Sequencing Phonics Instruction

Reading experts have not come to a consensus about the most advantageous order to teach phonetic elements.  Generally, short vowels are taught first in combination with the most frequently used continuous sound consonants (such as f, l, n, m, and s) to facilitate blending of cvc (consonant, vowel, consonant) words for beginning readers. Many programs also incorporate digraph instruction interspersed with the short vowel lessons.  It would stand to reason that teaching the most frequently used phonetic elements first would be advantageous.  That way the number of words that could be decoded phonetically would be greater early in the instruction.

Consonant letters are assumed to have been addressed prior to any of these lessons. The lessons were first written  for a group of teachers who used a particular reading series. They followed the order of phonics presented in that series. The goal at the time was to only use words in the connected text part of the lessons that could be decoded up to that point in the instruction (plus a few high frequency words.)  The order was:

1.     Short a
2.      Sh
3.     Short i
4.    -ck
5.    Short o
6.     all, alk
7.    Short e
8.    Th
9.    Short u
10.     -ng
11.      or
12.      ch, -tch
13.      ar
14.      qu, wh
15.     er, ir, ur
16.     Final stable syllable: consonant  -le
17.    ow/ou
18.    Vowel, consonant, silent e

In these lessons more advanced review lessons were posted for most of the short vowels. As a result, the text with those lessons will have elements that may be unfamiliar to the students.

Again, the phonetic elements that produce the most words that can be decoded should be taught first.

My suggestion in general is:

1.   Short vowels a, i, o, e, and u in that order (i & e shouldn't be taught back to back)
2.   Digraphs (A suggested order would be sh, th, -ck, ch, wh, and -ng. Ph would come much later after most other vowel elements.)
3.    all, -alk
4.   r-controlled vowels
5.   ou/ow
6.    oi/oy
7.   Vowel, consonant, silent e
8.    ee/ea (long e)
9.    Long oo, ue
10.     oa, ow      
11.   ai, ay (long a)
12.     –y, -igh (long i)
13.   au/ aw

Beyond that, take the other lessons in the order you feel is most advantageous for your students.

Lessons for consonant blends are not included. If students are able to blend sounds smoothly to decode, they should have little trouble with consonant blends. The only value in spending time specifically studying consonant blends is recognizing the letter patterns more quickly.