Phonics at KS2

The basics

What we will cover

Why all the fuss about phonics?What exactly is phonics (and what are the

different phonic phases)?What are FS and KS1 being asked to do?Where does this leave KS2?How to get started?

www.ks2phonics.org.uk

Why?Synthetic phonics replaces

unsound literacy strategy

The Times 2nd Dec 2005

The phonics war isn't over yet The Independent 23rd March 2006

Kelly tears up schools' reading

policy and backs phonics approach

The Independent 2nd Dec 2005

Damning Ofsted report reveals literacy failings The Times 5th Oct 2005

Phonics out of fashionLiteracy strategy – searchlights modelNot much phonics in teacher training Endless updates – very confusing 1 in 5 children leave primary school unable

to read properlyClackmannanshire studyRose review – Letters and SoundsPhonics now top priority for Ofsted

National picture

Current KS2 Cohorts

Have not experienced post Rose Report style phonics teaching.

May not have had very much phonics teaching at all.

You need to figure this outAssess the children’s phonics skillsReflect on what you are teaching and

whenReflect on your training needsFind out what your feeder schools are

doingDon’t panic

School picture

What is phonics?Knowledge- 44ish phonemes (speech sounds) - 140ish graphemes – ways of writing phonemes

Skills

- Blending

- Segmenting

Merging (or synthesising) the phonemes c-a-t

into the word cat

Blending

Taking a spoken word (e.g. him)

Identifying the individual sounds h-i-m and working out how to write each sound to create the word

Segmenting

VocabularyPhoneme – smallest unit of speech soundGrapheme – a written representation of a

phonemeDigraph – two letters that make one sound

ch ck th ngAdjacent consonants– two or more

consonants next to each other in a word – stop list – CAN PROVE TRICKY

Articulating phonemes

You need to take care how you say phonemes. They should be said continuously if possible or otherwise repeated. Take great care not to add an –uh sound onto the end of sounds such as t j p

For exact pronunciations see the Letters and Sounds DVD.

Phonic Phases

Letters and sounds splits phonics teaching up into 6 distinct phases.

I’m going to give a very brief overview

Phase 1

Explore and experiment with sounds and words

Distinguish between different sounds in the environment and phonemes

Learn to orally blend and segment sounds in words

Phase 1 shouldn’t really come to an end. These skills should be worked on throughout Primary School.

Purpose of phase 2(up to 6 weeks – Suggested Timetable p50)

Learn 19 phonemes and know the graphemes that represent them.

Move on from orally blending and segmenting to blending and segmenting letters to read and spell (maybe with magnetic letters) VC and CVC words

Introduce two syllable words, simple captions and some tricky HFW.

Phase 2 letter progression

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

Teaching HFW

Some HFW should be taught during each phase.

Many HFW are simple to work out using phonics.

Some are ‘tricky’. Children need to be taught strategies for spelling and reading these words.

These are similar to strategies we will look at later.

P64-65

Applying

Must have opportunities in class to read and write the words that they have been learning in phonics sessions.

Guided reading Shared reading Captions Labels Whiteboards and pens Magnetic letters Differentiated literacy work

Purpose of phase 3(up to 12 weeks – Suggested Timetable p76-78)

Teach another 25 phonemes and graphemes to go with them.

Learn letter namesContinue to practise blending and

segmenting using new phonemes and two syllable words

25 phonemes taught in Phase 3

LettersSet 6: j v w xSet 7: y z,zz quConsonant digraphs: ch sh th ngVowel digraphs: ai ee ighoa oo ar or ur ow oiear air ure er

Purpose of phase 4(4 – 6 weeks)

To consolidate children’s knowledge of graphemes in reading and spelling words containing adjacent consonants and polysyllabic words

• can blend adjacent consonants in words and apply this skill when reading unfamiliar texts, (CCVC, CVCC, CCVCC)

step list clap grasp strap• can segment adjacent consonants in words

and apply this in spelling

Beware – Adjacent consonants are not digraphs. They make two distinct sounds.

Phase 4

Adjacent consonantsChildren with speech and language

difficulties find this stage tricky. Persevere – they will get there.

Adjacent consonants are no longer taught as blends as this can be a barrier to learning. Not everybody knows this yet.

Spread the word to other peopleWatch out for old resources (and some

new ones)Train children to think about mouth

movements

Purpose of Phase 5(throughout Year One)

Children broaden their knowledge of graphemes and phonemes for use in reading and spelling

Learn new graphemes and alternative pronunciations some of which they will have already encountered in high frequency words

Learn to choose the appropriate graphemes when spelling and begin to build up word specific knowledge

New graphemes for reading

Alternative pronunciations

/ee/ phoneme

/ee/ consolidation game

Purpose of phase 6(throughout year two)

ReadingLearn some of the rarer phoneme-

grapheme correspondences.Develop automaticity in reading. In

particular, reliably recognising digraphs as representing one sound.

Children should become fluent readers during this phase and develop a range of comprehension strategies.

Purpose of phase 6(throughout year two)

SpellingIdentifying the tricky bit in a word.Develop strategies for spelling longer

words.Develop guidelines for making choices

between spelling alternatives.Begin to explore spelling conventions e.g.

when using the past tense, adding suffixes etc. Route to spelling

Beyond Phase 6

“Note that the teaching of spelling cannot be completed in Year 2 – it needs to continue rigorously throughout primary school and beyond if necessary.”

Letters and Sounds

Phonics teaching in FS & KS1

15 minutes a dayEvery single dayAt the appropriate phase for the class.

FASTFUN

SYSTEMATIC

Reflect

Getting a whole school picture

Take your timeGet the feel of where your class areBuild up a detailed whole school picture.

Things to try with your class

For your own interest try playing GPC Flashcards and Quickwrite Graphemes with your class. This is a good way for you to learn how to say the phonemes carefully too.

Do they know all the letters of the alphabet? Assume nothing!

Ideas for more detailed assessments are on the website and in Letters and Sounds.

Whole school assessment

Unaided writing analysis: Nursery rhyme or short poem (learn orally first) - Any unaided writing. Spend a staff meeting looking through for

evidence that they are applying skills from each phase.

Decide which phase each child is working at Moderate Reflect on where the children in your class are

Unaided writing assessment

I now a funy little manas quit as a mousehe duse the migef that is dunein evrybody’s howsethow no one ever seas hes fhasit is trou we all agrythat evry plat we brak was kraktby mr nobodyhe put the damp wood on the fierso kettle’s will not bollehes are the feet that bring in mudand find slim and grim and soil

Phase 3

Unaided writing assessment

I now a funy little manas quit as a mousehe duse the migef that is dunein evrybody’s howsethow no one ever seas hes fhasit is trou we all agrythat evry plat we brak was kraktby mr nobodyhe put the damp wood on the fierso kettle’s will not bollehes are the feet that bring in mudand find slim and grim and soil

Phase 4

Unaided writing assessment

I now a funy little manas quit as a mousehe duse the migef that is dunein evrybody’s howsethow no one ever seas hes fhasit is trou we all agrythat evry plat we brak was kraktby mr nobodyhe put the damp wood on the fierso kettle’s will not bollehes are the feet that bring in mudand find slim and grim and soil

Phase 5

Look at the phases that

children are working at

Find the 60% mark

Whole class teaching

Pitch at the 60% mark. If this is phase 1-5, then teach the whole class

15 mins per day focussed phonics teaching – See Letters and Sounds

If this is phase 6 or beyond you can probably move onto KS2 learning intentions but it is still important to include a fast track introduction to phonics and then lots of revision.

Build differentiation into your planning to support children above and below the 60% mark.

FAST TRACK INTRODUCTION

Phase 1/2 – Loads of oral blending and segmenting games.

Phase 3 – Teach what phonemes, graphemes, digraphs, trigraphs are.

Learn to blend for reading and segment for writing.

Phase 4 – Practise blending and segmenting adjacent consonants.

FAST TRACK INTRODUCTION

Phase 5 – Become familiar with the term long vowel phoneme. Introduce the idea that graphemes can represent more than one phoneme and that phonemes can be represented by more than one grapheme.

Use this knowledge to support reading and writing

Intervention

Children working on a phase (1-5) below the level of whole class teaching must have intervention.

15 mins per day phonics teaching at the appropriate phase – see Letters and Sounds.

This has whole school implications for timetabling, TAs etc.

Planning resources

Letters and soundsYear 2/3 planning exemplification and

spelling programmeSpelling bankKS3 literacy progress unit (phonics)KS3 literacy progress unit (spelling)Y3 literacy support programme

What to teach when?

There is no official document to tell you this at the moment – Coming soonish!

Y3 can refer to Y2/3 Spelling Programme – but it isn’t quite up to date.

KS2 Phonics and Spelling is an attempt to fill this gap.

KS 2 Phonics and Spelling

Learning objectives taken mainly from Y2/3 Spelling Programme and Spelling Bank.

Some things adapted in the light of the Rose Report.

Lots of phonics revision thrown in.Spelling conventions looked at from a phonics

point of view.Subject knowledge and teaching ideas drawn

together from a wide range of documents.

Suggested approach

5 session spelling (from Y2/3 Spelling Programme)

Spelling conventions

HFW / cross curricular / phonics revision

KS2 Phonics and Spelling KS2 Phonics & Spelling

Things to think about

What next?

IndividualsReflect on where

your class are?What are you going

to experiment with over the next

few weeks?

Whole schoolFind out where the

children are? Identify your

school priorities?How are you going

to tackle them?