Phonics Workshop

October 2013

Agenda

• What is phonics?• Why phonics?• Letters and sounds• Phases in Letters and Sounds• What does a phonics lesson look like?• Techniques and games• How can you help your child at home?

Bow or bowRead or readTear or tear

What is phonics?• Phonics is a way of teaching children to read quickly and

skilfully. They are taught how to: – recognise the sounds that each individual letter makes; – identify the sounds that different combinations of letters make

- such as ‘sh’ or ‘oo’; and – blend these sounds together from left to right to make a word.

• Children can then use this knowledge to ‘de-code’ new words that they hear or see. This is the first important step in learning to read.

Why phonics?• Research shows that when phonics is taught in a structured way -

starting with the easiest sounds and progressing through to the most complex – it is the most effective way of teaching young children to read. It is particularly helpful for children aged 5–7.

• Almost all children who receive good teaching of phonics will learn the skills they need to tackle new words. They can then go on to read any kind of text fluently and confidently, and to read for enjoyment.

• Children who have been taught phonics also tend to read more accurately than those taught using other methods, such as ‘look and say’. This includes children who find learning to read difficult, for example those who have dyslexia.

Letters and Sounds• Part of a broad and balanced curriculum• Starts by the age of 5• Multisensory• Time-limited• Systematic• Taught discretely and daily at a brisk pace• Opportunities to reinforce and apply knowledge and

skills should be frequent and available across the curriculum

• Children’s progress is carefully assessed and monitored• Stage not age

Phase 1(7 Aspects)

• show growing awareness and appreciation of rhyme, rhythm and alliteration• distinguish between different sounds in the environment and phonemes• explore and experiment with sounds and words, discriminating speech sounds in words• beginning to orally blend and segment phonemes

Phas

e 1

conti

nued

Awar

enes

s of r

hym

e an

d al

liter

ation

; disti

ngui

sh b

etw

een

diffe

rent

env

ironm

enta

l sou

nds a

nd p

hone

mes

;

expl

ore

and

expe

rimen

t w

ith so

unds

and

wor

ds

• know that words are constructed from phonemes and phonemes are represented by graphemes• know small selection of common consonants and vowels, can blend for reading and segment for

spelling vc and cvc words e.g. pot, top, sat tapPhase 2

• know one grapheme for each of 44 phonemes• know the letter names• hear and say sounds in order in which they occur in a word• read and spell a wide range of CVC words using all letters and less frequent consonant

digraphs, double letters and some long vowel phonemes e.g. sheep, goat.• read two-syllable words and captions

Phase 3

Phase 4

• can use various ways of pronouncing and spelling the graphemes corresponding to long vowel phonemes e.g. ay, ai, a-e play, pain

• can read phonically decodable two and three syllable words• can spell complex words using phonically plausible attempts

Phase 6

• apply phonics skills and knowledge to recognise and spell an increasing number of complex words

• are secure with less common grapheme/phoneme correspondence and recognise phonic irregularities

Preliminary work on general sounds and fun phonics

Children firmly in Phase 3 by end YR

Children firmly in Phase 5

by end of Y1

Colour codes

Beginning Y2 continuing into Y3

Phase 5

• can blend adjacent consonants in words and apply this when reading unfamiliar texts

• can segment adjacent consonants e.g. spoon, cried, nest • can read some polysyllabic words

Letters and Sounds

• 44 sounds or ‘phonemes’

• 20 – vowel sounds

• 24 – consonant sounds

• Phoneme – smallest unit of sound in a word• Grapheme – the written form • Grapheme-Phoneme correspondance

Each letter will have...

A aA phoneme

A grapheme

A letter name

A capital

A lower case

Phase One

• Central importance of developing teaching and listening skills.

• Playing with sounds they hear• Syllables• Rhyme and alliteration• Silly soup

Phase Two • Introduces 19 grapheme-phoneme correspondences• Pure Sounds!• Jolly phonics actions

Set 1: s, a, t, pSet 2: i, n, m, dSet 3: g, o, c, kSet 4: ck, e, u, rSet 5: h, b, f, ff, l, ll, ss• As soon as children have a small number of grapheme/phoneme

correspondences, blending and segmenting can start.

Phase Two

• Grapheme-phoneme correspondence

c/a/t = 3 phonemesth/e/n = 3 phonemes ch/air = 2 phonemes• Segment and blend

Term MeaningTo segment To split a word into its separate

phonemes, as an aid to spelling.

To blend To list the phonemes within a word and put together quickly to form the word. (Taught as a strategy for reading unknown words.)

Phase Two

• Letter names and capitals• Letter formation

– Read, Write Inc cards

Phase Three

• Introduces the rest of the letters of the alphabet

Set 6: j v w xSet 7: y z, zz qu

• Key words – words that need to be learnt by sight.

Digraphs and Trigraphs

ch chip ar farmsh shop or forth thin/then ur hurtng ring ow cowai rain oi coinee feet ear dearigh night air fairoa boat ure sureoo boot/look er corner

Phase Four• Secure previous phases• CVCC and CCVC words• Adjacent consonants

friendcrushplantflop

brightduck

scream

yes

yes

yesyes

yes

no

no

Phase Five• Alternate graphemes for the same phoneme.

/ai/ pain, day, gate, station

/ee/ sweet, heat, thief, these

/igh/ tried, light, my, shine, mind

/oa/ road, blow, bone, cold

/oo/ moon, blue, grew, tune

Phase Five• Split digraphs

cake same

note joke

kitewhite

assumegene

By this stage when spelling children should be able to spell the word using letter names.

Phase Six

• Increasing fluency and accuracy in reading and writing

• Throughout Year Two (although teaching of spelling continues well into KS2)

What does a phonics lesson look like?

Introduction

Revisit and review

Teach

Practise

Apply

Techniques and Games

• Silly soup

• Robot talking

• Phonics Fingers

• Quick write

• Stand up if...

Sound buttons

pin

Sound buttons

moon

Sound Buttons

hat frog

coatfloat

night chimpanzee

sheep adventure

say chain

3

3

3

3

2

4

4

8

7

3

Phoneme frames

s u n

Phoneme frames

b oa

t

Phoneme frames

sh

or t

b e ll k i ng

qu

i ck sh ee

p

th or n ch a t

Yes/no game

Is rain wet?

Is it dark at night?

Can coins sing a song?

Are the teeth of a shark sharp?

Can a ship sail on the road?

Rubbish and treasure game

Magic Line Game

Full circle game

x

p t d ms o a

x

p td m

s

o

a

x

pt

dm

s

o

a

x

pt

dm

s o

a

x

p td

ms

o

a

xFull Circle Game 3

p tdm

s o

a

x

pt

dm

s o

a

x

p td m

s o

a

xFull Circle Game 3

p to

How can you help at home?Phonics works best when children are given plentyof encouragement and learn to enjoy reading andbooks. Parents play a very important part in helpingwith this.

• Pure sounds!!• Use the language from today’s session• Writing in lower case• c and k• Reading books that are phonetically plausible• Identify grapheme/phoneme correspondence in books• Play some of the games

Key WordsTeaching, remembering

Visual Memory:Write the word in large letters for the

children to see and ‘take a mental photograph of’ (probably display for about 10 seconds). Can they see the

word when they close their eyes? (if not, repeat). Ask the children to write the words on their whiteboards. Check against original. Repeat regularly.

Recognising:

Spotting: in the environment, in books, from word bank.

Best of 3

Display 3 words, 2 of which are incorrect.

e.g. about, abowt, abot

Which is right?

Key word bingo

Using Shape

Sky write; link match words to shapes with handwriting;

of words

Websites• Phonics playwww.phonicsplay.co.uk/

• BBC Words and Pictureshttp://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/wordsandpictures

• ICT gameswww.ictgames.com

• Alphablockswww.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/alphablocks

• Lesley Clarke’s Websitehttp://www.lesleyclarkesyntheticphonics.co.uk/

Questions?