Melissa & Lori Love Literacy ™

Ep. 185: Understanding the How and Why of Sound Walls with Mary Dahlgren

Mar 1, 2024

Expert Mary Dahlgren explains the importance of sound walls in teaching all 44 speech sounds. Sound walls help students connect sounds to letters, support phonics instruction, and benefit all students, including English learners. The podcast discusses transitioning to sound walls, the significance of phonological awareness, dialect variations in phonics skills, and practical tools for teaching sound walls in early education.

54:52

Episode guests

Mary Dahlgren

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Episode notes

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Quick takeaways

Sound walls visually represent the 44 speech sounds of English, aiding students' understanding.

Sound walls help students connect sounds to letters, supporting phonological awareness and phonics instruction.

Deep dives

Introduction to Sound Walls and Expertise of Mary Dogren

Sound walls are discussed as an alternative to word walls in enhancing phonological awareness and spelling patterns in educational settings. The episode introduces expert Mary Dogren, who shares her 40 years of experience in education, particularly focusing on phonemes and phonology. Through her work with sound walls, she emphasizes the importance of understanding all 44 speech sounds rather than just the 26 letters, highlighting the significance of teaching phonology in a comprehensive manner.

Introduction

2min

The Transition to Sound Walls in Teaching Phonological Awareness

12min

The Importance of Phonological Awareness in Early Literacy

24min

Exploring Dialect Variations and Phonics Skills

2min

Supporting English Learners: Sound Walls and Phonological Awareness

7min

Teaching Sound Walls in Early Education

8min

Sound wall expert Mary Dahlgren explains how sound walls differ from word walls, why it's important to teach all 44 speech sounds, and how sound walls can help students make sense of English. She shares evidence to support the use of sound walls in your classroom and gives practical advice for implementation.

Takeaways

Sound walls are an instructional tool to help students see and understand the 44 speech sounds of the English language.
Sound walls provide a visual representation of the sounds and their corresponding spellings.
Sound walls help students make connections between sounds and letters.
Sound walls support phonological awareness, phonics instruction, and the development of decoding skills.
Sound walls are beneficial for all students, including English learners, as they provide a structured and visual approach to learning the sounds of the English language. Teachers should be aware of the different phonemes in their students' languages and teach the phonemes in English.

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