Foundations of Phonology: Interactive Unit Guide

It's time to dive in!

After analyzing the pre-assessment data, we’re ready to begin Unit 1: Foundations. This is

the time to go slow to go fast in the long run. In the past, I’ve

made the mistake of rushing through this unit, assuming students would fill in the gaps later. Spoiler alert: they didn’t. Without a solid understanding of phonemes, graphemes, vowels, consonants, and syllables, it might as well be a foreign language to them. If you could use a quick refresher, feel free to check out my posters. Note that I follow IPA guidelines, using angle brackets (< >) for graphemes and slashes (/ /) for phonemes.

As mentioned in The Lit Stop Routines, we generally follow the same sequence for each unit. Minor adjustments are made as needed. This unit is an outlier since it's the beginning of the year. I'm not ready yet to introduce every routine, although the vast majority are in the unit. Students also haven't learned any phonological patterns so the review activities are more for assessing prior knowledge. You can grab the printable Phonology Foundations Unit Plan here. You'll also want the Foundations Teacher Word Bank for dictation and brainstorming. Below is the interactive Foundations Unit Plan where you can find tons of helpful links. Each blog post will include the typical grouping, methodology, suggested duration, and rationale. I included the objectives in the chart to give you a quick overview. The PDF column will take you to directly to TPT. Lastly, I noted how each objective applies specifically to this unit.

Phonology Foundations Mastery Goal:

Define and identify  phonemes, graphemes, vowels, consonants, and syllables.

Day	Blog Posts	The PDFs	Objectives	Unique to this Unit
tool	None	Phonology Foundations Teacher Word Bank	Provide the instructor with a bank of words for dictation and brainstorms.	No spelling patterns are taught. Instead, we focus on phoneme segmentation.
1	How To: Introduce a New Phonology Concept	Introduction to Foundations of Phonology	Use Vocabulary Squares to develop shared definitions of key terms.	Terms:  phonemes, graphemes, vowels, consonants, and syllables.
2		None	Morphology Full Period
3	How To: Marker Spell the Phoneme	Marker Spell the Phoneme	Review phoneme to grapheme relationships in order to build automaticity.	At this point in the year, no patterns have been taught. Focus on consonants and use this opportunity to collect formative data.
3	How To: Dictation	Dictation	Encode new phonological patterns.	No phonology patterns have been taught so students will segment using phoneme boxes. Repeated three times this unit.
4	How To: Explain Why	Explain Why: Counting Phonemes & Graphemes	Apply phonological knowledge to analyze patterns in words	Students will "explain why" the number of graphemes and letters in a word will not always align. Included high frequency words with phonological patterns that have not yet been taught (e.g., <ch>, <ai>).
5	How To: Word or Syllable Only? (Collaborative)	None	Review grapheme to phoneme relationships in order to build blending automaticity and accuracy.	No phonological patterns have been taught. Limit grapheme cards to consonants, short vowels and blends.
5	How To: Look Alike & Analysis	Look Alike & Analysis	Build fluency and accuracy through orthographic mapping.	No phonological patterns have been taught. Words are limited to short vowels and blends.
6	How To: Explain Why	Explain Why: Syllables	Apply phonological knowledge to analyze patterns in words.	Students will explain whether a group of letters constitutes a syllable.
7	How To: Sand Spell the Phoneme	None	Review known phoneme to grapheme relationships in order build automaticity.	No patterns have been taught. Focus on consonants and use this opportunity to collect formative data.
7	How To: Syllabication	Syllabication	Apply phonological knowledge to syllabicate words.	Students won't technically syllabicate as they haven't been taught any syllable patterns. This exercise focuses on identifying vowels and their essential role in forming syllables. Repeated three times this unit.
8	How To: Identify the Grapheme	Identify the Grapheme	Review phoneme to grapheme relationships in order to build automaticity.	No patterns have been taught. Focus on consonants and use this opportunity to collect formative data.
8	How To: Rime Drill	Rime Drill	Recognize and use common rimes to build blending automaticity, accuracy, and fluency.	No phonological patterns have been taught. Words are limited to short vowels and blends.
9	How To: Word or Syllable Only? (Independent)	Word or Syllable Only? (Independent)	Review grapheme to phoneme relationships in order to build blending automaticity and accuracy.	No phonological patterns have been taught. Limit grapheme cards to consonants, short vowels and blends.
9	How To: Dictation	See Day 1 of dictation (same doc)	Encode new phonological patterns.	See Day 1 of dictation.
10	How To: Syllabication	See Day 1 of Syllabication (same doc)	Apply phonological knowledge to syllabicate words.	See Day 1 of syllabication.
11	How To: Syllabication	See Day 1 of Syllabication (same doc)	Apply phonological knowledge to syllabicate words.	See Day 1 of syllabication.
12	How To: Dictation	See Day 1 of Dictation (same doc)	Encode new phonological patterns.	See Day 1 of dictation.
12	How To: Spell & Sort	Spell & Sort	Recognize and apply phonological knowledge.	Students will segment using phoneme boxes.
13	How To: Pre-Quiz Power-Up	Pre-Quiz Power-Up	Review content in preparation for the quiz.	n/a
13	How To: Quiz	Quiz	Assess understanding of the unit objective.	n/a