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How to Teach Phonograms

mother teaching phonograms to child

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.

What Are Phonograms?

A phonogram is a letter or combination of letters that represent a sound. For example:

  • CK is a phonogram that says /k/ as in clock.
  • S is a phonogram that says /s/ as in sat or /z/ as in has.
  • OY is a phonogram that says /oi/ as in boy.

The word phonogram comes from Greek and is literally translated as the “written symbol for a sound.”

definition and pronunciation of phonogram

Why Should You Teach Phonograms?

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.

Listen to the Phonograms with Our Free App

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.)

You can download the free app on your computer, tablet, or phone here.

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 Like Building Blocks

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:

graphic showing that phonograms correspond with sounds

How to Teach Phonograms

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.

front of DGE phonogram card

The back of the card has information for you, the teacher. It shows the sound of the phonogram, along with a key word.

back of DGE phonogram card

If you are using All About Reading or All About Spelling, these steps are included right in the lesson plans.

  1. Show the Phonogram Card.
  2. Demonstrate the sound.
  3. Have your student repeat the sound.
  4. After several repetitions, see if the student can say the sound without your prompting.

The goal is to flip through the flashcards and have your student say the phonograms without pausing to think.

Organizing Your Phonogram Review Cards

To stay organized, sort the Phonogram Cards behind three dividers:

  • “Review” divider: Cards that your child is currently learning go here.
  • “Mastered” divider: This is where you’ll put the Phonogram Cards that your child knows inside and out.
  • “Future Lessons” divider: This is the parking spot for cards that haven’t been presented yet.
All About Reading review box with dividers and cards

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.

Download These 4 Free Printable Games to Practice Phonograms

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.

preview of Try Not to Moo game

Try Not to Moo

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!

Click to download Swatting Phonograms activity

Swatting Phonograms

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!

preview of Fun with Phonograms Game

Fun with Phonograms

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!

Phonogram Jungle Bingo Game

Phonogram Jungle Bingo

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!

The Bottom Line for Teaching Phonograms

With phonograms, reading and spelling are much easier! Here are a few things to keep in mind:

  • An understanding of phonograms is vital to your child’s success in reading and spelling.
  • Phonograms are simple to understand and easy to teach.
  • Tools like the Phonogram Cards, the Phonogram Sounds App, and simple games are a great way to help your child master the phonograms.
  • Review is essential!

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!


20 Best Tips for Teaching Reading and Spelling

___________________________________
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.

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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 Service

Amanda,
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 Service

You’re welcome, Regina!

Mathankumar

says:

Any phonogram spelling rules book available sir and mam thank you

Robin

says: Customer Service

Great 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 Service

Lynda,
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 Service

I’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 Service

I’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 Service

Michelle,
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 Service

Luz,
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 Service

Good 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 Service

That’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 Service

Jess,
Is it possibly the arrow infographic on our Helping Kids Sound Out Words blog post?

Susan

says:

This is very good. The app is super helpful. Thanks for availing this work

Robin

says: Customer Service

I’m glad this is helpful for you, Susan! You’re welcome.

Oni Oluwatomilola

says:

This is of a great help to me, thanks

Robin

says: Customer Service

Oni,
I’m glad this is helpful for you! You’re welcome.

Herna

says:

I really love this. It’s easy to follow and so helpful. Thank you.

Robin

says: Customer Service

Herna,
I’m glad this is helpful and easy to follow!

Stella Dibo

says:

So helpful! Thank you so much for sharing!

Debby

says:

So helpfu,l thanks

Robin

says: Customer Service

You’re welcome, Debby. I’m glad this is helpful for you!

Victoria

says:

Thanks as this was very helpful

Robin

says: Customer Service

You’re welcome, Victoria! Glad it was helpful.

Miss. Nisreen

says:

It’s useful. Thanks

Rose-Maree Lamprecht

says:

Thank you very much. I found this very insightful.

Robin

says: Customer Service

You’re welcome, Rose-Maree!

Bronwen

says:

Please include me in the free information

Robin

says: Customer Service

Bronwen, 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 Service

I’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 Service

Great 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 Service

You’re welcome, Lesley!

Joshua Aneji

says:

More than helpful.

Robin

says: Customer Service

Great 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 Service

Thank 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 Service

You’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 Service

I’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 Service

Wiebke,
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 Service

Sure 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 Service

Johnnas,
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 Service

I’m glad these will be helpful for you, Elizabeth! Thank you.