2

Introduction 3

Best-practice teaching of synthetic phonics 5

Glossary of terms 7

Using Letters and Sounds: Phase 5 E Big Book 8

Assessment and intervention 10

Activity sheets 1–6 11

Photocopiable alternative spelling cards 17

Individual 44-phoneme grid 33

Tricky words list 34

Assessment of phonic knowledge 35

Assessment test for reading and spelling the 44 phonemes 36

Assessment test for alternative spellings of vowel digraphs and vowels with r 37

Word lists for alternative spelling patterns 38

Contents

Introduction

Words and Pictures: Fun with Phonics Whiteboard Actives and E Big Books are interactive whiteboard resources for use in the classroom for whole-class teaching, group work, and paired or individual computer work.

Fun with Phonics Letters and Sounds Phase 5 Whiteboard Active In Fun with Phonics Letters and Sounds Phase 5 Whiteboard Active, the 44 phonemes of the English language are taught with the corresponding graphemes (letters) and alternative spelling patterns, along with the key skills children need for literacy:

• letter/soundmatching

• blendingphonemestogethertoreadanunfamiliar word

• segmentingawordintoitsindividualphonemesand writing it down.

These skills are taught at a fast pace, usually during the first term of the Reception Year. The children are taught how to recognise the phonemes written down as letters, how to blend and segment and how to write the letters (graphemes).

Once children have learned the 44 phonemes of the English language, they are introduced to the alternative pronunciations and alternative spellings of phonemes. The children review the phonemes that have been taught initially in Reception and learn that these phonemes can be written down in other main ways; for example, phoneme ai can also be written down as ay as in play and a-e as in name.

They also learn that consonants and vowels can have more than one pronunciation: the letter a can be pronounced a as in hat, ai as in acorn, ar as in fast and o as in was; the letter c can be pronounced c as in cat and s as in cell. This represents a new level of complexity in the children’s learning.

Additional ‘tricky words’, phonically irregular words, are included in the activities in both the Whiteboard Active and the E Big Book to enable progression from word to sentence level.

In the Whiteboard Active, the children are taught the alternative spelling patterns of

each phoneme and then practise reading and segmenting words with these patterns. Next they move on to sentence work. The E Big Book provides opportunities to practise using these skills when reading phonically regular text as well as an opportunity to begin to develop focused comprehension work.

DfES guidance on the teaching of phonicsWords and Pictures: Fun with Phonics is based on the DfES guidance on the teaching of phonics as detailed in Letters and Sounds: Principles and Practice of High Quality Phonics.

Fun with Phonics Letters and Sounds Phase 5 E Big BookThe teaching in this E Big Book provides children with phonically regular text using some of the alternative spellings found in the Whiteboard Active, so that the children can move from sentence- to text-level work. When the children have learned the alternative spelling patterns and tricky words used in Phase 5, they will be able to use their phonic knowledge and skills to read the text fluently.

Each story in the E Big Book is an interactive resource featuring phonically regular stories that can be easily decoded and reading activities to help children practise their synthetic phonic skills.

The five stories in the E Big Book feature many of the phonemes and alternative spellings covered the Fun with Phonics Letters and Sounds Phase 5 Whiteboard Active.

Phonemes Alternative graphemes for reading

Alternative graphemes for spelling

A Proper Princess

jswf

g dgec

whff ph

g dgec

whff ph

Summer Holiday!

aiee

ay a-eea e-e ey

ay a-eea e-e ey

Get Well, Gran!

ighoaOO

ie y i-eow oe o-e

ew ue

ie y i-eow oe o-e

ew ue

Fern’s Birthday

owur

ouer ir

ouer ir

Bridesmaid and Pageboy

oroi

aw au aloy

aw au aloy

3

44

How to use this bookThis Teacher’s book provides notes and materials to support classroom teaching of synthetic phonics at the alternative spelling level (see DCFS Letters and Sounds: Principles and Practice of High Quality Phonics). There are also activity sheets to provide practice for blending.

Additional resources include:

• photocopiablealternativespellingcards

• 44-phonemegrid

• trickywordslist

• assessmentofphonicknowledge

• wordlistsforalternativespellingpatterns.

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The 44 phonemesSynthetic phonics is all about sounds. In synthetic phonics, children are taught 44 speech sounds of the English language, how to match sound to letter and then how to use the key skills of blending (for reading) and segmenting (for spelling).

Letter/sound matchAfter learning to identify individual phonemes (the smallest units of sound), children are shown these phonemes written down as a letter. It is explained that these graphemes (letters) are the picture of the sound written down. In this way, the relationship between letter and sound is established for the phonemes, both the single alphabet graphemes (one sound represented by one letter) and digraphs (one sound represented by two letters). An action to go with the phoneme (sound) can also be taught so that the children learn in a multi-sensory way. This incorporates a variety of learning styles and helps the children to learn quickly and easily.

BlendingThe children are introduced to 44 phonemes, including single alphabet letters (graphemes) and consonant and vowel pairs (digraphs) over a short period of time, usually no more than eight weeks. As soon as the children have been introduced to four consonants (p, t, s, n) and two vowels (a, i), they are taught how to blend (synthesize) these sounds together to read unfamiliar words. They sound out the letters and say the word.

SegmentingFor spelling and writing the children say a word and then break it down (segment it) into its individual phonemes and then write it down. This skill is first taught at the same time as the skill of blending, as soon as the first four consonants and two vowels have been introduced.

Thesethreeskills:letter/soundmatching,blendingand segmenting are the basic tools of synthetic phonics teaching. It is important for first-time teaching that these phonemes and related skills are taught at a fast pace, so that the skills become automatic and can be applied fluently.

In this multi-sensory method of phonics teaching, the progression of skill acquisition goes from simple to complex so that the children work with three phonemes, then four phonemes, then five, when blending and segmenting at word level.

Progression• Asthechildren’sskillsdevelop,theyare

encouraged to progress from sound, to word, to sentence for both reading and spelling.

• Atwordlevel,childrenworkwithCVCwords,CVCCwords,CCVCwordsandCCVCCwords,using 44 phonemes.

• Inalesson,theprogressionissound,toword,tosentence,withthekeyskillsofletter/soundmatch, blending and segmenting included.

• Anadditionalskill,phonememanipulation(swapping the sounds of an existing word to make a new word), is also used. This has been shown to be very effective in helping all children acquire literacy skills, particularly slow-to-start children and children with Special Educational Needs.

In this E Big Book, the children move on to learning about alternative spellings of phonemes. The children are taught that the phonemes with which they are familiar can be written down in other main ways. They learn to read and write these alternative spelling patterns of the phonemes.

TeachingWhen planning synthetic-phonics teaching for the classroom, reinforcement and repetition of earlier learning needs to be included; for example, the children practise the phonemes previously taught, not just the new ones taught that day or that week. This strengthens the children’s learning and provides a secure basis for new learning.

Attention and concentrationAt the start of the lesson, the children listen actively by looking at the teacher and sitting appropriately,readytointeract.Childrenarealsoexpected to remember previous learning and to recall it. In this way, concentration and attention skills are developed. Teaching is delivered at a

Best-practice teaching of synthetic phonics

6

Best-practice teaching of synthetic phonics

lively pace in a multi-sensory and interactive way. This approach supports focused behaviour as well as learning.

A multi-sensory approachDuring the lesson, children see, hear and do. Little and often is the best practice, so that by frequent andregularpractiseofthekeyskillsofletter/sound matching, blending and segmenting, the children’s skills become fluent and automatic.

The lessonWithin each lesson, both reading and spelling, opposite sides of the language processing system, are used. The progression within the lesson is sound, word, sentence for reading and spelling. The key skills of letter-sound matching, blending and segmenting are always included. Phoneme manipulation (changing the sounds within a word) provides vital experience in working at phoneme level. As the children work on reading and spelling in the same lesson, they learn that the alphabetic code is reversible, so they can write down what they say and read back what they write. Letters and sounds for reading, sounds and letters for spelling: literacy skills for all are enhanced.

DevelopmentFor children to acquire the key tools for literacy, they need the skills of:

• letter/sound(phoneme)match

• blendingphonemestogethertoreadanunfamiliar word

• segmentingawordintoitsindividualphonemesand writing it down.

The 44 phonemes and the matching graphemes of the English language are taught to the children at a fast pace. Usually this occurs during the first term of the Reception Year. The children are taught how to recognise the phonemes written down as letters, how to blend, segment and to write (graphemes). As soon as the children have been taught four consonants and two vowels they are able to begin developing these skills.

In Fun with Phonics Letters and Sounds Phase 5 Whiteboard Active, the alternative spellings of phonemes, both consonants and vowels, are taught.ClipsfromtheBBCprogrammeWords and Pictures Fun with Phonics are used to review the first-time teaching of the phoneme and then through a series of activities the alternative spelling patterns for the phonemes listed below are taught. In Phase 5, the children move from phoneme level to word level to sentence level. The children review individual phonemes, learn alternative spelling patterns and then blend and segment three-phoneme words and four-phoneme words using the alternative spelling patterns of the focus phoneme. This represents a new level of complexity. As the children’s skills develop they are introduced to sentence level work for both reading and writing. Phonically irregular words called ‘tricky words’ are also taught in this E Big Book to enable progression from word level to sentence level. A list of the tricky words used in the sentences in the Whiteboard Active and in the E Big Book can be found on page 34.

7

Glossary of terms

Glossary of termsThis glossary defines the terms used frequently in synthetic phonics teaching, and throughout this book.

Blending

Visual blending: this is the skill of recognising letters (graphemes) in print, saying the sounds and sliding them together to say an unfamiliar word.

Oral blending: the skill of blending can be practised orally before introducing print, as in the Robot Game, where the robot says the sounds, then the child says the sounds and blends them together to get the word. This is particularly helpful for children who are finding literacy skills difficult.

CCVC word: a word with the pattern consonant-consonant-vowel-consonant. The vowel sound is short, as in ‘crab’, ‘spot’, ‘twig’.

CCVCC word: a word with the pattern consonant- consonant-vowel-consonant-consonant. The vowel sound is short as in s-t-a-m-p and g-r-a-n-d.

Consonants: these are the alphabet phonemes that are not vowels. They are made by the tongue or lips contacting the mouth and changing the air flow (e.g: b, d, t, m).

CVC word: a word with the pattern consonant-vowel-consonant (e.g. pig). In these words the vowel is short, as in ‘peg’, ‘fan’, ‘lip’, ‘dog’, ‘gun’.

CVCC word: a word with the pattern consonant-vowel-consonant-consonant. The vowel sound is short, as in ‘lamp’, ‘mist’, ‘sand’.

CVVC word: a word with the pattern consonant-vowel-vowel-consonant. The vowel sound is long as in r-ai-n, and b-oa-t.

Digraph: one phoneme written down by two letters (e.g: ng, sh, ie, oi, er).

Grapheme: this is the phoneme (sound) written down using a letter or letters.

Manipulation: this is the skill of reading a word, identifying the individual phonemes in the word and then changing a sound to make a new word (e.g. ‘rat’ becomes ‘ran’, then ‘man’, then ‘men’).

Oral comprehension: asking questions using ‘who’, ‘what’, ‘where’ and ‘when’ to help children

understand the text. Why questions can also be used, but require inference and deduction to find the answer, rather than simple retrieval of information from the text.

Phoneme: this is the smallest unit of sound. It is only one sound, but it can be represented by one or more letters (e.g: ng, ai, th, ar).

Segmenting

Segmentation: this is the skill of breaking down a word into the individual phonemes (e.g. ‘cat’ = c-a-t). The phonemes are written down as letters to make a word.

Oral segmentation: is when the spoken word is broken down into single phonemes. Using a multi-sensory method is helpful for segmentation. The child says the word ‘cat’ then says the individual phonemes that make up the word and flicks up a finger for each one. This stage can precede the written stage.

‘Tricky words’: phonically irregular words that need to be remembered by sight.

Vowels: these are phonemes made by changing the shape of the mouth cavity (e.g: a, e, i, o, u, ai, ee, ie, oa, ue).

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Using Letters and Sounds Phase 5 E Big Book

This E Big Book contains five stories. The stories have been chosen to give the children experience of the alternative graphemes that Letters and Sounds: Principles and Practice of High Quality Phonics requires them to know for both reading and spelling: j, s, w, f, ai, ee, igh, oa, OO, ow, ur, or and oi.

Story and pictures• Eachstoryistoldinaseriesofpageswith

illustrations. When you click the audio button, a presenter reads the words on each page.

• Usingtheinteractivewhiteboard,thechildrencan decode the phonically regular words using the on-screen buttons. They can click on each audio button to hear the phoneme, then click on the grapheme button above it to highlight the alternative ways of spelling the phoneme.

• Thechildrencanalsopractisevisualrecognitionof tricky words, which are highlighted using the ‘Tricky words’ button on screen.

Supplementary activities• Askthechildrentolistencarefullytothestory,

identify one of the focus phonemes, and match it to the grapheme(s) on screen.

• Modelphonicallyregularwordsfromthestory, showing the phoneme cards, and ask the children to sound out the letters and say the word.

• Reversingthecode:sayaword.Askthechildrento segment it using ‘phoneme fingers’. The children repeat the word, fold the fingers of one hand and then say each phoneme in turn, flicking up a finger for each phoneme.

• Youcanaskoralcomprehensionquestionsto develop understanding of the story using question words ‘who’, ‘what’, ‘where’, ‘when’ and ‘why’.

S Top tipSee that the children are using ‘active listening’, that is, they are seated comfortably, ready to look and listen. Helpful instructions are, ‘Show me good sitting’ and ‘Now I’m going to count the eyes’. Attention and focus are key for good listening as well as developing reading skills.

Oral and written comprehensionFor children who have learned literacy skills through synthetic phonics teaching, and have a goodgraspofletter/soundmatching,blending,and can also read tricky words, the texts in this E Big Book can help their reading development one stage further. In these texts they can identify examples of specific phonemes and decode words at different levels of complexity. In addition, by asking ‘who’, ‘what’, ‘where’, ‘when’ and ‘why’ questions after the text has been read, the children are encouraged to engage with the text and understand it in a more meaningful way. The ‘who’, ‘what’, ‘where’ and ‘when’ questions develop information retrieval; ‘why’ questions develop skills of inference and deduction.

Once the children have learned to engage with the text, retain information and reply to oral questions with meaningful responses, they are ready to engage in written comprehension. As the children have already practised the skills ofletter/soundmatching,writingphonemesand segmenting words and writing them down from dictation, they are able to work on written comprehension tasks.

Reading tricky words Tricky words are words that are not decodable using phonic skills. In this early stage of the children’s reading skill development they are presented as ‘tricky’ as they cannot be sounded out. The child has to remember the letter string visually. For those with weaker visual memories over-learning and repetition will help the skill become fluent and automatic.

9

S Top tip• Veryoftenwhenthechildrenbecome

confident with using their phonic skills, they will sound out a tricky word and then correct their pronunciation to the right one; for example, ‘was’ – sounded and said as w-a-s (a as a short vowel), corrected to ‘woz’.

• Usuallyitisvowelletter/soundmatcheswhich are unusual or tricky and the consonantletter/soundmatchesthatcanbesounded out.

In each story in this E Big Book, the tricky words are highlighted when the button on the right of the screen is activated. In this way, the tricky words can be reviewed as often as necessary for the children to learn them. This can be a whole-class activity or a small-group activity.

Supplementary activities• Alistoftrickywordsisincludedinthe

Resources section of this book

• PlaytheGrabGameandtheFishingGameusingtricky words

• UseaboardgamesuchasSnakesandLaddersor a simple race track with tricky words. Place the tricky words in the centre. Before each player has a turn, they choose a card and read it. They must read it successfully or miss a go.

S Top tipAsk the children to say the tricky words in a ‘funny way’, so that ‘woz’ is remembered as ‘was’ with a short vowel sound.

Spelling tricky words• Thesewordsneedtoberememberedbythe

way they look. The principle is see it, say it, cover it, write it, write it again. The children see the word, say it aloud, remember it (they can close their eyes and see it in their heads) and then write it down letter by letter. This is repeated several times to help the children remember the visual pattern of the word. Plan to teach the children two new words a week.

• Whenthechildrenhaverememberedthesetricky word spelling patterns, use them in dictated sentences. Ask the children to tap out the phonically regular words before writing them down.

11BBC Active Words and Pictures Fun with Phonics Phase 5 E Big Book

Activity Sheet 1 Reading the alternatives ai ay a-e ey

Read the words and draw the picture.

a brown snail a blue tray

a grey pen a green gate

a rain cloud a big cake

12 BBC Active Words and Pictures Fun with Phonics Phase 5 E Big Book

Activity Sheet 2 Reading the alternatives ee ea e-e ie ey y

Read the words and draw the picture.

a black sheep a long seat

Eve and Pete a thief and a bag

a bee and honey frosty ground