutes ago, rebcoola said:

If you make one will you share?

Of course 

Edited April 20, 2022 by ktgrok

[ktgrok]

1 hour ago, mmasc said:

How about this one??

https://www.staples.com/teacher-created-resources-colorful-alphabet-chart-pack-of-6-tcr7926bn/product_24389931

That one is perfect !!!! Thank you! 

[ScoutTN]

2 hours ago, ktgrok said:

X-Ray seems like the best word for X. Now, this is for teaching the letter sound correlation, not for actual reading instruction, which I think makes a difference to me. If this was a student that already had some letter/sound knowledge, and was older and able to remember that the /x/ sound is at the end usually, I'd be okay with box. 

So for say, an older kid remediating it would be fine for me. But for a just turned 5 yr old who doesn't have that yet, not as much. 

But x-ray uses the letter name, not the correct phoneme for x, which is /ks/.

The letter name is /ex/. 

 

 

Edited April 20, 2022 by ScoutTN

[TheReader]

I have a good one from TPT that was a freebie....let me try and find the link to it, and I'll post it. It's a whole set, and has good words for all the letters. 

 

Here it is: 

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Alphabet-and-Letter-Sounds-Charts-FREE-1755955

[Elizabeth86]

Right? The girls were watching a youtube video going through the letters and the kids on it said uh-uh for unicorn. Um....no.

[Ausmumof3]

2 hours ago, Hilltopmom said:

When I taught preK using the Wonders chart and cards, we used this process every time:

say letter name

say word

say sound

for example: 

A, Apple, /a/while holding up the A card

X, box, /ks/

etc

So really quickly they got used to the picture being what I said it was- I, insect, /I/ or  insect not bug 😉 

 

This is what we do in MSL here as well

[ktgrok]

1 hour ago, ScoutTN said:

But x-ray uses the letter name, not the correct phoneme for x, which is /ks/.

The letter name is /ex/. 

 

 

Yeah, but it helps them remember the sound correlated with the letter, which is all I want for now. 

Edit - OH!!!!! Now I get it! there is a vowel sound in the name of the letter, versus its sound. Duh!!!! I stayed up too late reading, don't mind me. Sigh. 

Still angry over the sheep for the s sound though. 

Edited April 20, 2022 by ktgrok

[Tanaqui]

Scout, /ks/ is two phonemes. X is an annoying letter, let's all just agree on that.

[LauraClark]

I was venting about this a couple years ago on here: I had one phonics thing with 'Earth' for letter 'e'.  Crazy!

[Melissa Louise]

Spalding. Easy peasy. 

[Tanaqui]

1 minute ago, Melissa Louise said:

Spalding. Easy peasy. 

 

Well, maybe. There are some really deeply weird shibboleths in that curriculum and I found it too top-heavy for my dyslexic kiddo. But certainly OG programs in general are a good idea.

[Melissa Louise]

2 minutes ago, Tanaqui said:

 

Well, maybe. There are some really deeply weird shibboleths in that curriculum and I found it too top-heavy for my dyslexic kiddo. But certainly OG programs in general are a good idea.

Like everything, you chuck out any weird ( but what were the shibboleths? Some comprehension/fluency/testing resources are old, but that's the only problem I've had - I sub out any that need subbing).

Spalding and OG teach the sounds of English pretty comprehensively. 

I have to grit my teeth in the classroom because the programs I have to use don't do things like mention second and third sounds of a letter straight up, which impacts on decoding/writing so much. 

[ktgrok]

8 minutes ago, Tanaqui said:

 

Well, maybe. There are some really deeply weird shibboleths in that curriculum and I found it too top-heavy for my dyslexic kiddo. But certainly OG programs in general are a good idea.

yeah, way too much to remember in the beginning for my dyslexic, not to mention that dyslexics also often struggle with telling time, so using clock face directions was less than helpful for the handwriting part, lol. 

[SKL]

LOL ... not a new problem at all.  I used to just point out words that had the sounds I was trying to teach.

What word would you suggest for X?

Even given logical phonics, the pictures tend to be things that fell out of use or look a lot different now.

Reminds me of the eye chart they used when my kid was 2 (and I think they still use it).  The "telephone" looks like the ones from 1935.

And I remember my kid getting marked wrong on a phonics page because she thought a female medical professional was a D-octor, not a N-urse.

[ScoutTN]

2 hours ago, Tanaqui said:

Scout, /ks/ is two phonemes. X is an annoying letter, let's all just agree on that.

Correct! 

[fairfarmhand]

My mom was a kindergarten teacher and she loved the open court way (this was the 80s so who knows if it’s still around) of describing sounds. 
 

The Q card was a bubbling pot. The kids would chant “bubbling pot bubbling pot and the say the sound for q.” The r was a lion I think. “Roaring lion roaring lion…r. R. R.” So the name of the letter was less emphasized than the sound that it made. 

[ktgrok]

I should clarify, I use other stuff to actually learn to read, but she really wants a chart on the wall, and I thought ok and printed one. Only to then have her misunderstanding it and learning the wrong sounds. So now I need one that she can understand, so I don't have to unteach stuff later as we get to various letters. 

[Dianthus]

I really like the LOE Doodling Dragons book. They give multiple word examples for each sound each letter make.

So A is:

Apples and ants

Snakes ate grapes

Wash the walls

They have an app too.

 

From what I recall, I saw an Abeka alphabet chart, and it was good and I think had long and short vowel examples.

[MercyA]

I just looked up the program my DD used to learn to read, and was going to post a link to what I thought would be a superior wall chart, and then I saw...they had an acorn for "a." 

Shaking my head. 

[Ellie]

10 hours ago, ScoutTN said:

Are there English words that begin with the correct sound of x? 
 

X is usually at the end of a syllable, so it seems a logical place to teach it, even though the pattern is different from the other letters. 
 

I have used the Wilson phoneme cards successfully with many students with dyslexia and multiple other LDs without any trouble. 

/z/ is a "correct" sound for x. But a chart should indicate both sounds, and I don't know of any words which begin with /ks/, hence the xylophone, which would also make me crazy.

Maybe this is why I didn't use charts like that, lol.

[Dianthus]

https://www.amazon.com/Abeka-Basic-Phonics-Charts-Grades/dp/B07C87CZ48

[LMD]

I just googled and still can't find a word that starts with x /ks/!

S sheep is pretty inexcusable though. Sun. Snake. Easy peasy.

[Kanin]

7 hours ago, LMD said:

I just googled and still can't find a word that starts with x /ks/!

S sheep is pretty inexcusable though. Sun. Snake. Easy peasy.

I know, right? How does S Sheep get through quality control?!

Alphabet charts should also be allowed to have ONE word that has the sound as the last one... like Box, X. Surely we as a culture can accept that innovation 🙂 

[Pam in CT]

re most common sound of "x"

7 hours ago, LMD said:

I just googled and still can't find a word that starts with x /ks/!

S sheep is pretty inexcusable though. Sun. Snake. Easy peasy.

I don't think there is one; which is why O-G programs like Wilson and PAF use "box" as the key-card for the most common sound (think of how many words either end in -x, or begin with the prefix ex -- all of which have the sound /ks/ ) even though it isn't the initial sound. The zzzzz sound is comparatively rare, and the idea of the O-G sequence is to teach the most common sounds first, then layer on the long vowels and common digraphs (sh, ch, ph, the two versions of th), then work up verrrrrrrry gradually to the 50 crazy ways of pronouncing -ough...

(...by which point most kids already are reading fluently just through sheer exposure and repetition and don't need any further phonetic instruction, while your poor dyslexic kid has lost all trust in you, LOL...)

[Tanaqui]

You won't find any English words that start with the consonant cluster ks because that would violate English phonology. We allow a lot of consonant clusters at the start of words, but that's just not one of them.

[ktgrok]

1 hour ago, Kanin said:

I know, right? How does S Sheep get through quality control?!

Alphabet charts should also be allowed to have ONE word that has the sound as the last one... like Box, X. Surely we as a culture can accept that innovation 🙂 

Yup. And Owl for the short O sound...which is not the short O sound.