Phonics 2016

5 Basic Skills for reading and writing Phonics is a way of teaching children to read quickly and skillfully. Jolly Phonics Letters and Sounds 5 Basic Skills for reading and writing 1. Learning letter sounds 2. Letter formation 3. Blending(reading) 4. Segmenting (identifying sounds in words) 5. Tricky words 5 Basic Skills There are 5 basic skills covered in Jolly Phonics: Learning the letter sounds. Learning letter formation. Blending. Identifying sounds in words. Tricky words. (You might like to explain what these mean in more detail). The first four skills are taught every day from the beginning. ‘Tricky words’ are introduced after about 6 weeks. By then most of the children: can work out simple regular words for reading and writing are ready to learn the more difficult tricky words.

Six Phases Nursery/Reception Phase 1, Phase 2 Reception/Year 1 Rhyming, initial sounds, letter sounds, 3 letter cvc words (d-o-g) Reception/Year 1 Phase 3, 4, 5, 6 Digraphs, spelling rules, endings, alternative spellings.

s a t p i n m d Letter Sounds Letter Sounds Letter sound order There are 42 different letter sounds, which are divided into 7 groups. The order in which the letter sounds are taught go from the simplest to the more complex letter sounds. The first group of letters were chosen because you can make more simple, three-letter words than with any other combination of 6 letters. This enables the children to start blending and reading words from the first week. This is hugely motivating for them. Letter names Initially, only the letter sounds are taught, with the letter names coming a few weeks later. This helps to prevent the children getting muddled between the sound and the name. Digraphs The digraphs (where two letters make one sound) are introduced in the fourth group of letter sounds.

(two letters making one sound) Digraphs (two letters making one sound) Digraphs In English there are 44 sounds and only 26 letters. This means that some sounds have to be written with two letters. These sounds are called digraphs. The ones on screen are the first to be taught to the children. Activity Point to each digraph and ask everyone to call out the sound. You can provide a word for each digraph yourself, or ask for suggestions. For example: /ai/ rain /oa/ goat /ie/ tie /ee/ sheep /or/ torn

Alternative Vowel Sounds Introduced as: Alternatives taught later: (play) (flame) (rain) (feet) (leaf) (these) Alternative Vowel Sounds Introducing the alternatives Initially, only one way of reading the vowel sounds is taught. So, for example, the /ai/ sound is taught as ‘ai’, as in ‘rain’. There are, of course, other ways of writing the vowel sounds, for example ‘ay’ as in ‘play’ and ‘a-e’, as in flame. Some other examples are on screen. Gradually the children are taught the alternatives as well. This prepares them for the Yellow Level and Green Level of the Jolly Readers. Progression With Jolly Phonics, the children progress in a step-by-step fashion through the various stages. However, some will master these stages faster than others. The important thing is to make sure that the skills ARE mastered. Support from home can make all the difference. Storybooks Once there is knowledge of the alternatives and fluency in the reading then the children are able to read any books that are suitable for their age. (boat) (snow) (bone)

Blending and segmenting Words Blending Words Now the children can try and blend words that use the letter sounds they have been taught. Initially, blending is modelled by the teacher to the whole class. The sounds need to be said quickly. It is easier if the first sound is slightly louder, t-a-p ... ‘tap’. As soon as possible, the children are encouraged to join in as well. Some children find it easy to blend words and others find it difficult. It is a skill that comes with practice. Activity Demonstrate blending with the first word, s-a-t … ‘sat’. Ask everyone to join you in blending the rest of the words quickly. If there is time, ask them to try and think up some more words that can be made from the letter sounds /s, a, t, i, p, n/. It can be a quick competition!

Reading Tricky Words Tricky Words Teaching Tricky Words is the fifth of the five basic skills: At this stage the children are very familiar with working out regular words by blending. Now they have to learn that some words have tricky bits, and when they are blended they do not always give the correct pronunciation. When the first set of Tricky Words has been taught, the children are ready to read the first set of books (Jolly Readers, Red Level 1).

Pencil Hold and letter formation Tripod grip The ‘tripod’ type of pencil hold makes it easier for children to write. They need to learn that: The pencil goes between the thumb and the first finger. The next finger stops the pencil falling down. The last two fingers are not needed and should be tucked away. ‘Froggy legs’ movement The movement comes from the knuckles. When the pencil is moved in this way, it looks like ‘froggy legs’! It is helpful to encourage your children to use this pencil hold. (If you have time, get everyone to put their first finger and thumb together in the tripod grip and pretend to write with the ‘froggy legs’ movement.)

Independent Writing Children need to know: The 42 letter sounds How to hear the sounds in words One way of writing the letters for the sounds What they want to say We collect all evidence of this! Independent Writing 1 Once the children are able to write words and little sentences in this way, they are ready for some independent writing. First, the children should think of a sentence they want to write. Then they need to think of each word in turn and write down letters for the sounds they can hear. It usually looks like this (see screen). At this stage the children’s spelling will not be accurate, but their work can be read. This is very empowering and encouraging for a youngster. Accurate spelling Accurate spelling develops through: reading plenty of books knowing the ways English sounds are written and following a spelling programme. Naturally, the children with a good visual memory tend to become better at spelling.

Independent Writing 1 Once the children are able to write words and little sentences in this way, they are ready for some independent writing. First, the children should think of a sentence they want to write. Then they need to think of each word in turn and write down letters for the sounds they can hear. It usually looks like this (see screen). At this stage the children’s spelling will not be accurate, but their work can be read. This is very empowering and encouraging for a youngster. Accurate spelling Accurate spelling develops through: reading plenty of books knowing the ways English sounds are written and following a spelling programme. Naturally, the children with a good visual memory tend to become better at spelling.

Phonics lessons Every day 20 minutes for Reception and Year 1 Revisit/review Phonemes learnt so far or tricky words. Teach New phoneme or tricky word. (sh) Practice Game. (Silly soup with sh words) Apply Read or write. (A caption, fish and chips!) or an independent game.

How to help your child Read, read, read! Children might not always want to read! Try alternating each page, getting them to ‘sound out’ and blend, helping them by segmenting for them, hiding the picture, talking about the picture, flashcards, reading a few pages each time… Pick out sounds when you read (Can you spot ch…? The tricky word the? Share a bed time story and encourage talk! Spellings. Y1 Key word cards. Reception Use the same strategies (segmenting, blending, phonetic sounds) Practice new sounds/tricky words for the week! Use flashcards, actions, songs. Play word and spelling games. I-spy, words beginning with… silly rhymes, draw a picture and label. Writing in different ways; Little books, big chalk on the ground, using water, paint, ‘grown up pens’, post its, lists. Having letters and words lists around the house. Online and tablet games.

Online games to support phonics and literacy www.ictgames.com/literacy.html www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/ks1/literacy/ www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/interactive/literacy.html www.topmarks.co.uk/english-games/5-7-years/letters-and-sounds www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/shows/alphablocks http://www.phonicsplay.co.uk/ Ipad Teach your Monster to read Twinkl phonics Jolly Phonics Letter sounds Mr Thorne does Phonics Oxford Reading Tree Ladybird: Ready for phonics Abc Pocketphonics Simplexspelling