Making Sense of Phonics

'Who would expect a book on phonics to be one you don't want to put down? This is the book I've been waiting for - a straightforward, easy-to-follow, sensible guide to teaching phonics. I can imagine tutors and preservice and inservice teachers using this book both for its step-by-step instructional sequences and the accessible explanations of why they are done. I can imagine this so well, in fact, that I plan to use the book in my tutoring and preservice teacher education courses.' - Connie Juel, PhD, Stanford University 'In this book, Isabel Beck brings the subject of phonics to life in a sensitive, clear presentation, which itself serves as a lesson in how to teach. Elementary teachers who use this book will enjoy reading and teaching from it, and their students are sure to benefit from the author's precise, thoughtful approach.' - Sharon Vaughn, PhD, University of Texas at Austin

Isabel L. Beck, PhD, is Professor Emerita of Education in the School of Education at the University of Pittsburgh. She has conducted research and published widely in the areas of decoding, vocabulary, and comprehension. Her contributions have been acknowledged by awards from the International Reading Association, the National Reading Conference, and the American Federation of Teachers, and she is an elected member of the National Academy of Education.

Prologue. Introduction. The Alphabetic Principle and Phonics. Letter-Sound Instruction. Blending. Word Building. Multisyllabic Words. Epilogue. Appendix A: CVC Pattern. Appendix B: Long Vowels of the CVCe Pattern. Appendix C: Long-Vowel Digraph Patterns. Appendix D: r -Controlled Vowel Patterns. Appendix E: Word and Syllable Matrices for Syllasearch. Appendix F: The Word Pocket.