In addition to practice blending word beginnings with word endings, phonics instruction should include practice in writing out words one letter at a time so that children attend to and learn the sequences of letters. It is important that children practice reading in natural contexts, using pictures and context clues as well as phonics sounds. Rhythm and rhyme, as well as predictable text, can facilitate this. Text that uses rhyme, alliteration and onomatopoeia as literary devices can be fun to read and make children aware of sound patterns that will help them read. Games and speed drills foster automatic responses.
Good readers read and process every letter, but they do so quickly.
These do not need to be taught explicitly, but children should be given lots of practice with them so that recognition becomes automatic. Comparisons between good and poor readers in the upper elementary grades reveal that the good readers automatically chunk long words into component-syllables. They do this easily because they have a strong intuitive understanding of frequent and permitted letter combinations. Practice with word families and other analogies, word games such as Hangman or word guessing games and reading experiences that are tied to phonics help foster this understanding.