Phonics

Introduction☻ Jolly Phonics has been developed by practising classroom teachers.

☻ The aim of the programme is to teach children to read and write through an early systematic phonics programme.

☻ The children are taught the main 42 sounds of English, not just the alphabet sounds.

☻With this knowledge they are taken through the stages of blending sounds to form words and then reading.

☻ At the same time they are taught to write by identifying the sounds in words and relating the letters to those sounds.

☻ This puts reading off for approximately six weeks while the children are introduced to the 42 sounds and their confidence is built up. When they are given a home reader, the results are amazing as the children have the skills to be able to read it!

Home Readers☻ As stated, reading is put off for approximately six weeks until the children have acquired the skills to begin

achieving. This stops children automatically failing and helps to build up the confidence of even the most shy, withdrawn child.

☻ At Blanford Mere we start off my using the Oxford Reading Tree Floppy’s Phonics scheme, which highly

supports the phonetical approach we are taking and has lively, engaging stories for both you and your child.

☻ Once your child is given a home reader you will find it is accompanied with a Take-Home card, their reading

record and at times key words to match the stage of the book your child is reading. Please ensure they are returned to school everyday.

☻ Home Readers are unseen text and it is recommended that you spend at least 5 - 10 minutes sharing the book

with your child per day. We ask that you use the ‘reading section’ in your child’s School Planner to record your own comments weekly and you will find school will do the same, giving you some useful tips.

☻ Remember reading is not just about reading the words but also being able to understand what has been read. Ask your child to retell different parts of the story and discuss the setting, character and plot with your child too,

The five main teaching points

1. Learning the letter sounds.

2. Learning letter formation.

3. Blending – for reading.

4. Identifying the Sounds in Words – for writing.

5. Tricky Words – irregular words.

In this training each point is dealt with separately.

However, in the classroom they are all taught at the same time.

1. Learning Letter Sounds

Letter Sound Order

☻ All words are made up of sounds.

☻ There are 40+ sounds in the English language but only 26 letters that are used to represent these sounds.

☻ It has been proven that young children learn particularly quickly when there is activity involved. The Jolly Phonics programme has a multi-sensory approach which is very effective and fun for all involved.

☻ The Jolly Phonics programme recommends that letter sounds are introduced at the rate of one letter sound per day. The first sound being introduced during the child’s first few weeks of school.

☻ Although it may seem a lot at first, children are able to cope with it and look forward to their new letter sound every day.

☻ The letter sounds are taught first and the letter names are introduced later.

☻With the first group of letters, more simple, three-letter, CVC (consonant, vowel, consonant) words can be

made than with any other combination of 6 letters. This enables the children to start reading words early by blending the sounds together to hear simple words..

Letter sound order

1. s a t i p n

2. c k e h r m d

3. g o u l f b

4. ai j oa ie ee or

5. z w ng v oo 00

6. y x ch sh th th

7. qu ou oi ue er ar

Storyline and Action

☻ Each letter sound is introduced with a story.

☻ In the story the children hear the sound and see the action.

☻Here is an example from one of the pages of the Finger Phonics Big Book, which introduces the sound f. The children are encouraged to search for things in the picture that contain the new sound. Initially the teacher demonstrates, but the children quickly pick up on this activity and enjoy the challenge of finding things in the picture for themselves.

Sounds Sheets☻ After the sound has been introduced to the children they then move onto the sound sheet.

☻ The sound sheets provide an opportunity for the children to:

- put the teaching into practice,

- write the letter(s) for each sound, and

- improve pencil control by colouring the picture in neatly.

☻ Once completed the sheet will be sent home. This will inform parents of the new sound that has been

taught in school that day, the action and the formation. Any help and reinforcement you can give your child will help them to retain the sounds they are learning. In the past parents have used the sheets in a number of ways. Some make booklets, others have made their own Jolly Phonics frieze at home in their child’s room. It is up to you!

☻ Here is a copy of the S sound sheet.

Sound Books

☻ Each child will have their own Sound Book.

☻ At the end of each day the new sound is reinforced. The children are encouraged to trace their finger over the sound and say the sound as they stick it into their book.

☻ The Sound Book will be sent home everyday for the child to practise their old and new sounds. This is a very important part of the programme and helps parents to become involved in their child’s learning from the very early stages.

☻ The Sound Book MUST also be brought back to school EVERYDAY where the class teacher and teaching assistants will listen to each child go through their Sound Book as often as possible, especially the children who are finding it difficult.

Pairs Game☻ The Pairs sheet will be sent home after each set of sounds has been introduced. There will be an

accompanying letter explaining the activities that can be done with the sheets to help reinforce, and some cases extend the work carried out at school.

☻ Games can include:

☻ The Pairs Game – the child says the sounds (not the names) as he / she turns two of the letter cards

over. If the sounds are the same they keep the cards and have another go. If not, they are turned face down again.

☻ 3-Letter word game – Parent and child make 3-letter words for the child to blend and read, e.g. ‘t-i-n’.Initially, the parent and the child say the sounds and read the word together. Gradually building up to the child doing it on their own.

☻ Listening for sounds – Parent says a 3-letter word and encourages the child to find sounds and put

them in the correct order. The parent again should lead initially and let the child take over when they can hear the sounds.

☻ Children who are experiencing difficulties will play similar games with TAs in any extra time that can be

allocated, i.e. registration times.

Flash Cards☻ Reinforcement of the letter sounds is a very important part of this programme. The Jolly Phonics frieze

will be added to everyday with the addition of the new sound. After all sounds have been taught the frieze will be complete and will stay in prime position for the remainder of the year.

☻ Flash cards of the letter sounds will be used everyday (once they have been taught). As the children become more confident with their sounds the pace will become quicker!

☻ All of the class do the action and say the sound when they see the letter(s).

☻ The faster the children become at recognising the letters and saying the sounds, the easier it is for them to

read and write them.

☻ It is important to bear in mind that 20% of children find learning to read, write and spell very difficult, mainly because they have a weak memory for symbols and a poor ability to hear the sounds in words. One of the first signs of this problem is when a child is not learning the letter sounds as quickly as the other children (one a day). It is not a sign of low intelligence, many intelligent children have this problem.

☻To get over this difficulty the children need plenty of practice and activities – little and often is best.

Digraphs

☻ The English language consists of 44 sounds, Jolly Phonics in the first year covers 42 of them. The other two sounds are covered during the second and third year through Jolly Spelling lessons in Year’s 1 and 2.

☻ As you know the alphabet consists of only 26 letters, therefore some sounds are written with more than one letter e.g. sh, ch, th, ai, er, or, oi, ou, igh, ng etc. These are called Digraphs.

☻ The children have to learn that when they see words like ‘bang’, ‘horse’, ‘ship’, that there are two letters that make a new sound.

2. Learning Letter Formation

Pencil Hold☻ The children will be taught to use a tripod grip.

☻ The movement of the pencil comes from the thumb and first finger.

☻ Ensure that the knuckles can go in and out so that they look like ‘froggy legs’.

Feel Letter Formation☻ The Finger Phonic books are an important part of the programme.

☻ Not only are they used for the introduction of the letter sound, the children will also be encouraged to take

it in turns to feel the formation by following the arrows in the grooved letters with their finger.

☻ Feeling the formation of the letter in the air prepares the children for forming correctly when they write it

with a pencil. They watch the teacher forming the letter in the air and follow the example with their finger or hand.

☻ The letters have been split up into four handwriting groups. These are taught during the course of the first

year and reinforced in Year one and again in Year Two when the joined script begins.

☻ As you came in copies of the four handwriting groups and the letters that come under each one were

available for you to take. Please ensure you have picked your copy up.

☻ Each EYFS and KS1 classroom has a set of visual aids and we find the children use them alot when trying to

decide how a letter is formed, especially b and d!

3. Blending

Letters Sounded Out – by teacher☻ In the early stages of introducing the sounds to the children the teacher will choose a word from the Finger Phonics page, say the sounds and encourage the children listen for the word, i.e. Can you see a s-u-n?

☻ With practice all children will become successful. However, it does take longer for some, and these children will find reading more difficult. Regular practice at home can speed the process up.

☻ Each day the Literacy lesson will include blending, whether it be by the teacher or by the children. Once the first six sound cards have been added to the flash cards these can also be used to encourage blending on a daily basis by making simple CVC words.

☻ You will probably find that your child will begin to sound out everything. Please encourage this and encourage them to listen to simple words that you are sounding out. “I’m going to the sh-o-p-s”.

Letters Sounded Out – by child☻ As soon as possible, the children will start blending words by themselves and as a class. The words will be regular and use only the letter sounds that have been taught.

☻ Blending comes easily to most children. However, some children will find it difficult. A technique that helps all children is to say the first sound of a word slightly louder and the others quickly afterwards.

Try it with these words;

cat, dog, sun, post, slip, soap

Pointing to Letters one-by-one

☻ The most effective method of Blending is when the child is able to blend a word in their head, without saying the individual sounds out loud.

☻ Once the actions for the first group of letter sounds have been introduced, a word like ‘t-i-n’ can be mimed by the teacher. The children have to watch the actions, blend the sounds in their head and say the word.

☻ Again this is something your child will enjoy doing at home and you can support them by giving them simple words, using the sounds they have covered and miming simple words for yourself to them

Blending words with Consonant Blends

☻ It is easier for the children to blend words if they say the consonant blend in one go. For example pl-a-n and not p-l-a-n.

☻ If there are two letters with the same sound next to each other in a word, the children learn that the sound is only said once. For examples tr-i-ck and not tr-i-c-k

☻ We make it very explicit to the children that a blend is very different from a digraph and when counting sounds in words we ensure we always count a blend as two sounds and not one.

☻ When counting sounds we also ensure the children are aware that two letters with the same sound next to each other in a word are only counted once. For example h-i-ll has three sounds and four letters.

Word Boxes☻ Word boxes are an essential part of the programme and are an excellent way of including parents and

giving them the opportunity to work with their child at home and support the learning that is taking place at school.

☻ Once a child knows the first set of letter sounds and is beginning to blend, Word Box 1 will be sent home.

☻ The word boxes start with simple words made from the first group of letters and finish with more

complicated words made from the last group of letters.

☻ The word boxes come in strips and will be sent home that way. You can then cut them up and use the words

in any way you wish.

☻ Each child will have the opportunity to go over their word boxes on a weekly basis with their class teacher

or a teaching assistant. If they are successful they will be rewarded and the next set will be sent home. This will be recorded in their Reading Record. Children can be fast tracked through the word boxes once they master the skill of blending. You as parents should then begin to encourage your child to not just read the words but count the sounds in the words and write the words too.

☻ Any children who have not completed all the word boxes by the end of their Reception Year will continue

to work through them into Year 1 and possibly Year 2.

Alternative Vowels☻ Initially one way of reading all the letters sounds including the

vowels is taught.For example; ai, ee, ie, oa, ue, er, or, oi and ou.

☻ Once the children are used to blending words with these digraphs, they are taught that there are alternative

spellings.

Some Helpful Jolly Phonics Rules

☻ In vowel digraphs it is usually the first vowel that does the talking (gives the sound); this tends to be its letter

name, e.g. ‘tr-ai-n Teach the children ‘When two vowels go walking the first one does the talking (says it’s name)’.

☻ We teach the children that if, when blending words, the short vowel sound does not give them the word

they should try the long vowel sound. This works for words like ‘mind’, ‘acorn’, ‘people’.

☻ We also teach the children that I is shy and doesn’t like to be on the end of a word so his friend Toughy Y

comes along to help him ‘We say Goodbye to Shy I and hello to Toughy Y’.

☻ Finally we teach the children that if one way doesn’t work try the other way, especially when concerning the

digraphs oo and th.

4. IdentifyingSounds in words

Hearing One Sound

☻ Initially most children find it difficult to distinguish individual sounds and give the wrong answer. Gradually, they start to hear them. The children who are the last to acquire this skill are generally the children who have the greatest problems with learning to read.

☻ The aim is for the children to be able to hear a given sound in a word and to be able to say where it comes in that word. For example the /s/ sound in mouse comes at the end of the word but in nest in comes in the middle.

☻ This skill will be practised daily when introducing the new sound to the children and finding words in the Finger Phonics book that contains the sound. The children will be asked where the sound is in the word, beginning, middle or end?

I-Spy

☻ Everyone enjoys a game of I-Spy and it is a fun activity suitable for odd moments at home, in the car on the bus / plane etc.. to help reinforce the letter sounds that have been covered so far.

Sounds in three - letter words

☻ From the early blending stages the children will be encouraged to use their Phonic fingers to help them count the sounds they hear in words.

☻ The teacher will encourage the children to listen carefully to words and count the sounds on their fingers. Words can be called out or written on the board for the children to blend first.

☻ Once the children can count the sounds using their fingers they should also be

encouraged to draw the sound button underneath words. For example c a t, b oa t, c a k e.

☻ The children will also be taught to draw a line if a sound has more than one letter or an arc for letters which use magic e.Let’s have a little practise now.

See if you can count the sounds in the following words.

Remember to use a sound button for one letter that makes one sound, a line for two

letters that make one sound and an arc for letters that use magic e.

cat dog

soap rain

cake time

rabbit rocket

Dictation

☻ Dictation plays a big part in this programme and after the first set of sounds has been taught the children will be involved in dictation on a weekly basis.

☻ Each child will have a Dictation book and each week the children will be encouraged to listen carefully to what is being dictated by the teacher and write it down in the form of a list.

☻ Dictation begins with the initial sounds covered and progresses onto CVC words, CVVC words and then onto words with blends and words with alternatives vowel spellings.

☻ Children who succeed in dictation will be fast tracked through and encouraged to listen to and to begin to record simple sentences.

☻ Dictation is marked straight after the event, in front of each child and rewards are given to children who have listened carefully to the sounds or made a big improvement from the previous week (s).

Independent Writing☻ The success of independent writing very much lies on the confidence a child has.

☻ We believe it is very important from the beginning of the programme to encourage all children to write

independently at least once a week, no matter how successful they are.

☻ Most early independent writing in a Reception class will show little evidence of letter sounds, formation,

orientation of letters or spacing.

☻ After the first set of sounds have been covered in class, evidence of these start to become evident and

success is celebrated, however small.

☻ Guided writing is also a regular occurrence during the week. Children are given the opportunity to work in

small groups with an adult to verbally plan sentences and carefully record them using the phonetic knowledge they have been acquiring.

☻ There is NO emphasis on correct spelling in our Reception class, only on phonics and phonetic knowledge.

We want the children to become confident writers, who will have a go at any word no matter how long or complicated because they have the skills to do so!

5. Tricky Words

Reading Tricky Words – Blend and Learn☻ The Tricky Words are mostly irregular key words that are not so easy to blend or to write by

listening for the sounds. They need to be learnt by heart. The children will be encouraged to read them before learning to spell them. We tell the children ‘Tricky Words are words that try to trick you because you can’t sound them ALL out’.

☻ The Tricky Words are taught in a set order and after each set of Tricky words has been covered in class these

will also be sent home as strips, for you to reinforce reading then spelling them with your child.

☻ The children begin by learning two Tricky words per week, alongside two ‘Key words’ that are not Tricky..

☻ The new words for that week are introduced as flash cards and added to the pile that are practised on a daily

basis after the sound cards. Tricky parts of the word are discussed and highlighted to the children.

☻ The ‘Key words’ (including any that are also Tricky Words) will be displayed in the classroom and added to

each week.

☻ The children will blend the sounds and say the word incorrectly. This seems to jog their memory and they say

the word correctly. Eventually they learn to recognise the word immediately.

Say it as it Sounds

☻ Most children find it difficult to remember Tricky (irregular) spellings. 20% of children find it extremely

hard as they have a poor memory. These children will benefit particular from this technique.

☻ Say it as it Sounds means pronouncing each word in a way that will remind the child of its irregular part.

Work through the following examples on the board.

Teacher says: Children respond:

other other (bother without the b)

Wednesday Wed - nes-day

February Feb – ru – ary

lamb lam – b (pronouncing the silent b)

Mnemonics

☻ Mnemonics are a fun way to remind children of the spelling of words that they find particularly

difficult to remember.

☻ It is best if the mnemonics are kept the same at school and at home. This avoids the problem of the children

leaning different mnemonics in different classes or at home.

☻ Here are some examples:

because – big,

elephants, can always, upset, small, elephants

could, should and would –o u lucky duck

Conclusion

☻ Our aims for your child in the first nine weeks of school are:

That they can:

☻ Read and write the 42 letter sounds

☻ Form the letters correctly, holding their pencil in the tripod grip

☻ Blend regular words fluently and

☻Write simple, regular words by listening for the sounds.

☻ It has been proven that with parental support the majority of children thoroughly enjoy the pace of teaching and progress very well. Those children with a weak memory for symbols and words tend to go at a slower pace but will succeed with extra help and reinforcement both in school and at home.

Conclusion

☻ By the end of the first school year, children following Jolly Phonics can expect to be, on

average, a year ahead with reading and a little more than that with spelling!

Question Time

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