Teaching phonics and literacy in a French immersion classroom can be a rewarding yet challenging task. Son-au-graphe is a structured, research-based program designed to support educators in building strong literacy foundations for their students. This guide will walk you through the key features of Son-au-graphe, how to access its resources, and practical strategies for implementing it effectively in your classroom.
What is Son-au-graphe?
Son-au-graphe is a comprehensive phonics program tailored specifically for French immersion classrooms. It provides a systematic and explicit approach to teaching reading and spelling, focusing on phonemic awareness, blending, and segmenting. The program includes detailed lesson plans and accompanying presentation slides, making it an ideal resource for both early readers and students who need additional support in developing their literacy skills.
Accessing Son-au-graphe Resources
Son-au-graphe is designed to be easily integrated into your existing curriculum. To access the resources, follow these steps:
- Navigate to: https://www.publicboard.ca/en/index.aspx
- Locate: Son-au-graphe under the French as a Second Language (FSL) section.
- Lesson Files: Download the lesson plans and PowerPoint presentations, which include a detailed table of contents for navigating the 75 lesson modules.
Structuring Lessons for Maximum Impact
Son-au-graphe lessons are designed to be delivered over two days, allowing students to engage with the material in a meaningful and structured way. Here’s an overview of the two-day instructional framework:
- Day One: Introduce the lesson with phonetic blending and segmentation exercises. The accompanying slides provide clear, step-by-step visuals to guide students through the learning process.
- Day Two: Reinforce the concepts introduced on Day One with review activities, targeted word work, and practice using decodable texts. Students engage in both encoding (writing) and decoding (reading) to solidify their understanding.
Essential Classroom Materials and Tools
To implement Son-au-graphe effectively, ensure you have the following materials and tools available in your classroom:
- Classroom Tools: Whiteboards or sentence strips, dry erase markers, magnetic letters, and decodable texts.
- Interactive Materials: Digital blending boards (optional) or a whiteboard for practicing sound blending and word segmentation.
- Assessment Methods: Use the program’s built-in progress-monitoring techniques to evaluate student performance through spelling exercises and reading fluency activities.
Adapting Son-au-graphe for Diverse Learners
One of the strengths of Son-au-graphe is its flexibility. While the program is designed for Year 1 French immersion students, it can be adapted to meet the needs of diverse learners. For example, foundational lessons (such as lessons 1-38) can be revisited for students who require additional support, while more advanced lessons can be introduced for students ready to progress. This adaptability ensures that all students can benefit from the program, regardless of their starting point.
Conclusion
Son-au-graphe is a powerful tool for enhancing phonemic awareness and literacy in French immersion classrooms. With its structured lesson plans, engaging presentation slides, and adaptable teaching strategies, it empowers educators to create a dynamic and inclusive learning environment. By integrating Son-au-graphe into your curriculum, you can help your students build the foundational skills they need to succeed in reading and writing. Explore the resources, implement the strategies, and see the difference it makes in your classroom.
If you have any questions about using Son-au-graphe or would like to share your experiences, feel free to leave a comment below. Let’s collaborate to support literacy success in our classrooms!
Hello, is there a way to have access to the page Suivi des Progrès? Thank you
Hi there!
The suivi de progrès at the back of the Son-au-graphe guide.
Thank you!
hi! thanks so much for the video – it was super helpful! Our school team is looking to switch to son-au-graphe for our small group literacy intervention. for the scope and sequence – is there a reason for this order? previously we have used ‘la roue’. also, why are there different letter sounds, example lessons 88-100, after all of the other sounds. Also, is there an assessment template to help group kids based on the skills?
Hello! So sorry for the late response, it has been a busy September but I’m glad to hear that your school is looking into small group intervention.
Son-au-graphe introduces letters in an order that is designed to be blendable, so students can quickly build and read words with new sounds they are learning. Lessons 88-100, are lessons that go more into detail on the rules of the lessons taught from 31-38. Son-au-graphe was created by Angeline Humber and a team at the Greater Essex County DSB and their guide has a contact e-mail if one has questions/ comments about the program as well.
For your assessment template question, there is a ‘suivi de progrès’ at the end of the guide that can help you assess students on what they’ve learned. I have a template of how I organize my groups, and a page I hand out when doing my assessments that I will be posting today.
I hope this helps!
In the video you talked about a blending board/blending board app. How do I access this so I can use it in my class? Is there a website? I’ve looked but wasn’t able to locate it. Merci!
Hi there;
Please try: https://blendingboard.stewartrand.com/