Orthographic mapping can be taught with a variety of multi-sensory approaches. Sedita (2020) describes the discovery of several skills that must be present in order for orthographic mapping to take place. Students should be highly proficient in phonological and phonemic awareness. They should have automatic letter-sound correspondence. They should also be able to decode and blend sounds efficiently. The following activities engage students in these processes and activate the brain to prepare for orthographic mapping. Sound Boxes Students can use sound boxes to write the individual graphemes of a word. Students may also tap or manipulate tiles or counters to show the individual sounds within a word. Sensational Sand While using sensational sand, the teacher calls out a word and students form the letters representing the graphemes in the sand as they say the sounds. Then, they connect the sounds together by reading the entire word aloud. Blending and Popping Sounds ...
The processes through which young children acquire the ability to read is fascinating and complex. According to David Kilpatrick (2015), "Orthographic Mapping is the process we use to permanently store words into long-term memory." While a portion of emerging readers will acquire this skill with ease, many students require explicit and systematic instruction in both phonemic awareness and phonics in order to learn. So what exactly is orthographic mapping? Paul (2021) explains that during orthographic mapping, a whole word is broken into its individual parts of sounds and connected to corresponding graphemes. Teachers may model and guide students through this process as they learn to do it naturally themselves. Eventually this becomes a fundamental part of reading as it increases prosody and fluency. Strong orthographic mapping skills lead to strong readers. References Kilpatrick, D. A. (2015). Essentials of assessing, preventing, and overcoming read...