Phonics: Quickstart Guide grapheme digraph consonant cluster tricky word phoneme trigraph

Essential phonics knowledge Adults need to: know what graphemes are know what phonemes are How graphemes match with phonemes Know that graphemes should be sounded, in order, from left to right and the phonemes then blended all through the word for reading

Letter progression: Set 1: s, a, t, p Set 2: i, n, m, d Phase 2 Letter progression: Set 1: s, a, t, p Set 2: i, n, m, d Set 3: g, o, c, k

Set 4: ck, e, u, r Set 5: h, b, f, ff, l, ll, ss Phase 2 consonants and vowels Blending for reading and segmenting for spelling simple CVC words. Working on: Knowing that words are constructed from phonemes and that phonemes are represented by graphemes.

What is a phoneme? What is a grapheme? Smallest unit of sound in a word Approximately 44 phonemes in English What is a grapheme? Letters which represent phonemes are known as graphemes There are definitely 26 letters in the alphabet, so why approximately 44 phonemes? Note APPROXIMATELY because of variations in regional pronunciations as well as variants in positions within a word. This does not detract from the importance of pure enunciation and clear articulation of phonemes. It is not a value judgement on any particular way of speaking. However insistence on purity of sound is the only way children will be able to segment and blend from the start. Regional differences are mostly linked to different enunciations of vowel sounds or voicing some sounds normally unvoiced.

3 big things about phonics A phoneme can be represented by one or more letters: p sh ee ear 1

3 big things about phonics The same phoneme can be represented / spelled in more than one way: ai ay a-e 2

3 big things about phonics The same spelling can represent more than one sound: ear bear 3

ck ff sh ch ea ie ir oy What is a digraph? Digraph: Two letters, which make one sound. ck ff sh ch ea ie ir oy Note consonant digraphs always contain two consonants, but vowel digraphs always conatin at least one vowel, but couls also combine a vowel and a consonant

cake What is a split digraph? A digraph in which the two letters are not adjacent – e.g. cake, hope, cube cake It’s not magic ‘e’ or bossy ‘e’ anymore

Enunciation Teaching phonics requires a technical skill in enunciation Phonemes should be articulated clearly and precisely Next 3 slides 20 minutes Note the importance of training everyone who has dealings with the children's reading and writing. Parents will need to be taught the correct enunciation, as this will be different from how they learned. All TAs, volunteers etc will need to be trained in correct enunciation before any involvement in supporting reading and writing. Undoing incorrect pronunciation is a hard and confusing task, so must be correct from the start.

Search for Articulation of Phonemes Go to YouTube Search for Articulation of Phonemes http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BqhXUW_v-1s

Go to YouTube Search for Mr Thorne

Enunciation Vowel Phonemes a e i o u ai ee igh oa oo ar or ur ow oi air ear er

Enunciation Consonant Phonemes b c d f g h j l m n p qu r s t v w x y z sh ch th ng

How many phonemes? Next 3 slides 15 minutes Count on fingers as a whole group

Phoneme Count Play game! Each person or group take one column to count phonemes 17

Answers to Phoneme Count Discuss results. Discuss other ways of playing this game with children – card sort/ using fingers/fans etc. Other games to count phonemes – Sound Buttons and Big Sound Buttons (to identify digraphs) This exercise is for you as adults – would not use this as activity for children, but would need to identify number of phonemes in an unknown word for reading or spelling

Sound Buttons c a tch c r u tch

Phoneme Frame p i tch s t i tch

black strong felt blank Consonant Clusters Where there are two or more consonants next to each other these are called clusters (ng is not a cluster but one phoneme) Phase 4 referring to clusters not digraphs Children must not be taught clusters as item knowledge, as there are so many it would almost an impossible task for the memory and not useful. Children are taught to identify, segment and blend individual phonemes. Once they have knowledge of grapheme/phoneme correspondence there is only extension of application of the skill of segmenting and blending through adjacent consonant – no new knowledge. ‘We’ used to call these ‘blends’ and learnt all the words with the same blend – strong, strange, straight. This did not teach us to read in a systematic way – we relied on our memories.

Clusters Digraph/Trigraph

Phase 3 - High Frequency Words Decodable Words Tricky Words will see he you that for she they this now we all then down me are them look be my with too was her

Blending ‘Blending’ means merging the individual phonemes in order to pronounce a word. In order to read an unfamiliar word, a child must recognise [ 'sound out’] each grapheme, not letter, and then merge the phonemes together to make a word. Next 6 slides 10 minutes This re-emphasises the need for correct terminology e.g. digraphs, trigraphs, grapheme. Children are not sounding out the letters, they are identifying the representation of the phoneme (the grapheme) and then blending the sounds across the word

Using your blending skills As you read this word concentrate on the skills of breaking the word into chunks, identifying the graphemes and then merging the individual sounds together bleepippitousness HOW CAN YOU TEACH IT IF YOU HAVEN’T DONE IT ? Activity Coach your partner to read this word. Make sure you use the correct terminology Demonstrate how it should be done! E.g. “What grapheme can you see at the beginning of the word?” “Let’s chunk the first part of the word. Can you blend the first two consonants? Now sound out the digraph. Let’s put this part together and add the next consonant. Now let’s continue to blend through the other graphemes.” Feedback – how did you coach your partner ? What did you say ?

Coaching for blending Model the correct process Break the word down into smaller chunks e.g. blend two sounds and then add a third or blend three and add a fourth Reinforce grapheme correspondences so that children recognise them when they see them in words e.g. ai in train Next slide will allow teachers to practise this coaching model. Note that in guided and independent reading sessions we need to support with effective coaching to ensure that children develop good skills for decoding when approaching new words. This is very important in KS2 also.

Segmenting Segmenting means identifying the individual sounds in a spoken word [e.g. c-r-a-sh] and writing down or manipulating letters for each sound to form the word. In order to spell the word, a child must segment it into its component phonemes and choose a grapheme to represent each phoneme. Note segmenting skills are used for writing, but as the skills are reversible it is important that they are taught together.

Using your segmenting skills When you write the following word, concentrate on identifying the individual phonemes in the word and then allotting a grapheme to each phoneme to write the whole word. Fleetosity Ask for suggestions as to how they tackled this and why they chose particular grapheme representations. Note no wrong answer ! Feedback – how did you coach your partner ? What did you say ?

Coaching for segmenting Model the correct process Give auditory prompts Say the word slowly focusing on writing one grapheme at a time Child must check own word and modify it Reinforce grapheme correspondences so that children can reproduce them quickly when they are writing Important that child notes own progress e.g. if writes brid instead of bird get child to note how the /ur/ phoneme is represented, don’t just correct it. Then allow child to practise with a number of other words with same spelling dictated. Model on flipchart.

tricky word – digraph – trigraph – consonant cluster On sheet – label tricky word – digraph – trigraph – consonant cluster What else is there that we haven’t covered today Tricky word digraph tricky word – digraph – trigraph – consonant cluster

Essential phonics knowledge Do you?: know what graphemes are know what phonemes are How graphemes match with phonemes Know that graphemes should be sounded, in order, from left to right and the phonemes then blended all through the word for reading

Idea Phase 2 Phase4 Phase 5 Phase 6 RR PT A Swapshop

Flash cards igh dge tch oo ar

Sound Buttons c a tch c r u tch

Phoneme Frame p i tch s t i tch

Quickwrite

And then…

Phonics Family Fortunes

Phase 3/4 igh night sight light

Connect 4

Connect 3 – Phase 4 green stamp spin trip trap grip star spoil spoon tree crisp trust crunch grab stop Phonics version Two teams – blue team – red team Randomiser gr – st - tr – sp – cr – free Spelling version CCVC CCVCC

http://www.classtools.net/education-games-php/fruit_machine

Connect 3 – Spelling accommodate accompany according apparent appreciate attached aggressive committee communicate community embarrass exaggerate Phonics version Two teams – blue team – red team Randomiser gr – st - tr – sp – cr – free Spelling version accommodate accompany according apparent appreciate attached aggressive committee communicate community embarrass exaggerate Steal? B to blank scree Word list Y5/6

Menu Flash cards Phoneme frame Quickwrite Sound buttons Envelope Family Fortunes Connect 4

More ICT resources . . . Pocket Phonics http://www.phonicsplay.co.uk/ Long ai http://www.classtools.net/widgets/fruit_machine_5/EdwB4.htm

Phoneme pop http://www.ictgames.com/phonemeFlop_v4.html

Forest phonics

Quick phonics based spelling test The assessment is carried out as a traditional spelling test When the test is complete highlight the errors on each sheet Group the test papers together so that children with similar needs can be identified

Individual test sheet with errors highlighted

Children’s names go here Class record sheet: Green = correct Pink = incorrect Read the grid vertically to show individual errors. Read horizontally to identify common errors to aid planning

The test identifies children’s errors in spelling If children show a lot of errors, it might be worth identifying whether they are able to read the words

When phonics becomes spelling Make lists – which is most common /ai/ introduced in ph3 Alternatives in ph5 -

Phase 6 Children are taught: Word specific spellings eg. see/sea, bed/head/said To become increasingly fluent in the sounding and blending of words when reading To read and spell words with prefixes and suffixes, doubling and dropping letters when necessary To become increasingly accurate when spelling words containing unusual GPCs e.g. laugh, once, answer

The 4-part lesson – 20 minutes Revise - briefly practice what was taught yesterday Teach - new GPC or blending or segmenting skills Practise – what you just taught ! Apply - link the skill taught to reading or writing Make sure all children are engaged

Suggested sequence for teaching spelling Revise, explain, use Teach, model, define Practise, explore, investigate Apply, assess, reflect

Flash Spelling A daily activity to support focused spelling Write up a word on the board Discuss Meaning Easy bits Tricky bits Suggest ‘fixing’ strategies

accommodate Flash Spelling embarrassed cemetery Look at the word for 10 seconds and say it Close your eyes and picture the word Write the word with your finger on the table Write on a whiteboard SHOW ME! Remember to discuss strategies that will help children to remember spellings embarrassed accommodate cemetery embarrassed harassed necessary unparalleled ecstasy lady’s cemetery

Clear the board A game for two players You will need: High frequency words Personal spellings You will need: Game board A dice A list of six spellings per player

Clear the board Player 1………………. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Player 2……………….

Clear the board Write six spellings for each player on the game board The first player throws the dice, reads the number and looks at the word opposite the number Using LCWSC the player tries to spell the word which the other player covers – if correct the word is crossed out – if not, it stays on the board Player 2 takes their turn If a blank space is hit because the word has already been removed, the player misses a turn The first to remove all of their words wins

Player 1………………. Player 2………………. gauging symmetry cobbler harassed accommodate gauging symmetry cobbler harassed ankle 1 2 3 4 5 6 ecstasy. cemetery pedlar embarrassed unparalleled lady's Write six spellings for each player on the game board The first player throws the dice, reads the number and looks at the word opposite the number Using LCWSC the player tries to spell the word which the other player covers – if correct the word is crossed out – if not, it stays on the board Player 2 takes their turn If a blank space is hit because the word has already been removed, the player misses a turn Player 2……………….

Player 1………………. badge bridge huge change gem jacket edge dodge age 2 3 4 5 6 edge dodge age charge giant adjust Write six spellings for each player on the game board The first player throws the dice, reads the number and looks at the word opposite the number Using LCWSC the player tries to spell the word which the other player covers – if correct the word is crossed out – if not, it stays on the board Player 2 takes their turn If a blank space is hit because the word has already been removed, the player misses a turn Need covering card? Player 2……………….

Now you see me… Two children sit opposite each other with a pile of spelling cards between them – each has a whiteboard or pen and paper. Player 1 picks up a card and reads the word aloud without showing it to the other player and then places it face down on the table. Both players write the word. They turn over the card and check their spellings. If player 1 (who saw the word is correct s/he scores 1 point. If player 2 (who didn’t see it) is correct they score 2 points. The game continues … accommodate cemetery embarrassed harassed necessary unparalleled ecstasy lady’s

Now you see me … Score Board Player 1 Player 2 Word Points

Look, say, cover, write, check bridge b r i d g e b r i dge