Understanding phonograms is vital to your child’s success in reading and spelling—but the thought of teaching them may seem intimidating. Fear not! Phonograms are actually very simple to understand and easy to teach.
Let’s start with a quick definition.
A phonogram is a letter or combination of letters that represent a sound. For example:
The word phonogram comes from Greek and is literally translated as the “written symbol for a sound.”
Simply put, phonograms make learning to read and spell much easier!
Take a look at the word past. If you pronounce the word slowly to hear the individual sounds, you will hear four different sounds: /p/–/ă/–/s/–/t/. For each sound, we can write down a phonogram. This 10-second video shows exactly how this is done.
That was an easy example, but the same principle also applies to multisyllable words. Here’s the word winter.
As you can see, your child doesn’t need to remember w-i-n-t-e-r as a random string of letters. Instead, he can just segment the word and represent each sound with a phonogram.
Just click a button below to hear the correct pronunciation of the phonograms.
(If you are on a slow internet connection, there may be a slight delay. The downloaded version of the app will not experience this delay.)
The button colors match the colors of our letter tiles to reinforce learning, and the phonograms are arranged in logical groupings, matching the labels provided with the letter tiles.
Phonograms are the building blocks of almost every English word. In fact, a study of 17,000 words showed that the vast majority of words follow the regular phonogram sounds. Only 3% of the words are completely irregular (such as said and of).1 This means that there are very few words that must be learned through repetition and rote memorization.
Since phonograms represent sounds, the number of letters in a word doesn’t necessarily correspond to the number of phonograms. Here are some examples:
If you’ve been hanging around our blog for a while, you know by now that we teach everything very incrementally, step-by-step. It would overwhelm most kids to have to learn all the phonograms at once, so we teach just a few phonograms at a time. Once your child has mastered those, we introduce a few more.
Flashcards (known as Phonogram Cards) are an efficient way to teach and review the phonograms, and we include them right in the All About Reading and All About Spelling programs.
The front of the card shows the phonogram. This is the side you show your student.
The back of the card has information for you, the teacher. It shows the sound of the phonogram, along with a key word.
If you are using All About Reading or All About Spelling, these steps are included right in the lesson plans.
The goal is to flip through the flashcards and have your student say the phonograms without pausing to think.
To stay organized, sort the Phonogram Cards behind three dividers:
And this is important: after your child knows the phonograms, don’t forget to review! Quickly flip through a handful of cards at the beginning of every lesson to keep them fresh in your child’s mind.
There’s no better way to review phonograms than by playing a game! Choose one of these games (or all four!) to make practice time go by more quickly.
Try Not to Moo is an effective and super silly new way to practice phonograms that makes review time extra me-moo-rable! Designed to be used in conjunction with All About Reading or All About Spelling, this activity can also be used independently.
Get instant access to Try Not to Moo!
If your phonograms review and practice sessions are falling a little flat, here’s a great hands-on activity that you can slip in whenever you have a few extra minutes. It’s so much fun your child might not even realize he’s practicing!
Check out our super fun (and kind of gross) Swatting Phonograms activity!
Playing games is a great way to reinforce learning with children, and our easy-to-assemble printable game boards give you five different ways to have fun with phonograms! It’s as easy as 1-2-3—just download, print, and play!
Get instant access to Fun with Phonograms!
It’s easy to review phonograms when you have a great game to play! And who doesn’t love a good game of Bingo? Just print our jungle-themed bingo boards and grab your phonogram cards. You’re ready to go!
Download the PDF for Phonogram Jungle Bingo!
With phonograms, reading and spelling are much easier! Here are a few things to keep in mind:
Was this post on phonograms helpful to you? Let me know in the comments below! And then download our “20 Best Tips for Teaching Reading and Spelling” for even more great information!
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1. Hanna, P.R., Hanna, J.S., Hodges, R.E., & Rudorf, H. (1966). Phoneme-grapheme correspondences as cues to spelling improvement. Washington, DC: United States Office of Education Cooperative Research.
Amanda
says:I purchased All About Reading Level 1 and 2, through this curriculum I found great progress in my son’s reading abilities, especially in blending and sounding out. So at this stage, he’s able to read although he doesn’t understand its meaning. But when it comes to spelling, he finds it difficult to choose the right phonogram for a specific sound. Can I know how to help him? Thanks very much.
Robin
says: Customer ServiceAmanda,
Are you using All About Spelling? If not, then I suggest you start. Reading is easier than spelling, so what he has learned in All About Reading often won’t transfer to spelling.
Consider words like mayonnaise, mischievous, and entrepreneur. You can probably read these words easily, but can you spell them without help. I cant! It can be the same with what we consider easier words for students just learning to spell.
All About Spelling teaches the skills and concepts students need to spell confidently.
If you are using All About Spelling already, please let me know what level and lesson he is on and give examples of some words he his having trouble with. I’ll be able to give specific tips and helps with that information.
Regina Manning
says:Very interesting! I have students that this might help.
Thank you!
Robin
says: Customer ServiceYou’re welcome, Regina!
Mathankumar
says:Any phonogram spelling rules book available sir and mam thank you
Robin
says: Customer ServiceGreat question, Mathankumar.
Our All About Spelling program books are idea for teaching students all the phonograms and other rules of spelling. However, if you are looking for a quick reference book on English spelling phonograms and rules, look at the book The ABCs and All Their Tricks by Margaret Bishop. I use this books fairly often when answer questions about English spellings.
Lynda Warf
says:We have a Great-Granddaughter in the second grade struggling with spelling.. I am impressed with your site and believe this can help her.
Robin
says: Customer ServiceLynda,
I’m sorry to hear your great-granddaughter is struggling. However, All About Spelling is a proven approach for spelling success!
Do you have any questions? I’m happy to help!
Ngozi
says:This has just solved my problems.Thanks
Robin
says: Customer ServiceI’m glad this is helpful, Ngozi! You’re welcome.
Malathy.v
says:extremely good for Indian teachers like me. I am a curriculum developer in English and your free materials give me a great starting.
Robin
says: Customer ServiceI’m glad this will be helpful for you, Malathy.
Michelle Couch
says:I just purchased level 1 of reading and spelling tonight. I pray that this works. It will be my 3rd curriculum. I love that this has a1 year guarantee. The other 2 that I bought didn’t even have a 30 day guarantee. I hope all these reviews that I have been reading live up to helping my grandson.
Michelle Couch
Robin
says: Customer ServiceMichelle,
I’m sorry to hear your grandchild has struggled previously. Please know that we provide full support, so if you have questions, concerns, need help with lessons, or whatever, just ask! We’re available here, on social media, by email at support@allaboutlearningpress.com, and by phone at 715-477-1976. My co-workers and I are happy to help even with little things, like “Why is this word spelled that way?” sort of questions.
Luz
says:Your resources are mindblowing to me.
The phonogram cards and its divider system, as well as the letter tile app.
Robin
says: Customer ServiceLuz,
I’m so glad to hear the resources are helpful for you! Thank you.
janice
says:can phonogram be taught in kindergarten
Robin
says: Customer ServiceGood question, Janice.
Yes! Many children are ready to learn the alphabet (the first 26 phonograms) even in preschool. We start with little ones just learning the first sound of each letter, and once they are ready to learn to blend those sounds into words (decoding simple consonant-vowel-words like map, sit, beg, hum, and top) they are ready to learn additional sounds that some letters make and more phonograms, such as TH, SH, CH, NG, and NK (these are the ones taught in Level 1 of All About Reading).
Thea
says:This gives me hope for my 5th grade grandson.
Robin
says: Customer ServiceThat’s great to hear, Thea. Let me know if you have questions or need anything. I’m happy to help.
Jess
says:Hi! You have a great graphic showing that learning phonograms leads to blending which leads to reading… I’m sure it is in a blog post or somewhere on your site… could you point me to where that is? Thanks so much!
Robin
says: Customer ServiceJess,
Is it possibly the arrow infographic on our Helping Kids Sound Out Words blog post?
Susan
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Robin
says: Customer ServiceI’m glad this is helpful for you, Susan! You’re welcome.
Oni Oluwatomilola
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Robin
says: Customer ServiceOni,
I’m glad this is helpful for you! You’re welcome.
Herna
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Robin
says: Customer ServiceHerna,
I’m glad this is helpful and easy to follow!
Stella Dibo
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Debby
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Robin
says: Customer ServiceYou’re welcome, Debby. I’m glad this is helpful for you!
Victoria
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Robin
says: Customer ServiceYou’re welcome, Victoria! Glad it was helpful.
Miss. Nisreen
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Rose-Maree Lamprecht
says:Thank you very much. I found this very insightful.
Robin
says: Customer ServiceYou’re welcome, Rose-Maree!
Bronwen
says:Please include me in the free information
Robin
says: Customer ServiceBronwen, I signed you up for our email newsletter for the free information. You should have received the welcome email by now.
Donika
says:Love this it was very helpful . I am really great full for this information
Robin
says: Customer ServiceI’m glad this was helpful for you, Donika!
Heather Lambourne
says:First, thank you for all the information & tips you share. Have you considered producing the
-U- letter tile in vowel/consonant colours? (like the -Y- tile) This would help for when. -U- acts as a consonant sound as in squash /skwosh. Which brings me to your flash card for -A- I notice you don’t have on the reverse that it represents the short sound ‘O’ as in was/want/swan/squash, or does this pronunciation only apply to England? Look forward to your thoughts on the above.
Regards Heather
Robin
says: Customer ServiceGreat questions, Heather!
You will notice our tiles do not have Q alone. In English, Q is always followed by U, so the phonogram tile is QU. GU (as in the word guide) is an advanced consonant team tile as well (introduced in All About Reading level 4 and All About Spelling level 6). U never functions as a consonant by itself, but Y does (as in yarn). That is why we do not have a blue consonant tile for U.
British English has 5 sounds for A, not the 3 sounds American English has for this letter. The sound A makes in the words squash and want is the third sound listed on the back of the A phonogram card. A says that /ah/ (often sounds like short O for many regional accents) after a /w/ sound (so after Ws and after QUs) and before L (as in tall and always). The pronunciation of was/want/swan/squash and so on are pretty much the same for British and American English.
When asked, we recommend those that use British pronunciations change the A phonogram card and sound card to reflect 5 sounds of a instead of 3:
– short a (bat)
– long a (baby)
– ah (bath)
– aw (water)
– (swan)
Here the /aw/ would be the sound of A you are hearing in squash and want.
Does this help clear things up?
We have documents with suggested changes for using All About Reading and All About Spelling for those using British spelling and pronunciation. If you like, I can email them to you. I find the suggested changes to be remarkably simple and few.
Lesley Eckles
says:Thank you!
Robin
says: Customer ServiceYou’re welcome, Lesley!
Joshua Aneji
says:More than helpful.
Robin
says: Customer ServiceGreat to hear this is helpful, Joshua!
Olufunmilayo Onafowokan
says:Good stuff. I am passionate about children learning to read fluently as reading is the foundation for success in all learning.
Robin
says: Customer ServiceThank you, Olufunmilayo! I completely agree with your passion. Reading is so essential for all learning success!
Tanya Kurochkina
says:It’s so wonderful! I have been looking for such spelling games and cards for a long time and here they are and moreover, for free!
Thanks a lot for sharing with us!
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceYou’re welcome, Tanya! We have lots of free printable games and activities on our blog.
Lydia Ratna
says:Referring my sister-in-law to this useful article!
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceI’m glad you found it useful, Lydia!
Wiebke
says:We just started with phonograms and are already stuck. My son struggles with letters that have more than one sound and it is getting frustrating for him. I will download the freebies and hope they help to make learning more fun.
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceWiebke,
All About Reading starts with just the most common sound of each letter, and after the student is sounding out simple words easily, then starts slowly teaching the remaining sounds. By the time the student finishes Level 1, they have learned all the sounds of all the letters. However, many children need to continue to review those phonograms regularly for a year or more before they are fully mastered.
If you would like more help or have questions, please let me know.
Wiebke
says:Yes, I would love more assistance.
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceSure thing, Wiebke.
Work on one letter for as long as it takes for him to master that one letter. You could do alphabetical order, or you could start with the first letter of his name. Do activities focused on that letter. Check out the many free Letter Learning activity downloads we have on our blog.
Write the letter in Salt Trays or other stuff like shaving cream, paint, chalk on the sidewalk, whatever. Have him say the letter sounds as he writes the letter. Be sure to have him say the sounds in the order given in this blog post. They are ordered in that way so that the most common sound is first, then the next most common, and so on. Always using the same order helps with memory, and also lets him know which sound to try first, then second, and so on when he is unsure which sound a letter may use in a word.
Do all of this and more for days on end, until he can write the letter easily when you say the sound and can say the sounds easily when you show the letter.
Only then start learning a second letter. BUT review the previous letter daily. Have him form the new letter while saying the sounds in dough or write it on the window or whatever multiple times a day, but also have him write the previous letter and say its sounds a couple of times each day. Again, keep working on the new letter until he can write it easily when you say the sounds and can say the sounds easily when you show the letter.
Do this for each new letter, taking as much time as needed to master each letter, and reviewing all the previous letters daily. In time, some of the previous letters will get really easy. As you near the end of the alphabet, you can try not reviewing every letter every day. But be sure to review every letter at least a couple times a week. At any time, if he has difficulty with a letter, it should go back into daily review for at least a week, preferably two.
This incremental, mastery-based, ongoing review approach will help any student master letter and phonogram sounds. The key is one-at-a-time and then review, review, review.
I’d love to hear how it goes. Just know that your son isn’t unique in this struggle.
Johnnas Sabarei
says:Thank you, the hints will surely be helpful. May I ask if a sample lesson plan on phonograms can be shared.
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceJohnnas,
We have samples of multiple lessons from every level All About Reading and All About Spelling. You can see them here.
Both programs introduce new phonograms slowly, so you won’t find a sample lesson of a lot introduced all at once, however. Still, they will give you a great overview on how to teach a new phonogram to a student.
Elizabeth
says:I am a middle school reading teacher and I think these tips will be very helpful.
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceI’m glad these will be helpful for you, Elizabeth! Thank you.