The Phonics Handbook
A Handbook for Teaching Reading, Writing and Spelling
Sue Lloyd and Sara Wernham
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Prentiss i alThe Phonics Handbook
A Handbook for Teaching Reading, Writing and Spelling
Sue Lloyd and Sara Wernham
Illustrated by Lib Stephen
Edited by Angela Hockley
Fourth Edition
Jolly Learning LtdBurst Edition published February 1902
Reprinted 1992, 1993
Second Edition published November 1994
Reprinted 1996
‘Third Edition published February 1998
Reprinted 1999, 2001, 2002, 2008, 2004, 2008 (twica),
2008, 2007 (twice), 2008 (twice), 2010, 2011
Fourth Edition published September 2012
Reprinted October 2013, January 2016, June 2016,
April 2017, May 2018
dolly Learning Ltd
‘Tailours House
High Road
Chigwell
Easox
1G7 6DL.
United Kingdom
Tel: (+44 or 0) 20 8501 0405
‘Fax: (44 or 0) 20 8500 1698
worw jollyloarning.co.ule
info@jollylearning.comk:
© Sue Lloyd, 1992, Sara Wermbam, 2012 (text)
© Jolly Learning Ltd 1992 (Itustrations)
Printed and bound in England.
All material in the Photocopy Sections may he freely copied
by teachers, without permission, if the number of copies
is not more than is needed in their school or college. For
other copies (such as for an external resource centre),
‘written permission must be obtained,
‘The Photocopy Sections in this book use ‘Sassoon Infant’, a
typeface designed for children learning to read and write,
Sassoon is a rogistered trade mark of Sassoon and
Williams. For more information, visit www.clubtype.co.uk,
‘The front cover shows two children doing the aetions for the
sounds /ee/ and /or/, flapping their hands up and down
like the ears of a donkey.
‘The page numbers are printed within the binding at the
bottom of each page 20 that they do not appear on copies of
the photocopiable pages.
ISBN 978 1 870946 07 0Acknowledgements
Our grateful thanks go to Joan Dorr, who took the initiative
in encouraging the new thinking in this book, which has
resulted in greatly improved results in reading and writing.
‘We would also like to thank Ann Foster, who devised the
original timetable for the first nine weeks of teaching, on
which the new timetable is based.Contents
PART 1
Introduction
Chapter 1 — Learning the Letter Sounds
Chapter 2 — Learning Letter Formation
Chapter 3 ~ Blending (Reading)
Chapter 4 — Identifying the Sounds in Words
Chapter 5 — Tricky Words
PART 2 Photocopiable Material
Photocopy Section 1 — Information for Parents
Learning the Letter Sounds
Photocopy Section 2 — Sound Sheets
89 ck 51
s g 68 ai 75 z 85 y 95
a4i e 58 06 j 77 w 87 x 97
t 43 h 55 u 67 oa 79 ng 89 ch 99
i 45 r 57 Lb 69 ie 81 v 91 sh 101
p47 m59 f 71 ee 83 oo 93 th 103
n 49 d 61 b 73 or 83 0093 th 103
que
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107
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12
15
23
30
35
37Photocopy Section 3- Flash Card Sheets
Photocopy Section 4— Sound Book Sheets
Blending
Photocopy Section 5— Word Box Sheets
Photocopy Section 6 String Joining
Photocopy Section 7— Matching Letters, Words and Pictures
Photocopy Section 8 — Sentence Sticking
Photocopy Section 9 ~ Letter Clue Pictures
Identifying the Sounds in Words
Photocopy Section 10 — Missing Sounds Sheets
Photocopy Section 11 — Homework Writing Sheets
Tricky Words
Photocopy Section 12 — ‘Tricky Word Sheets
Alternative Spellings of Vowels
Photocopy Section 13 — Alternative Spellings of Vowels
— Sound Sheets
~ Flash Cards
~ Matching Letters, Words and Pictures
Guided Writing
Photocopy Section 14 — Guided Writing Sheets
Reading Comprehension
Photocopy Section 15 — Reading Comprehension Sheets
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98 98 ve 88 ze 1 0g 62 82 1B 98 9 STOOLIntroduction
The aim of this book is to teach children to read and write through an
early, systematic, synthetic phonics programme. The word ‘synthetic’
refers, in this case, to the ‘synthesising’ — as in the blending or combining
— of sounds to make spoken words. This means that the children are
taught the main sounds of English, not just the alphabet sounds. With
this knowledge, they are taken through stages of blending sounds to form
words and then to reading. At the same time, they are taught to write by
identifying the sounds in words and relating the letters to those sounds.
‘The Phonics Handbook provides a programme for the first year of
learning to read and write. The first eight to nine weeks are spent
learning the letter sounds, which are introduced at a rate of one letter
sound a day. This is followed by learning the main alternative vowel
sounds, the tricky words and how to write independently. The programme
is multisensory, active and particularly suitable for young children.
Step-by-step guidance is given for the teacher, with photocopiable
activity sheets for the children. The structured approach is suited to
whole-school, whole-class teaching but it also works well with individual
children. Teachers following this method of teaching can be assured that
their children will read and write independently much more quickly. A
suggested timetable for teaching the programme over 86 weeks can be
found on the precoding pages.
In this introduction, the teaching is divided into five basic skills, each
of which has its own chapter in this book:
1. Learning the letter sounds
2, Learning letter formation
3. Blending — for reading
4, Identifying the sounds in words — for writing
5. Tricky words
Although the teaching is outlined in this way, it is important to realise
that the first four ekills should be taught simultaneously, while tricky
words are taught after the first few weeks.
Learning to read and write fluently is vital for children. All parents
know this and want their children to master these skills, The majority of
parents are keen to help but are not sure how to go about it, It is a good
idea to invite new parents to a meeting and explain to them how reading
and writing is taught in the school.
The Jolly Phonics method of teaching was developed and tested over a
period of time at Woods Loke Primary School, Lowestoft, in Suffolk,
England. Before 1975, reading was taught at the school using, essentially,INTRODUCTION
a visual, whole-word approach. Most of the children could read well;
however, there was always a group of children who had problems
remembering words and who could not cope satisfactorily with reading or
writing. These children did not pick up letter sounds easily or relate them
to words. It was decided, therefore, to teach the letter sounds first to see if
early letter knowledge would help them. 'This approach proved to be much
more successful for the children as a whole, and the number of children
with problems became much smaller. This outcome reflects the findings of
several research studies, which found that knowing the letter sounds is
the best predictor of success in learning to read.
In the early 1980s, the school introduced some structured blending in
addition to the letter-sound work. It also took part in an external
research experiment, where the children were first taught to listen
carefully for the sounds in words, identify those sounds, and relate them
to the letters (enown as phonemic awareness). This method made it much
easier for the children to learn to read and write. They became fluent
readers much earlier than before and — best of all - the group of children
with reading problems was almost nonexistent. Moreover, the children
started writing independently at a much earlier stage and began to spell
accurately more quickly. Standardised testing confirmed these large-
seale improvements. The results also reflect the findings of independent
research studies which show that both blending skills and phonemic
awareness are strong predictors of reading success.
The key advantages of this system are that it teaches children to
recognise all the main letter sounds early on and shows them how to use
their letter-sound knowledge to work out words: running sounds together
(blending) for reading and identifying sounds in words (segmenting) for
writing. As a result, the children’s achievements are very much greater,
not only in reading but also in writing; at an early stage, the children have
a way of writing each letter sound, and this means they are soon able to
write whatever they wish in a way that is readable.
This active and child-friendly system allows whole-class teaching from
a young, even preschool, age and allows parents to be involved. Moreover,
the higher achievement is reflected across the class with fewer children
needing remedial help. Its effectiveness is highlighted by numerous
research studies, in which the achievements of children taught with Jolly
Phonics have been much greater than those taught by other methods.
Information about this research is available on the Jolly Learning website.
To avoid confusion, Jolly Phonics follows the convention of using
different symbols to distinguish between letter names and letter
sounds. Letter names are indicated by the symbols <> : ‘ship’ begins with
the letter «, for example. By contrast, letter sounds are indicated by the
symbols //: ‘ship’ begins with the /sh/ sound.INTRODUCTION
The Letters for the 42 Sounds of English
ant, sand, caravan
aim, aid, drain (long «@)
bat, rabbit, crab
cat, act, duck
dog, bed, sudden
egg, end, shed
eel, creep, tree (long «)
fog, lift, fluff
goat, drag, digger
hop, hit, hill
ink, instant, drink
pie, tied, die (ong «)
Jelly, jet, jumper
king, bark, whisker
leg, tulip, shell
man, jam, shrimp
nut, hand, spin
on, honest, spot
oak, oats, boat (long «')
pot, pepper, step
queen, quick, liquid
run, rabbit, barrel
sand, hiss, twist
top, butter, mat
up, under, lung
cue, fuel, argue (long «w)
van, livid, give
wind, went, swim
mixer, ox, flex
yell, yes, beyond
200, buzzer, fizz
song, singer, string
chop, richer, much
ship, fashion, wish
this, feather, with (voiced /Ahy/)
thin, moth, method (unvoiced /th/)
order, corn, for
look, good, foot, (little /oo/)
ooze, spoon, z00 (long /oo/)
out, cloud, found
cil, ointment, spoil
herb, stern, her
art, car, start
get en gU gon Ere ER gone OES1. Learning the Letter
Sounds
All words are made up of sounds. There are over 40 sounds in English but
only 26 letters that are used to represent these sounds, This means that
many sounds are written using more than one letter. For reading and
writing, the children need to be fluent in saying the sounds that go with
the letters.
‘The Sound Sheets provide the starting point for this teaching (see
Photocopy Section 2). Initially, only one way of writing each sound is
taught; afterwards, the main alternatives are introduced. For example, in
the beginning the /ai/ sound is taught as «ab, as in ‘rain’. Later on, once
this spelling has been mastered, the children learn the alternatives «ayy
(as in ‘day’) and «@_© (as in ‘came).
There are 42 letter sounds on the Sound Sheets. Each sheet has plenty
of activity: a suggested storyline; a picture to colour; an action; words for
blending; and a line on which to practice writing the letter, or letters.
Young children learn particularly quickly when there is activity
involved. By doing an action for each letter sound, the children are using
‘body movement — along with their ears, eyes and voice — to help them
remember. This multisensory approach is a very effective way of
teaching, as well as being fun for the children. There should be an early
concentration on learning the letter sounds.
Rate of Introduction
The first letter sound can be introduced on the children’s first day. Their
enthusiasm for learning is high and this provides a meaningful start for
thom. It is recommended that the letter sounds are introduced at the rate
of one a day. 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. If all 42 are
introduced at this rate, they will have been covered in about nine weeks.
The result is that children become competent readers much sooner, and
they use all their letter sounds to produce independent writing that is
more expressive at a much earlier stage. If the children are younger than
five, or there are other special factors, the rate of teaching the letter
sounds is likely to be slower. Whatever the pace, it is important to avoid
introducing reading books that contain letter sounds which have not yet
been taught.LEARNING THE LETTER SOUNDS
Introducing the Sound Sheets
In the first lesson, the /s/ sound is introduced using the first of the Sound
Sheets. Start by telling the story about a boy who takes his dog for a walk,
hears the dog barking and then sees a snake rear up, hissing ‘sssssss’. The
suggested storyline is deliberately brief so it can be adapted and told in a
personal way. The sound and action are incorporated in each story; a
snake makes the /s/ sound, so the children weave their hand in an
shape, imitating the movement of the snake, and say ‘ssssses'. The
children are told that this is one of the letter sounds.
At this point, it is useful to look at the fixst of the Finger Phonics books,
if they are available. They not only give a colourful illustration of the
story but also can be used to introduce the skills needled for reading and
writing, which are covered in Chapters 8 and 4. Young children also enjoy
singing the songs for each letter sound from Jolly Songs and Jolly
Jingles. In addition, the Jolly Phonics Wall Frieze makes a cheerful wall
display and acts as a visual reminder of each letter sound.
The children are then shown the letter «@ and how to form it correctly.
Flash cards can be made for the sounds, using the sheets in Photocopy
Section 8, and information on how to teach correct formation is given in
Chapter 2: Learning Letter Formation. In the first few lessons, the
children can play ‘hunt the letter sound’ by searching for it in storybooks
around the classroom. This helps the children to understand the link
between the letter sounds and words in books.
‘The Sound Sheet for /s/ is then given to the children, who write the
letter « on the bottom of their sheet after forming it several times in the
air; the children trace over the dotted letters and then try on their own.
‘The teacher watches them and checks that they are forming each «
correctly, The line above and below the row of letters helps the children
to understand that all letters are the same size, except for the tall ‘sticks’
and the low ‘tails’. Afterwards, the picture can be carefully coloured.
In the beginning, concentration should be on the lower-case letters. The
capital letters, also shown in the Finger Phonics books and the Wall
Frieze, need only be mentioned briefly. At this early stage, it is important
that all the letters are introduced by their sounds and not their names:
in this case, ‘ssssecs’ and not ‘ess’ for the /s/ sound.
The other letter sounds are introduced in a similar way. Most of the
Sound Sheets now have words for blending, and there is a word bank for
every sound in the teacher's lesson notes. The blending words have dots
underneath, which represent the number of sounds in them. As the
children blend the word, they point: to each dot and say the sound. All the
words on the Sound Sheet and in the word bank use only the sounds that
have been taught so far. The first two Sound Sheets do not have blending
words, as no suitable regular words can be made with /s/ and /al.LEARNING THE LeTrer SOUNDS
However, auditory blending is possible, where the children are
encouraged to listen for a word as the teacher says its individual sounds.
‘When each Sound Shect has been completed, the children take it home;
the parents see what has been taught and are better able to help their
child learn the letter sounds. Alternatively, the Jolly Phonics Pupil Books
introduce the letter sounds in a similar way to The Phonics Handbook;
schools may prefer to use these in the classroom and send the Sound
Sheot home to be completed.
Reinforcement of the letter sounds is very important; in every lesson,
flash cards of the letters taught so far should be held up in a random
order so the children can call out the sounds and do the actions. The
faster the children are at recognising letters and saying the sounds, the
easier it is for them to read and write, Slower leamers tend to copy the
other children and will need extra practice in a small group.
When the letter sounds /a, e, i, 0, w/ are taught, the children can be told
that they are ‘special’ letters which are called vowels. These single letter
vowels are often referred to as ‘short vowels’, as in ‘cap’, ‘red’, ‘big’, “dog?
and ‘sun’. Later, the children will be told useful rules which relate to the
short vowels that will help them with reading and spelling. They can
then be told that the other letters are called consonants.
‘When the ‘long vowel’ sounds /ai, ee, ie, oa, ue/ are taught, the children
need to know that they are usually written using two letters, rather than
one, as in ‘rain’, ‘sheep’, ‘pies’, ‘road’ and ‘cue’. The second vowel is silent,
but influences the first one to give its long vowel sound, which is also its
letter name. Later on, when children learn the letter names, they can be
told that When two vowels go walking, the first does the talking’. Sounds
written using two letters are called digraphs.
After the first six letters have been taught, the children can be shown the
first story in the Jolly Phonics pvp (formerly the Jolly Phonics Video 1), as
a revision of the sounds and as a reward for working hard.
In English, there are over 40 sounds but only 26 letters to represent
them. This is why digraphs are sometimes used to represent a new
sound, not only for the long vowels but also for sounds like /shy, /cb/, /¢h/
and /ng/. It is important to note that digraphs are different from blends,
A digraph has just one sound (such as /sh/ in ‘ship’, whereas a blend has
two or more sounds (like /s-t/ in ‘stop)). This is an important difference, as
will be seen later in Chapter 4: Identifying the Sounds in Words.
The coor and ¢hy digraphs are initially introduced in two sizes. This
helps the children to understand that they each make two sounds, as in
‘book? and ‘moon’, and ‘this’ and ‘thin’.
00 book th this
eo = =meon th thinLEARNING THE LETTER SouNDS
Ifearly cursive writing is to be used, it is helpful to show the children how
the two letters in a digraph join. This gives an easy start to joined writing
and develops the understanding that sometimes two letters are needed to
make one sound. Forming the letters in the air enables the children to
feel how they go together.
Order of the Letter-Sound Groups
The letter sounds are arranged in groups of six. They have been ordered
carefully to help make the learning easier. For instance, the first six
letter sounds make many simple words, such as ‘pin’, ‘sat’, ‘tip’ and ‘pan’,
which the children can blend at an early stage. The sound /c k/ is
introduced early on, as letter «@ forms a template for writing the letters
«@, ch, «0», and «@. Furthermore, the letters that are easily confused,
such as by and «b, are in separate groups.
Letter-Sound Groups
‘These letter-sound groups are used throughout the Jolly Phonics material:
sat i pn
ck, oe, hx, md
- 841 fb
ai, j, 0a, ie, ee, or
2, W, Dg, V, little 0, long 00
¥, % ch, sh, voiced th, unvoiced th
qu, ou, oi, ue, er, ar
Noe ee
Revision of the Letter Sounds
Each lesson should contain some revision of the letter sounds already
taught. A good way of doing this is to hold flash cards up, one at a time,
in quick succession so all the children can do the actions and say the
sounds. Sometimes the children should be encouraged to omit the action
and say the sound only once, as this is the skill they will need for
blending. There are lots of other activities that can be done to help the
children remember the letter sounds. For example, large letters can be
placed in the corners of the school hall. When the teacher shows or says
a letter sound, the children must run to the covrect corner of the room.LEARNING THE LETTER SOUNDS
Sound Books
Each child should have their own Sound Book. This could be a plain
exercise book that has been cut horizontally in half. As soon as a letter
sound has been taught, it is stuck onto the next clean page; copies of the
letter sounds are provided in Photocopy Section 4: Sound Book Sheets,
Older children in the school can help with this task and enjoy sticking the
letters in during their lunch break. It is best to keep the Sound Books
quite simple and not provide extra visual prompts, such as a snake for
the /s/ sound.
The Sound Book should be taken home every day so that parents can
help their child become fluent in knowing the letter sounds. The
importance of this can be explained at an initial parents’ meeting, and
parents who are unsure of the letter sounds can listen to them on the
Jolly Leaming website, The following day, the teacher listens to each
child saying the sounds in the Sound Book. This is the ideal, although in
large classes it is impossible to do so without the extra help of a parent
helper or assistant. If this is not available, a compromise has to be made,
such as hearing a group of children at a time or focusing mostly on the
weakest every day, along with some of the others.
When a child knows the first six sounds, a coloured star can be stuck
on the back of the book to show his or her achievement. A different
coloured star can be used when the next group of letter sounds is known.
‘This acts as an encouragement to the children.
Pairs Game
The Sound Book Sheets can also be made into letter-sound cards, which
can be used in a variety of ways, both at home and at school. Parents
are encouraged to mount the Sound Book Sheets onto card, cut them up
and play games and activities with their children. Playing the Pairs
Game, in particular, is a simple but pleasant way of helping the children
learn the letter sounds. Instructions for parents are given in Photocopy
Section 4: Sound Book Sheets.
Letter Names
Initially it is important to use only the sounds, and not the names, of
letters when teaching the letter sounds, or children can become confused,
However, the children need to know the letter names too, and it is best to
introduce them later on, when the children are used to saying the sounds.LEARNING THE LETTER SOUNDS
In this way, the children are less likely to muddle the sounds with the
letter names when they are blending.
A good way of introducing the letter names is through the alphabet, This
can simply be sung or recited. Later on, knowing the alphabet will help the
children look up words in the dictionary; to find words more easily, Jolly
Phonics teaches the alphabet in four colour-coded groups: Aa to Ee (red);
Ff to Mm (yellow); Nn to Ss (green) and Tt to Zz (blue). By thinking of the
dictionary as divided into four roughly equal parts, the children can quickly
narrow the search for a particular word to that part of the dictionary.
Supplementary Work
In most classes there will be a few children who are not learning the
sounds fast enough to keep up with the other children. This could be for
a number of reasons:
1. The child may have a poor memory for letter sounds.
2. The child’s attendance is limited for some reason.
3, The child’s concentration is week.
4, There is little individual help given at home.
Whatever the reason, the problem has to be overcome. Instead of going
through the Sound Book it is better to concentrate on those sounds that
the child knows. These letter sounds can be put in a box or envelope for
the child to take home and practise. The remaining sounds can be added
to the box as quickly as possible, at a pace that suits the child, Stars can
be used to reward the child’s achievements. A child who knows the letter
sounds well can be a supporting ‘buddy’ to a child struggling to remember
the letter sounds.
Activities like this and the Pairs Game will help struggling children
become more fluent in their reading and writing. Once this happens,
these children can generally manage very well in school and are able to
‘keep up with the others.
The cooperation of parents is invaluable. At the parents’ meeting, it
helps to inform them that approximately 20 percent of children have
some problems with learning to read and write: not because they are
unintelligent, but because they have a poor memory for letter sounds and.
find blending particularly difficult. If their child is struggling to learn
the letter sounds, then if is likely this child is one of the 20 percent
with a weak memory, (Please note, this figure is only an approximation
and will vary according to the children's home background and social
environment.) Knowing this will help the parents understand why their
child is struggling and encourage them to give their time and support.LEARNING THE LETTER SOUNDS
Alternative Spellings of Vowels
Once the children have learnt the 42 letter sounds on the Sound Sheets,
they need to be aware of the alternative ways in which some of the vowel
sounds can be written, A list of these alternative spellings can be seen on
the page opposite, and the Jolly Phonics Alternative Spelling Poster
makes an attractive visual reminder in the classroom.
There is also a set of Sound Sheets, flash cards and activity cards
for the Alternatives in Photocopy Section 13: Alternative Spellings of
Vowels. The Sound Sheets now follow the same format as those for the
initial 42 sounds and can be used in much the same way. There are no
teacher's notes for these lessons, but relevant information can be found
in the corresponding lesson notes in Photocopy Section 2. So, for example,
when teaching the alternative spelling «ay, the lesson notes for Sound
Sheet /ai/ can be referred to; there is a word bank of «ay» words in the
‘Further Phonics’ box, along with more information about the alternative
spellings. The recommended rate for introducing the alternative spellings
is one or two por week.
Conclusions
It is vital that the children know the letter sounds, and that they are able
to say a sound as soon as they see the letter, or letters, that represent
that sound.
However, learning the letter sounds is not enough; the children need to
know how to apply their letter knowledge from the beginning. For
reading, they need to know how to blend sounds together to hear a word.
For writing, the children need to be able to hear the sounds in a word and
know which letter, or letters, to write down for that sound. These are
techniques that can be taught and are explained in Chapters 2 and 3.‘LEARNING THE LeTrER SOUNDS
Alternative Spellings of Vowels
Long «a ai . rain, waist, drain
ae date, plate, flame
ay day, stay, play
Long e> ee seed, bleed, street
ee theme, these, scheme
ea seat, cream, read
y daddy, funny, body
Long «> ie pie, tie, die
ie pipe, line, shine
igh night, fight, bright
y my, fly, ory
Long «o> oa boat, goat, float
oe bone, close, smoke
ow snow, slow, pillow
Long «a» ue cue, rescue, value
ue cube, mule, fuse
ew few, skew, pew
‘The /er/ sound supper, sister, blister
bird, shirt, third
. turn, burn, purse
The Jor/ sound — or fork, port, storm
au August, pause, fraud
aw claw, saw, shawl
al talk, walk, chalk
The /ow/ sound ou Joud, mouse, cloud
cow, clown, brown
The /oi/ sound oi oil, coin, spoil
boy, toy, enjoy2. Learning Letter
Formation
For young children to learn fluent and neat handwriting, they need to be
taught how to hold their pencil and how to form their letters correctly.
Early mastery is well worth the extra effort involved. Anyone who has
tried to correct an older child’s bad pencil hold or incorrect formation
knows how difficult, if not impossible, it can be. It is much better to teach
it correctly from the start.
Pencil Hold
The pencil rests between the thumb and the first finger;
the next finger prevents the pencil falling down, and
the last two fingers are tucked away. This pencil hold
applies equally to both left- and right-handed children.
‘The hand rests on the table and the movement of the pencil is through
the thumb and first finger. It is important that the knuckles point
outwards. Young children are amused if their fingers are likened to
‘froggy legs’, which they must move forwards and backwards. ‘Using Jolly
Phonics’ on the Jolly Phonics pvp shows this ‘froggy legs’ movement.
Letter Formation
A multisensory approach to teaching helps the children to learn more
easily, For this reason, the children are introduced to the formation of
each letter in the following ways:
1. The teacher shows the formation on the board.
2, The teacher shows the formation in the air, taking care when facing
the children to do it in ‘mnirrox’ writing (60 it is the correct way around for
the children). The children watch and then form the letter in the air,
saying the sound. They do this several times.
8. The children are each given a Sound Sheet, which includes an example
of the letter(s) with the formation indicated by arrows and numbers. A
line is provided for the children to practise on.‘Learninc Lerrer FORMATION
First the children trace over the dotted letters, and then they try forming
the letters independently, using only the starting dot as a guide.
4. While the children are colouring and writing on the Sound Sheets, they
can take it in turns to feel the formation in the large grooved letters in
the Finger Phonics books. If Jolly Phonics for the Whiteboard, the -Jolly
Phonics DvD, or the Jolly Phonics Games cp is available, the children can
also watch the formation there.
The basic letter knowledge needed for good handwriting is:
1. All the letters are the same size except:
— the seven tall letters that have ‘sticks’ above the body of the letter:
b, d, fh, k, |, t. (Note that «b is not quite as tall as the others).
— the six letters that have ‘tails’ that go below the line: f, 9, j, Pi q Ys
2. Most letters go down towards the line first: b, fh, j, kl m,n, p, 5
t, U, \5 wx, y, (Note that fy has a little arch backwards beforehand).
8. The following letters start like a
and toughy «y»: In English, the letters @ and gp often change
places and when they do, the q» becomes a vowel. It amuses children to
think that & is very shy and that ‘toughy q’ takes its place; they can be told,
for example, that ‘day and ‘boy’ are not written ‘dai’ or ‘boi’ because ‘shy @”
does not like being on the end of the word and is replaced by ‘toughy qr’.
Usually, ‘toughy «y’ replaces ‘shy « on the end of longer words, such as
‘funny’ (where it is now pronounced more as an /ee/ in most parts of the
world) but sometimes it happens when the /i/ sound is not at the end, in
words like ‘pyramid’, ‘gymnastics’, “hythm’ and ‘myth’. For young
children, it is enough for them to know that if q is not the first letter, it
is often taking the place of « and, when this happens, it is acting as a
vowel. In this way, the children know that if they are blending a word and
y is not the first letter, they should first try the short vowel /i/ and if that
does not work, try the long vowel /ie/ (as in ‘my’ and ‘rhyme’).
Later on, the children learn that when a word ending in « is made
longer, as in ‘funny’ and ‘funnier’, the « usually reverts to an «; in other
words, ‘shy «” does not mind coming back, because it will not be on the end!
4, Soft «e and soft «: If the letter « is followed by the vowels «, « or
«y, the sound is usually softened to a /s/, as in ‘ice’, ‘race’, ‘city’, ‘circle’ and
‘cycle’. Similarly after a letter «p, an ‘&, @ or q usually changes the
sound to //, as in ‘gently’, ‘giant’ and ‘gymnastics’. Flash cards showing
these types of words help to reinforce the rule.
5. Alternative Spellings: Seven of the main alternative ways of writing
the vowels cannot be worked out using helpful hints and need to be learnt
by sight:
igh ew ir ur aw ae al
night few bird tum saw — pause _balll
light stew girl curl «= draw = haunt — talk
high flew shirt nurse straw = August — also
BLENDINGBLENDING
Supplementary Work
In the early stages nearly all reading problems are decoding problems:
either the child does not Imow the letter sounds well enough or has not
done enough blending practice.
A few children find blending particularly difficult. It is tempting not to
give them blending practice until they are more mature or to try and
teach them to memorise whole words, but this is a mistake; these
children need more blending practice rather than less. By modelling the
blending of simple words every day, in small groups or individually, the
children gradually learn to do it on their own. If they are slow at saying
the letter sounds, then extra time should be devoted to practising them.
It is important to have sufficient and appropriate decodable books for
the slower learners. These children need bold print, plenty of repetition
and the very gradual introduction of new phonic knowledge and tricky
words.
Reading Comprehension
For children to become fluent readers, they must be able to understand
what they are reading. Comprehension is taught aurally in the early
stages of teaching children to read; they listen to stories, poems and
nursery rhymes, for example, and are encouraged to discuss what
happens in them and also to give spoken answers to comprehension
questions. This improves the children’s understanding of language,
develops a wider vocabulary and increases their interest in learning
to read.
The Reading Comprehension Sheets in Photocopy Section 15 can be
used with the more able readers towards the end of the first year. Care
should be taken to ensure that the children have been taught the tricky
words used in these activities and that the other words used can be
worked out with the letter-sound knowledge they have been given,
Conclusion
Children who can blend words fluently have few problems with reading,
Once the fluency is there, reading extension and comprehension become
the more important aspects of learning. Early systematic synthetic
phonics makes it easier for all children to become fluent readers. The
ultimate aim is for the children to reach the stage where they are reading
to learn, rather than learning to read.4. Identifying the Sounds
in Words
In order to write words successfully, the children must be able to say a
word, hear the sounds in that word and then write the letters for those
sounds, For example, the word ‘big’ has three sounds /b-i-gl; if the
children can identify these sounds and know how to write the letters,
they can write the word ‘big’ without help. The ability to hear sounds in
words is called ‘phonemic awareness’, it is a skill which involves the
opposite process to that of blending.
From the very beginning, the children are taught to listen for the
sounds in words. As with blending, the Finger Phonics books are a good
place to introduce this skill. On the /s/ page, for example, the teacher ean
ask the children if they can see hear a /s/ sound in ‘sun’, ‘snake’ or ‘dog’. In
the beginning, the children tend to think that /a/ is in all the words;
gradually, they realise what is expected and start to listen carefully. This
activity can also be done with a simple picture of something like a dog,
sock, mouse or hat; such pictures are available on the Jolly Phonics
Resources cD, along with other useful material.
‘The next step is to ask the children to listen and identify all the sounds
in a word such as ‘pin’ and to hold up a finger for each sound: /p-i-n/. This
can begin once the first few Sound Sheets are done, using short, simple
words like ‘ant’, ‘sit, Sn’, ‘cat’, ‘pin’, ‘tap’ and ‘pant’. In the beginning, the
children hear and say the first sound easily, but the other sounds may
need teasing out of them gradually. The aim is for the children to be able
to hear each sound, one after the other. Some children will hear the
sounds easily while others may require far more help, but with regular
practice most children are able to identify the sounds in small words by
the end of the first few weeks.
After the first couple of weeks, the teacher can start to demonstrate the
skill of writing words, either on the board or by using magnetic letters.
‘The children are asked to help write a word like ‘per’, for example, and
the teacher writes the sounds on the board as the children say them. Then
the children read the word by blending the sounds. This helps them see
the significance of ‘decoding’ to read and ‘encoding’ to write and how these
processes are linked. It is this understanding that makes the children
confident and the systematic teaching of synthetic phonics so successful.
As soon as most of the children can call out the sounds in short words,
longer words can be tackled.IDENTIFYING THE SOUNDS IN WoRDS
Consonant Blends
It is important that the children hear the individual sounds in consonant
blends. If they fail to hear one of the consonants, they will write the word
incorrectly, putting ‘fog’ instead of ‘frog’ or ‘wel’ instead of ‘went’, for
example. To help develop this skill, say the blend — in this case /er/ — and
ask the children to respond with /e-x/, putting up a finger for each sound.
Practise a few examples every day, taking care to use consonant blends
which only use letter sounds that are known. Gradually, the children will
become fluent in identifying the sounds in consonant blends.
Initial Consonant Blends
Examples include: bl-, br-, cl-, cr-, dr-, fl-, fr-, gl-, gr-, pl-, pr-, se-, sk-, sl-,
sn-, Sh-, sp-, st-, sw-, tr-, tw-, ser-, shr-, spl-, spr-, str-, thr-. These can be
used to make the following words:
blot bran clap = clip, = lub_—crab
crop drag drip «== drop drum_— flag
flap flat frog_—=s from glad_— grab
grip plan plot_~— plug prod_— scan
skip slap slim slug smog _— snap
snip spot. = stom = swims trip ~—twig
scrub shrug splat sprig strum _ throb
Final Consonant Blends
Examples include: -ct, -ft, Ib, -ld, -If, Ik, -Im, -In, -Ip, -It, -mp, -nd, -nt,
-pt, -sk, -sp, -st, -xt. These can be used to make the following words:
fact gift lift soft bulb held
golf milk silk film kin gulp
help belt. = melt. = quilt. += camp = damp
lamp plump bend grand mend pond
wind bent hunt mint pant. tent
went kept slept desk = risk ~—erisp
best frost. lost must nest next.
After identifying the sounds in words with consonant blends, virtually
any words can be sounded out.IDENTIFYING THE SOUNDS IN WorDs
For example:
spending —/s-p-e-n-d-i-ng/— 7 fingers, 7 sounds in the word
ground —/g-r-ou-n-d/ —5 fingers, 5 sounds
blister —/b-li-s-ter! —6 fingers, 6 sounds
shoot —/sh-oo-t/ — 8 fingers, 3 sounds
Gradually, the children become accustomed to hearing all the sounds and
understand that some sounds are represented by two letters. Hearing
sounds such as the /n/ in ‘went? and the /ex/ in ‘supper’ tends to be more
difficult, but regular practice is the key to success.
Word Building: Letter Board
A letter board can be made from a large i £) jo) [4
piece of card with three smaller strips of
card stapled across it. Letters for making
words are slotted into the strips: the five
vowels are placed on the top row and
the selected consonants are put on the
bottom row.
The teacher asks a child to make a
word, such as ‘peg’, by putting the letters
on the middle row. The children listen
for the sounds in the word —/p-0-g/—and
the child picks out the letters and places ;
them in the correct order, left to right. Ye
Then all the children blend the letter
sounds to read the word.
The teacher might then ask, ‘Who can change a letter to make the word
“pen”?’ and build more words with the class, moving from ‘pen’, to ‘spend?
and ‘spending’. Regular use of the Lotter Board is a practical way of
showing the children how to build regular words,
These techniques can be seen in ‘Using Jolly Phonics’ on the Jolly
Phonics DvD. Alternatively, word building can be done with magnetic
letters or in Jolly Phonics for the Whiteboard.
<
Dictation
Dictating letter sounds, words or sentences is important for developing
writing skills. It can start almost immediately with the teacher callingIDENTIFYING THE SouNDs IN WoRDS
out a letter sound that has been taught, All the children attempt to write
the letter and afterwards the teacher writes it on the board, revising the
formation. The children can then lock and see whether they have written
it correctly; if they have, the children enjoy giving themselves a tick. The
number of letter sounds dictated can increase as confidence grows. It is a
way of revising the letter sounds, keeping the children active, and
preparing them for writing words.
Children are ready for word dictation when they can hear the sounds
in short words and have been taught how to write the appropriate letter
sounds. Regular short sessions of dictation are extremely effective and
popular with the children. Suitable words for dictation can be found on
the Sound Sheets and in the word banks for each lesson.
It is bost to start with simple cvc (consonant-vowel-consonant) words
and then move on to more challenging words with consonant blends and
digraphs; the digraphs can be written in joined-up handwriting, as
mentioned in Chapter 1. In the early stages, it is best to avoid any words
with double letters and, when they are used, guidance will be needed.
Extra care should also be taken to stress the vowel sounds in words with
schwas.
Dictation homework is well worth implementing, It should only be
given when a child is able to write words from dictation in the classroom:
the aim of the homework is to build confidence and fluency in writing, In
Photocopy Section 11, there ave lists of regular dictation words and
instructions for parents. Using Jolly Phonics’ on the Jolly Phonics pvp
shows a parent giving dictation at home in this way. This section of the
DvD can also be useful to show at a parents’ meeting.
Sentence Dictation and Guided Writing
Once the children have some fluency in word dictation and have been
taught the 42 letter sounds and the first twelve tricky words, they are
ready for some sentence dictation and guided writing. This is usually
after the first nine weeks in school. The sentences should use only those
tricky words that have been taught, as well as regular words that can be
worked out by listening for the sounds.
It is important to give some regular dictation of simple sentences.
Dictating sentences not only gives the children plenty of practice in
writing words independently but helps give them a feeling for what a
sentence is. Although the alternative spellings of vowels are introduced
during the year, the children are not expected to know which ones to use
in their writing: so, for example, /ai/ words in dictation sentences should
be restricted to those with the «i spelling, such as ‘rain’ and ‘drain’.
Suitable sentences can be found on the Jolly Phonics Resources cb.IDENTIFYING THE SOUNDS IN WorDs
Sometimes, dictation of capital letters is needed to make sure that the
children can write them; frequently, young children have the ability to
recognise capitals but this does not mean they can write them properly.
Guided writing is an important step in preparing the children for
independent writing. It gives them a basic understanding of what @
sentence is and provides the initial support and guidance that most
children need to write their first sentences.
In Photocopy Section 14, there are twelve model sentences and one
picture for each sentence. The children are shown the picture and are
encouraged to talk about what is happening. It is a good idea to choose
some key words from the discussion and look at how they are written. Then
the sentence is written on the board; at each stage, the teacher models the
writing and discusses it with the children. They can be reminded, for
example, that a sentence always starts with a capital letter and that
capital letters are tall; that they need to leave a space between words; that
the words T,, ‘are’ and ‘the’ are tricky; and that they must remember to end
with a full stop. The childven should be encouraged to call out the sounds
before each word is written on the board and to blend the word afterwards.
Once the sentence has been modelled, the teacher and children can read
the sentence together; this helps them realise they can write for
themselves. Then the children copy the sentence down and those who can
already write independently should be encouraged to write a few
sentences on their own. It will not be conventional spelling at this stage,
butiit can be read: ‘mie mumi poot mie book in mie scool bag’, for example.
Independent Writing
In time, the aim is for all the children to be able to write independently.
About half way through the first year most children can write a fow
sentences by themselves; they are then ready to move from guided
writing to writing their own sentences on a given theme, such as ‘My
News’, ‘This Is Me’, ‘My Family’, ‘My House’, My Best Day’, My Day Out?
and ‘The ____ I Like Best’. The last example could be anything the
children like, such as dinner, an animal, a game or a story. Alternatively,
the children could write a well-known story in their own words, or they
could imagine what their favourite character might do on a day out.
It is worth encouraging the children not to ask for spellings when they
are writing; instead, they should listen for the sounds and make an
attempt at writing the word. Once children start asking for spellings,
long queues develop, they lose the flow to their writing and the amount
they write is far less. Although spelling is considered very important, it
is taught at a different time.IDENTIFYING THE SouNDs IN Worps
Lith Mare,
Os
~ ats andohe caieug.
+t :
Popes, RMb Ler and i@ howd Sum
a0? 98 @ Qegovece
As soon as children can hear the sounds in words and know a way of
writing each sound, they can write anything they want to say. Above is
an example of a girl's writing after just over half a year (reduced to half af
its original size); notice how she has joined up the digraphs «ch and «eo.
However, she needs to listen more carefully to some words: she will then
hear that ‘lots’ has a /t/ sound, and that ‘had’ does not have a /n/ sound.
With writing, as with reading, the children gradually need to be taught
to use the alternative ways of writing the vowel sounds (a list of these
spellings is on pago 11). For example, the children learn initially that the
Jong © is written ‘ee, Regular cee words can then be dictated, such as
‘feet, ‘sheet’, ‘keep’, ‘peep’ and ‘sleep’. Later the main alternative, «ea, can
be practised by having regular «ea words dictated, such as ‘cream’, ‘seat’,
‘eat’, ‘meat’, ‘heat’, ‘dream’ and ‘treat’
The Iess common ways of writing the long «@ sound are also taught at
this time, more for reading than writing, such as _e», asin ‘scheme’, and
«p, as in ‘sunny’. Spelling is always more difficult to master than reading
because the children have to remember which alternative spelling to
choose. Accurate spelling comes through reading many books, knowing
the letter-sound correspondences, and following a systematic spelling
programme, such as the one in The Grammar Handbooks.
Marking Policy
‘The children’s earliest efforts at independent writing do not need
rigorous marking. Missing sounds can be pointed out and any tricky
words that have already been taught can be corrected.IDENTIFYING THE SouNDs IN WoRDS
It is impossible for young children to have the freedom to write exactly
what they want to say and spell all the words correctly. If everything is
corrected, it is demoralising and discourages the children from writing
freely. Generally speaking, itis best to restrict the errors marked to about
four words. These words can be practised with the Look, Copy, Cover,
Write and Check’ method referred to in Chapter 6: ‘Tricky Words, once
the work has been marked.
By the end of the second year at school, the majority of words are
written correctly. If a child makes an unexpected error, the mistake
should be marked. However, if the error is not due to carelessness, and
the word is out of the ordinary, a dot can be put underneath it. This tells
the child that although the spelling is wrong, the attempt was a good one
and that it will be taught later. Again, four words can be chosen by the
teacher for extra practice underneath.
When children with a good visual memory and a certain amount of
maturity are careless, they need to be marked more rigorously than those
children who have a poorer memory. In the end it comes down to
judgement; it is not encouraging for children to have too many red pen
marks all over their work, but as they get a bit older they need to know
when their work is wrong and to learn from their mistakes.
Supplementary Work
The aim of this teaching is to enable the children to hear the sounds in
regular words and to write the letters that relate to those sounds. In
every class there will be a few children who struggle to remember the
letter sounds and who find it difficult to blend and identify the sounds in
words; they tend to have a weaker visual memory and poor auditory
skills. However, these children do not need to be taught differently; they
simply need more practice in a smaller group or, if possible, individually.
It is necessary to identify the children who are struggling at an carly
stage and provide some extra teaching, if possible. Not all these children
will be at the same stage; there will be a range of abilities. Some children
will only need extra support for a few weeks before they make steady
progress. Others may need more extensive practice and individual
attention. With regular revision of the letter sounds, and plenty of
blending and writing practice, the children will eventually master these
skills.
A different technique is needed for coping with English words that
are more difficult to work out, This is covered in the next chapter:
‘Tricky Words.5. Tricky Words
‘Tricky words are frequently-used words that the children are unable to
read and write simply by blending and listening for the sounds. This is
either because the words use phonic knowledge that the children have
not learnt yet, as in the d_e» spelling in Tike’ and the q» in ‘my’, or because
the spelling is irregular, as in ‘said’, ‘one’ and ‘two’.
Regardless of how ‘tricky’ a word may be, some part of it will always be
regular: for example, in the word ‘some’, the « says /s/ and the am says
/ra/. By knowing the letter sounds, and being able to relate the sounds to
the letters, the children find it easier to read and write tricky words; they
are able to look at them carefully and find it amusing to look for the
‘tricky’ part. This kind of extra attention is really the start of analysing
words and helps put the spellings in the children’s memory.
A list of 72 tricky words is given in Photocopy Section 12: ‘Tricky Word
Sheets; they have been carefully chosen as examples of words that the
children use most frequently. The words can start being introduced after
the fifth letter sound group has been taught, when the /sh/ in ‘she’ and
/¢b/ in ‘the’ will be familiar to the children.
Learning to Read Tricky Words
For reading, a good pace of teaching is three new tricky words a week.
The children look at them carefully and identify the ‘tricky’ part: in ‘of”,
for example, the « is regular but the is sounded like a @.
It is also important to regularly revise the tricky words already taught;
flash cards are a good way of doing this and can be used just before going
out to play and in other spare moments. Some children need plenty of
practice before the words are known and it may be necessary to give them
extra support, teaching them separately in a small group.
Learning to Spell Tricky Words
The children should start learning how to spell tricky words when they
can read the first ones easily. For spelling, a good pace of teaching is two
new words a week, along with revision of those already taught. Some
fortunate children have a sufficiently good visual memory to master the
spelling of tricky words simply by reading them, but most children have
to be taught, The following techniques for teaching spelling are all useful.Tricky Worps
1. Look, Copy, Cover, Write, Check
In this method, the children first look at the word and identify the tricky
parts. For instance, in the word ‘said’ the «» and qb are regular but the /e/
sound in the middle is tricky because it is written «air. Once they have
done this, the children could say the letter names — not the letter sounds
~ several times and copy the word, saying the letter names as they write
them. Then the children cover the word and write it again, saying the
letter names. Finally, they check to see if the word is correct. This is
repeated until the children reach the end of the line, and the paper can
then go home for revision.
‘This method works equally well with the ‘say it as it sounds’ technique.
Instead of saying the letter names, a tricky word like ‘was’ would be
pronounced as if it rhymed with ‘mass’; this helps remind the children to
write the letter «@, and not the «, for the /o/ sound in this tricky word.
‘The important point here is to be aware of the ‘tricky’ part and learn how
it is written. Looking, copying, covering, writing and checking a few times
for each tricky word is usually enough for most children to remember how
to spell them. Regular revision and dictation will help all the children
master the spellings.
A page for practising this technique can be found at the back of the
Jolly Phonics Workbooks 3 and 4. It is also used regularly in Jolly Phonics
for the Whiteboard and in the Jolly Phonics Pupil Books.
2. Say it as it Sounds
This spelling technique is particularly useful for any words (not just the
72 tricky words) that have only one clement that makes it difficult to
spell: for instance, in ‘Monday’, the « is tricky because it is pronounced
as ful; and in words like ‘lemon’ and ‘button’ the vowel sound in the
unstressed syllable is swallowed and loses its distinct /o/ sound. By
emphasising the real letter sounds in such words, the children are
reminded of the correct spelling.
Teacher says Children respond
mother mother (to rhyme with ‘bother’)
doctor doctor (emphasising the /or/)
Wednesday Wed-nes-day
front front (with the /o/ sound, instead of /u/)
It is helpful to make 4 list of such words and practise them in spare
moments; the words can then be called out, for the children to respond byTRIcky WorDs
saying them the way the spellings should sound. Frequently, these
irregular spellings are used in other words and they can be practiced
together. For example, the « saying /u/ in Monday’ is also found in
‘monk’ and ‘month’, As the list develops, the children can find some
of their own to add: for example, flam-b/ for ‘amb’ (emphasising the
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