Making Sense of Phonics: The Hows and Whys

by Isabel L. Beck PhD, Mark E. Beck JD, MEd

Overview

This bestselling book provides indispensable tools and strategies for explicit, systematic phonics instruction in K-3. Teachers learn effective ways to build students' decoding skills by teaching letter-sound relationships, blending, word building, multisyllabic decoding, fluency, and more. The volume is packed with engaging classroom activities, many specific examples, and research-based explanations. It offers a complete phonics assessment and clear guidelines for sequencing instruction to give every student a strong foundation for reading. More than 30 reproducible forms and word lists are included in the appendices. Purchasers get access to a webpage where they can download and print the reproducible materials in a convenient 8 1/2" x 11" size and find a wealth of supplemental teaching resources.
 New to This Edition*Six additional chapters covering key topics, including assessment, phonemic awareness, orthography, and automaticity.*A complete phonics assessment with administering and scoring guidelines.*Downloadable forms and word lists, plus a companion website with rich supplemental resources, including word/syllable cards, assessment tools, and illustrated stories featuring target words, which teachers can project or print for classroom use.*More classroom examples and "Your Turn" activities, as well as expanded word lists.

See also Bringing Words to Life, Second Edition: Robust Vocabulary Instruction and Creating Robust Vocabulary: Frequently Asked Questions and Extended Examples, by Isabel L. Beck, Margaret G. McKeown, and Linda Kucan, which provide essential tools for K-12 vocabulary instruction.

 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781462512065
Publisher:	Guilford Publications, Inc.
Publication date:	07/22/2013
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	238
File size:	2 MB
Age Range:	5 - 8 Years

About the Author

Isabel L. Beck, PhD, is Professor Emerita in the School of Education at the University of Pittsburgh. Before starting her career at the university, she was a public school teacher, and has taught most elementary grades. Dr. Beck's work has been acknowledged by awards from the International Reading Association, the National Reading Conference, and the American Federation of Teachers, among others. Most recently she was elected to the National Academy of Education.

Mark E. Beck, MEd, is a reading specialist at Manchester Academic Charter School in Pittsburgh, where he works with children in grades K-5. After practicing law for 14 years, Mr. Beck changed careers, obtaining his Pennsylvania elementary teaching certification and working as a classroom teacher. Subsequently he obtained his reading specialist certification. He has also been a part-time instructor in the Reading Department in the School of Education at the University of Pittsburgh.

Table of Contents

1. Situating Phonics Instruction
2. The Alphabetic Principle and Phonics
3. Phonemic Awareness: A Bit of a Different Take
4. The Phonics Landscape
5. Teaching Children the Sounds That Letters Represent
6. Blending
7. Word Building
8. Assessment
9. Multisyllabic Words
10. Syllasearch
11. Orthography: A "Sticking Point" in Word Recognition
12. Automaticity
Appendix 1. Word Building Lists
Appendix 2. Specific Phonics Assessments
Appendix 3. Word and Syllable Matrices for Syllasearch
Appendix 4. The Word Pocket
Appendix 5. List of Online Materials
Glossary

Interviews

K-3 classroom teachers, preservice teachers, staff developers, and teacher educators. Serves as a supplemental text in undergraduate- and graduate-level courses in elementary reading methods and early literacy.

Editorial Reviews

"Making Sense of Phonics, Third Edition, is a 'must' for anyone who wants to navigate the science of reading with effective, engaging, efficient instruction. Beck and Beck analyze the state of phonics instruction in current core programs and provide classroom recommendations complete with online downloadable resources and easy-to-administer, focused assessments. I particularly appreciate the authors’ excellent treatment of phonemic awareness—it is a breath of fresh air and should be read carefully by teachers, administrators, and teacher educators alike!"—Kathleen J. Brown, PhD, Director Emeritus, University of Utah Reading Clinic

"This is the ultimate phonics guide. Beck and Beck provide strategies, resources, and commentary to support educators with developing a comprehensive approach to teaching phonics. No need to struggle through the teacher's edition of a basal program any longer once you have this book! Readers of previous editions will be thrilled with new content in the third edition, including updates to Word Building (a fan favorite), a new and improved Syllasearch routine, and much more. Not to be missed!"—Lisa Yonek, EdD, Reading Coordinator, Reading Achievement Center, Allegheny Intermediate Unit, Pennsylvania

"This excellent book is appropriate for inservice and preservice teachers alike. Beck and Beck thoughtfully critique widely used commercial phonics programs and address ways to better prepare teachers in this key area. The book outlines specific, powerful instructional procedures that teachers can easily use to enhance or modify their phonics instruction. The authors describe various options for how best to implement their recommendations in classrooms, and provide an array of resources to assist teachers in doing just that."—Marcy Stein, PhD, School of Education (Emeritus), University of Washington Tacoma

From the Publisher