Research Question. How does a 2^nd graders ability to decode text change over time when learning a specific set of phonics skills to improve the sound/spelling correspondence of vowel patterns?

Research Activities. This research explores the role that a knowledge base of phonics skills plays in order for increased facility to decode text as a result of learning a specific set of phonics skills. Students were taught six vowel patterns: the long oo vowel pattern, the short oo vowel pattern, ow and ou vowel patterns and ay and ai vowel patterns. This was done through the reading of four SpongeBob SquarePants books that focused on these vowel patterns: Zoo of Balloons, Hooked on Pirates, Happy Birthday, Squidward! and Around Town.

Context. The study took place in a 2^nd grade public school classroom. The focus of this research included four students, two of which were English language learners and two that spoke English as a first language.

Method and Data. The intervention spanned over 21 days: 16 days to practice phonics books, four days to assess student comprehension and one day to distribute reading awards. Students were exposed to different vowel patterns with a set of phonics books that were centered around the popular culture cartoon character SpongeBob SquarePants. The students buddy read the books with a partner and were quizzed on their level of comprehension. In-depth knowledge was acquired through the repeated reading of these texts. Data sets included observation field notes, pre-, mid- and post-comprehension tests, writings gathered from audio-recorded comprehension discussions and pre- and post-reading interest surveys.

Results. The students demonstrated the ability to decode text as evident by reading fluency gained from learning specific phonics skills.

Grade Level. Second Grade.

Instructional Approaches/Curriculum Area. Literature, buddy reading, comprehension assessments, reading interest surveys; English Language Development (ELD).