The Power of

Synthetic

Phonics

Sue Brunson

Owner/Consultant

Bee Reading Company

www.beereading.com

Why English is so hard… Nearly every sound also has more than one way to spell it.

For example, the sound /oi/ in ‘coin’ can also be spelled /oy/ in ‘boy’ And, many words that are written the same have different pronunciations and meanings.

For example, 1) The bandage was wound around the wound. 2) The farm was used to produce produce.

Let’s face it…

English is a ridiculous language!

There is no egg in eggplant,

nor ham in a hamburger;

neither apple nor pine in a pineapple.

English muffins weren't

invented in England,

nor French fries in France.

And lucky us… We get to teach it to little children!

Prepare to use a

Secret weapon

Synthetic

Phonics!

Synthetic Phonics is

The toolbox

to ‘crack the code’

of reading and writing

Let’s Define

Synthetic Phonics

There are 26 letters of the alphabet. Synthetic Phonics systematically teaches each of these sounds and the letters used to represent them. Sounds can be represented by:

• One letter - /m/ in ‘map’

• Two letters - /sh/ in ‘shop’

• Three letters - /igh/ in ‘light’

• Four letters - /ough/ in ‘dough’

Synthetic – the concept of 'synthesizing', which means 'putting together' or 'blending‘; putting sounds together to make a word Opposite of Analytic Phonics – the Whole Language Approach

The Biggest Advantage of Synthetic Phonics

The fast pace at which new letter/sound correspondences are learned means that

children are less likely to get bored and can read simple books after 11 or 12 weeks. This fast pace is perfectly manageable

when new sounds are accompanied by easily remembered and enjoyed

stories, motions and fun songs.

And let’s make sure we

understand the

difference between…

Phonemic awareness skills deal with the spoken language and are mainly auditory skills. In phonemic awareness, students are being taught to hear and manipulate the sounds of language. Phonics skills deal with the printed and written language and are both auditory and visual. In phonics, students are being taught which letters are associated with the sounds of the language.

Both sk i l l s a re c ruc i a l t o read i ng mastery ! Michael Heggerty

Did you know that there are only

3 keys to teaching reading & writing?

BUT - If any one of the

3 keys is missing,

successful reading & writing

cannot occur.

Appropriate For

Learners of All Ages

Used by

teachers &

students

around

the world!

Synthetic

Phonics

The 3 Keys To Teaching

Reading & Writing – in ANY LANGUAGE!

Say a Sound

Read a Sound

Write a Sound

Synthetic

Phonics

*Say a Sound Reading - It’s all about making connections!

Connect:

• the shape of the letter(s)

• the picture for the that letter

• the motion for that letter

a

*Read a Sound

‘S’ says ‘sssssssssss’

‘A’ says ‘ăăăăăăăăăă’

‘AI’ says ‘āāāāāāāāā’

Notice the ă – the

short vowel symbol is

called a BREVE

Notice the ā – the

long vowel symbol is

called a MACRON

When you can look at a letter or set of letters

without it’s picture & still know how to say the

correct sound – you’re refining the connection

*Write a Sound

b a t b ie k

Hear a dictated word or think of a word – any word

AND be able to write the sounds to spell it

AND read it back to yourself or somebody …

It’s the ULTIMATE connection!

You have achieved your goal!

Of course, the ultimate goal

is to have children

reading & writing for understanding

& enjoyment and to establish

effective communication skills!

Synthetic

Phonics

Essential to any

Synthetic Phonics Program

1) Sound introduction of the

42 sounds of English first

2) Followed by teaching letter names

This will lay the foundation for what you will

continue to teach and practice for the

remainder of the school year:

READING & WRITING!!

Synthetic

Phonics

Of those skills, these are

the bare essentials of a

Synthetic Phonics program

learning the 42 sounds of English

practicing how to blend sounds to read

practicing how to segment sounds to write

3 KEY skills necessary for success!

Synthetic

Phonics

Synthetic

Phonics

Companies that publish a synthetic phonics program:

From the UK

Jolly Phonics, author – Sue Lloyd

Read, Write, Inc., author – Ruth Miskin

Phonics International, author – Debbie Hepplewhite

Step by Step Reading, author – Mona McNee

From the US

Reading Reflex: The Foolproof Phono-Graphix Method

for Teaching Your Child to Read, authors – Carmen

and Geoffrey McGuinness

The Reading Lesson: Teach Your Child to Read in 20

Easy Lessons, author – Michael Levin

Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons,

author – Siegried Engelmann

For us to better understand

the components of using

synthetic phonics, we’ll pick

one of the programs to

illustrate the

concepts….Jolly Phonics

The Phonics Handbook – A Great Resource

• Detailed teaching notes

• Sound Sheets to send home

Games, Activities &

Worksheets

• Available in both Print or

Precursive fonts

• Tons of reproducibles

Common Components of

Jolly Phonics

1) Learning to read and write

the 42 sounds of English

2) Correct letter formation

3) Blending & Segmenting

4) Identifying sounds in words

5) Tricky Words

Learn to read and write

the 42 sounds of English

There are 44 sounds of English

The 2 sounds not taught in Jolly Phonics are /zh/ as in treasure and the schwa sound

Skill #1

Letter Sound Order

The name of this

font is:

Sassoon

By the way,

In England,

kindergarten

is called

‘reception’

Let’s learn

how to say

all 42

sounds

with the

motions

taught in

Jolly

Phonics!

This unusual

font is what

is used in

most UK

homes &

schools

in an it at as pan tin tan sin ant nap tap sap nip tip sip pit sit nit sat snap spit spat spin span past pant pants pins pans tins tans ants naps taps nips tips sips pits sits pats snip snips pat snit tint spat satin pin

Some Words You Can Make

With Only s,a,t,i,p,n

Digraphs & Diphthongs 101 Digraph: 2 letters together that make 1 new sound.

There are both *Consonant Digraphs & Vowel Digraphs

Diphthong: 2 vowel sounds produced in 1 syllable

15 Digraphs:

ai ee ie oa ue

oo oo *th *th

ar er or *ch *sh qu

2 Diphthongs:

oi ou

1 Blend:

ng

Skill #2 - Correct Letter Formation

• Tripod grip – teach the ‘Froggy Legs’ movement

• Use stretchy frog as demo

• Use only 3 fingers to write: thumb, pointer and tall man

• Use ‘butterfly clip’, triangular grip or golf pencil to help establish proper grasp

• Use cotton ball, paper clip, penny or a sticker for the other 2 fingers to hold on to – we don’t need ring man & pinky!

Feel the Formation This multi-sensory approach is research based

• Start at the top of each

letter – at the dot

• Finger Phonics Books have

indentations for children to

put finger into and feel the

letter shape

• In the air, on the floor, on

your hand, on a friend’s back

• In rice or salt boxes, on

squishy gel bags, in jello,

shaving cream, soap suds

Skill #3 - Blending & Segmenting

Blending – Needed for reading - you put the sounds

together (blend them) & decode/read each word

Segmenting – Needed for writing – you know the 42

sounds and have them in your head, so when you

want to write a word, you think about the word and

write down each sound in order.

Blending Activities Remember, blending is needed for reading –

you learn a sound and how to spell/write that

sound. Now you can match the written symbol

of the letter sound with its corresponding sound.

This is called sounding out or decoding a word.

Try reading these - just use the Jolly Sounds:

1. woderslied

2. sumanthu

3. joleefoniks

4. ieplejuleejuns

Segmenting Activities Remember – Segmenting is needed for writing –

you’ve got to know the 42 individual sounds

so you can write each sound in a word

Try this– ONLY Use the Jolly Sounds:

Write your first name

Write your last name

Skill #4 - Identifying Individual

Sounds in Words

• Hearing one sound

• Identifying all sounds in a word

• Is the sound in the beginning, middle or end of the word?

Skill #5 - Learning Tricky Words

What are ‘Tricky Words’??

Words that don’t follow the Jolly Phonics sound rules! Naughty trouble makers!

There are 60 Tricky Words

Examples: said, come, could, I, the, again

Other commonly used names for these rule breakers are:

High Frequency Words Sight Words Word Wall Words

Your ultimate goal of any reading

program should be that each student can:

*say the sounds & letters *read the sounds & letters *write the sounds & letters

* Write letters, words, sentences * Read letters, words, sentences *LOVE READING & WRITING!

HOW TO TEACH JOLLY PHONICS

You will introduce 1 sound each day for 42 days in a row!

Lesson plan format for each sound:

*Story *Motion *Song

Review all the previous sounds

you’ve taught with their motions

That’s 1st quarter; in 2nd qtr. letter intro letter names for 42 sounds;

Second Semester: writing and reading practice using the sounds

At the end of Preschool, Jr. Kindergarten, Early Childhood,

The majority of 3-4 year old children can:

Say the 42 letter sounds with the picture prompt

Sing many of the Jolly Songs or the Jolly Jingles

Show consistency with using the tripod grip

Can understand your word when you blend it-

(example: know the word is ‘cat’ when they hear

you say the sounds /c/-/a/-/t/)

Know some letter names

Begin writing letters from the top down

At the end of the Kindergarten

The majority of children can:

• Read, write & spell the 42 letter sounds

• Form letters correctly, with tripod grip

• Blend & segment regular words

• Write simple words by listening for sounds

• Read what they write

• Read and spell some of tricky words

And the Research says…

“The Jolly Phonics children’s reading skills were 11

months above the level expected for their age”

“The synthetic phonics classes outperformed the

whole language classes on 16 out of 19

reading and spelling measures”

“The results demonstrated that Jolly Phonics produced effects that were long-lasting”

Thanks for Coming Today!

Questions? Comments? If you think of something later that I can help you

with, here’s how to contact me: Sue Brunson – Bee Reading Co.

Email: beereading@charter.net

Phone/FAX: 608-364-0542

Website: www.beereading.com

Bee Reading Please keep in touch!

Thanks for all you do

for your students!

Sue Nickel Brunson