Summary of Main Features of Phonics Reading and Spelling/Writing Instruction

Summary of main features of phonics reading and spelling/writing instruction

Simple View of Reading – official model in England: USA: Five Pillars of Literacy

1. Phonemic awareness 2. Phonics 3. Vocabulary enrichment 4. Fluency (repeat reading) 5. Comprehension

A high‐quality phonics programme includes the ‘big five’.

The Alphabetic Principle: Change of perception of phonics  The Alphabet Poster from ‘baby stuff’ to ‘adult stuff’:  The Alphabetic Code Chart  Adults use phonics for reading and spelling. Display: (main walls, breakout areas, phonics folders)  Use ‘code’ language not infant language (These  Permanent (Alphabet, Alphabetic Code Chart) letters are code for the sound /ai/...).  Cumulative (Code Frieze, Tricky Words, Spelling  ‘Two‐ pronged systematic and incidental phonics Word Banks, planned grammar, punctuation) teaching’ addresses differentiation, phonics in  Incidental (code as required, unusual code, the wider curriculum, and caters for all ages and unplanned grammar, punctuation) needs.

The Systematic Synthetic Phonics Teaching Principles: The three core phonics skills and their sub‐skills:

 Alphabetic Code KNOWLEDGE  Phonics SKILLS (and sub‐skills)

No multi‐cueing reading strategies for guessing words.

Apply and extend phonics knowledge and skills to cumulative, paper‐based resources per learner.

The Phonics (Hand) Routines: The Teaching and Learning Cycle (always complete):

Print‐to‐sound for reading (point) Sound‐to‐print for spelling (tally) Handwriting: correct grip and letter formation on lines

Time: The maths eof th phonics:

 Allow enough time – don’t underestimate.  Provide ample shorter and longer words for  Complete the full ‘Teaching and Learning Cycle’ individuals to blend, segment and write. per learner.  For ‘revisit and review’, consider the quantity of  Use time efficiently. letter/s‐sound correspondences, and  Provide sufficient time for learners to practise – words/sentences, repeated to build fluency. and ‘little and often’ for slower‐to‐learn pupils.  Quantify what ‘little and often’ means in your  Avoid ‘extraneous’ or time‐consuming games. setting.

Copyright Debbie Hepplewhite 2015 All learners need to learn the same alphabetic code, Teacher‐led: and the same phonics skills, but they need age‐appropriate 'Revisit and review' resources and plenty of guaranteed, personal practice. Whole class 'interactive' or whole class, each learner Paper‐based personal resources presented within a re‐reads own resources: words, sentences and texts routine Teaching and Learning Cycle contribute significantly to all the ‘Five Pillars of Literacy’. Teacher‐led: Pupil‐practice: 'Introduce' focus letter/s‐ 'Independent reading' sound correspondence Use cumulative, decodable Include reference to the main books at first, support as Alphabetic Code Chart. necessary with wider reading. Model the three core skills quickly, simply, interactively.

Pupil‐practice: Pupil‐practice: 'Apply and extend' new 'Learn' focus code and apply learning with sentences/texts all phonics skills at word level Use personal, paper‐based Use personal paper‐based resources per learner. resources per learner. Annotate, collate, value. Annotate, collate, value.

Copyright Debbie Hepplewhite 2015 CORE SKILL 1 Decode for READING: Systematic Synthetic Phonics: PRINT‐TO‐SOUND Incidental Phonics Teaching: i) Scan all‐through‐the‐printed‐word to recognise any letter groups Teach any letter/s‐sound correspondence ii) Say the sounds for the graphemes and blend to ‘discern’ and say to any learner at any time – as required Teach alphabetic code knowledge the target word (use cumulative words, sentences and texts) supported by main Alphabetic Code Charts iii) Modify the pronunciation of the target word if necessary Teach the three core skills and their sub‐skills www.alphabeticcodecharts.com Sub‐skills of CORE SKILL 1 Apply to cumulative words *Without print: Attune the learner’s ‘ear’ to phonemes (phonemic awareness) by adult saying and extend to sentences and texts the sounds (phonemes) all‐through‐a‐spoken‐word followed by saying the whole spoken word to train the learner to ‘discern’ the intended word from its constituent sounds Debbie Hepplewhite’s Model of www.phonicsinternational.com *With print: Train the learner to recognise letters and letter groups and to ‘say the sounds’ in the three phonics core skills automatic response (typically with flash cards, grapheme tiles and say the sounds posters) and their sub‐skills

Sub‐skills of CORE SKILL 3 *Recognise correct orientation of letter shapes – and link to sounds at first Alphabetic Code KNOWLEDGE *Understand the notion of capital and Systematically teach Sub‐skills of CORE SKILL 2 lower case letter shapes and be able to the 44+ phonemes and the many *Attune the learner’s ‘ear’ to phonemes match the pairs letter/s‐sound correspondences (phonemic awareness) by adult saying a *Understand that both capitals and of a ‘simple’ then ‘complex’ whole spoken word slowly , followed by lower case matched pairs are code for (extended) alphabetic code the adult saying the sounds all‐through‐ CORE SKILL 3 the same sounds the‐spoken‐word (use any spoken words, HANDWRITING: *Know the relative sizes of letters and Two‐pronged approach they do not have to be ‘cumulative’ for *Form 26 upper case letters (capitals) their correct positions on writing lines Introduce the letter/s‐sound this practice) and 26 lower case letters correctly on *Know the starting points and correspondences systematically but writing lines with tripod pencil grip directionality of forming letters and introduce any code at any time, *The adult ‘says the sound’ as close as *Write graphemes (letters and letter groups) practise with multi‐sensory activities incidentally, as required CORE SKILL 2 possible to phonemes in real speech in response to speech sounds (phonemes) whilst saying the correct sounds Encode for SPELLING: (consider volume and pitch, avoid ‘uh’ on *Also, write upper or lower case letter (ranging from air‐writing and arty Know that alphabetic code is SOUND‐TO‐PRINT the end of consonant sounds) – followed shapes in response to letter names activities to forming letters correctly reversible, from print‐to‐sound for i) Orally segment (identify the sounds) by the learner: pointing to the letter or * Understand the difference between letter with pencils on paper) decoding (reading) and from all‐through‐the‐spoken‐word letter group; or selecting grapheme tiles; names and sounds and when to use names *Learn about the alphabet and sound‐to‐print for encoding (spelling) from a cumulative word bank or air‐writing the letter or letter group; or or sounds (letter names used for alphabet alphabetical order (through chanting or ii) Identify and select correct graphemes writing the grapheme on a whiteboard work and relaying a precise spelling, letter singing an alphabet song at first) as code for the identified sounds or, better still, writing on paper name by letter name to another person) *Know letter names for the letters iii) Write letter shapes when able *Understand the difference between the *Hold a normal thickness pencil iv) Sound out and blend to check spelling ‘alphabetic code’ and ‘the alphabet’ and correctly with the tripod grip (over time, build up knowledge of what each is used for spelling word banks) Guidance for phonics routines: www.phonicsinternational.com/new_free_resources.html