(The image used in this post is from Corbis.  If you wish for this image to be removed, please send a message to me and I’ll do it straight away!)

Having spent many stressful years ‘going with through the motions’ of hearing reading for the sake of it, at every available oportunity, before school, at activity time, before and after lunch, even regularly on the yard!), I fully agree with the notion that it is a pointless exercise unless used as a MEANINGFUL assessment tool.

When I did ”go through the motions,, I generally tried to rush through the good readers, leaving the weaker ones till last, in the hope that I would have more time to spend with them, however in reality, when I got to these children who needed most help, I often found myself out of time and ‘willing’ them to ‘guess’ the words correctly so I could praise them and move on to the next struggler.

Of course, I did take note of words they were unsure of and mark them for further revision at home, and may have given some advice to improve fluency but this was really as far as the assessment and action went for all the time and effort that went into it.

Those who succeeded continued to do so and generally those who struggled also continued to do so- leading to frustration for all concerned- hardly an enjoyable experience!

Since adapting to synthetic phonics and fully embracing the principles of the method- no teaching of sight words ( and therefore no scheme readers), the children are only presented with words containing letter sounds they have been directly taught and trained in the skills of blending and segmenting, life is so much easier for all concerned and reading is an enjoyable and affirming experience, for the weaker children in particular.

While certain HFW words, necessary for sentence level text are deemed to be tricky, the vast majority are only tricky as they contain a tricky part- ie an ‘as yet untaught’ letter/sound correspondence.
If/when faced with such a word, I highlight the tricky part, telll them that they haven’t yet worked on it but will in time, then provide the sound and encourage them to blend as normal.The children are simply introduced to the correspondence ‘out of sequence’

The children learn to depend on their knowledge and skills to attack a new word, rather than on gues work, using picture/context/initial sound clues and become very confident and independent readers.

Between myself and the resource teacher we now spend 30 mins or less each morning ‘hearing reading’ and in that time each child is heard.
However the material we use is cumulatively decodable- actually beginning at sound/letter correspondence level, moving onto word level, then sentence level and now text (Jelly and Bean series of decodable readers).

As we ‘hear reading’ this may only be a sentence or 2  (certainly not a whole reader!), we are actively assesing code knowledge, blending skills , fluency and comprehension, planning simple but specific interventions for each individual child based on their easily identifiable needs. The assessments are recorded, interventions are implemented and reviewed on a daily basis- and parents are informed as to what areas they can help work on also.

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I’m sure there’s some other sites out there that do it cheaper and possibly for free but I haven’t found them yet.  Send in your comments if you have.

• Letter ‘c’ represents a /k/ sound when preceding the letters ‘a’, ‘o’ and ‘u’.
• Short words with short vowels usually end with ‘ck’ and this grapheme never begins words
• Letters e, i or y alert the reader that the preceding ‘c’ will represent the /s/ sound. ( ‘soft c’.)

Keeping these points in mind, you could have a blank chart with 4 columns displayed on your wall.

As suitable words crop up you could list them in the appropriate columns:

• one for words where ‘c’   represents /k/
• one for words where ‘k ’ represents /k/
• one for words spelt using the ‘ck’ spelling
• one for words were the ‘c’ represents /s/ (soft ‘c’)

As the columns gradually fill up, the children (or a child!) may begin to notice a pattern independently and so discover these ‘rules’ for themselves or you may choose to draw their attention to the pattern.

The above teaching points and others which may be of interest (although as this chart is designed for the English accent, some may need to be amended )are taken from a version of the  alphabetic code chart  provided free in Unit 1 of Phonics International.

http://www.phonicsinternational.com/unit1_pdfs/DH%20Alph%20Code%20overview%20with%20teaching%20points%20-%20A4x7.pdf

Learning which alternative spelling to use simply comes with repeated exposure to words as the children encounter them in their reading or require them for their writing.

I find it helpful to have an enlarged version of this alphabetic code chart (which I have adapted to suit the Irish accent) on display and both I and the children refer to it regularly

http://www.phonicsinternational.com/unit1_pdfs/Phoneme_picture_Code_white_giant.pdf

It lists the sounds of the English language (indicated by / /) in the left hand column and the spelling alternatives for each sound in the rows across.

We work systematically through the sounds – simple code first, more or less the same as the Jolly Phonics order of introduction, but dip into complex code as appropriate along the way eg. once I’ve taught ‘ai’ as spelling for /ai/, I immediately introduce ‘ay’ as an alternative spelling for the same sound and tell the children that this is usually the alternative used when we hear the sound at the end of words (today, Monday…, say, play…..)

As the children write independently, they are encouraged to sound out all through the words and map the corresponding letters onto the sounds.
While I can’t say I never hear the helpless ‘how do you spell?’ question, I am much more likely to hear, for example, ‘which /k/ do I write in ‘clap’?’ and then I will simply point to the ‘c’ in the /k/ row.

Training the children to work in this way encourages greater independence and a ‘can-do’ attitude.

Alternatively, as I’m correcting their work, I may say,’well done, you knew you needed to write the _ sound, but in this word, the alternative you need is _’ and point to it on the chart.

Another way to use the chart is when a question about alternative spelling crops up eg. I have a child named ‘Philip’ in the class, and when we were working on the /f/ the children were puzzled as to why his name doesn’t begin with ‘F’,. I simply pointed to the ‘ph’ spelling in the /f/ row and explained that this is the alternative used, and that though we haven’t worked on this alternative yet, we will in time.

Having the alphabetic code information displayed in this way, shows the children that while the code is complex, it is contained and manageable.

As well as charting our progress through the code, it provides meaningful opportunities for incidental phonics both from letters to sounds (reading) and sounds to letters (spellings).

It also allows for continuity of approach throughout the school as each room has this chart displayed.

As each new digraph was introduced I would present them with words to blend and segment containing these digraphs - initially the target digraph was highlighted but then I would present them with an ordinary wordlist and they had to be alert to identify and sound out the digraphs.

They were encouraged to be detectives and began to actively search for them so it became a game and could parrot ‘ a digraph is 2 letters used to write one sound’ when asked.

By following the suggested order, the children are able to blend and segment and write a vast number of words which expands cumulatively as each new letter/sound icorrespondences introduced.

By limiting the order of introduction to single letters, you are limiting the number of words the children can read and spell.

They may resort to guessing when reading (which I aim to avoid at all costs by carefully providing them with reading material ( word/sentence/text) based on their current code knowledge.

If they have not been introduced to the vowel digraphs, they will not have been taught any way to write the long vowel sounds and so will not be able to write independently by sounding out and mapping the letter/s to each sound.

Obviously there are alternatives for each long vowel sound (and for other sounds of course) but the order of teaching aims to provide the children with at least one way (basic code) to represent each sound in the English language initially and then to teach the alternatives (advanced code).

I say ‘at least’ as I am now following the Phonics International order which differs slightly – as Debbie felt appropriate she dips into the advanced code earlier than JP does.

For example, having introduced ‘ai’ as code for the long /ai/ sound she immediately follows by teaching the ‘ay’ alternative spelling as this is so commonly used for the sound particularly as it occurs at the end of words.

I also dip in and out of the advanced code incidentally across any/all subject areas throughout the day by referring to my alphabetic code chart (PI) adapted to suit the Irish accent.

If we need to write a word spelt with an alternative, I simply encourage the children to sound it out, draw a das for each sound and get a child to map the correct letters onto the dashes but indicating on the chart which alternative we require- saying ‘we havent learned this yet but will in time’.

It takes time for the children ( and the teacher) to become familiar with the chart but when they do they can make great use of it- it presents the whole code concisely and clearly and makes it manageable.

http://www.syntheticphonics.net/product.php?id=21

To begin with, when you haven’t covered too many sounds, the text in these stories may seem uninspired, however the children have such a sense of achievement because they are actually reading independently, that that doesn’t seem to bother them at all.

Now however, in the early days I am satisfied that the children’s reading can simply be at word level- focusing on blending and segmenting and consolidation of letter/sound correspondences covered to date.

Very quickly however, as they are introduced to more GPCs the bank of words which they are equipped to decode, expands rapidly and with the  gradual introduction of high frequency words- ( I do this by highlighting the GPC they haven’t yet been specifically taught, and telling them ‘in this word this is the code for the – sound’ and then encouraging them to blend as usual) I move them onto sentence level (teacher written).

I delay moving onto short story texts until I am sure they can blend well, but then I use the decodable text that is provided as a resource in Phonicsinternational.

http://www.phonicsinternational.com/unit1_pdfs/i_can_read_unit_1_combined.pdf

Have a look at a sample in free unit 1  of this online phonics programme. Have a look at the other resources available in this free unit:

http://www.phonicsinternational.com/unit1.html  – you’ll be amazed!

I staple the decodable text pages into a booklet form and the children illustrate the stories as they go along.

I move on to the ‘Jelly and Bean’ series of readers once I have taught enough GPCs and these are very popular with my class.

When a child comes up to read for me they immediately hide the picture, and begin to sound out and blend, only looking at the picture when they finish the page.

I began hiding the pictures to begin with as in the early books the picture may give a clue as to the text (this doesn’t really happen as you move up through the series) and I didn’t want them to rely on picture clues. but they saw what I was doing as a game and kept it up!

I also have ReadWriteInc readers and I have heard good things about Big Cat Phonics but haven’t used them myself.

You will find more information here

http://www.rrf.org.uk/free-res.html

Have a look here for more decodable material- including phrase and sentence level material.

http://www.rrf.org.uk/messageforum/viewforum.php?f=6&sid=a0aecb3d69292b59073cf7841f9515a7

Possible Resources:

• ‘ng’ grapheme card and a set of (magnetic) cards including all graphemes introduced to date
• Picture cards eg. someone singing a song/string/ a bird or an aeroplane with both wings visible/ a ping pong bat for table tennis….
• A chart with the words: sing/song/singing/wings/ping pong written but with the ‘ng’ in a different colour marker

Step-by-step…

1. Begin by revising letter/sound correspondences already taught.
2. Show the grapheme card and say.’this is the code for the /ng/ sound
3. Hold it up and ask the class/groups/individuals to respond with the sound
4. Model correct letter formation and invite the children to airwrite it as you do so- children may be keen to have a go at writing the grapheme on the whiteboard so you could spend a little time at this.
5. Show the pictures individually and slowly sound out the relevant words asking ‘can you hear the sound in the words- sing/song/singing/wings/ping/pong?  ( I include ‘wings’ so that the children get to identify the sound in positions other than the last sound and ‘singing’ for the same reason but also to subtely expose the children to longer/multisyllabic words,  presenting them as ‘no big deal’ and perfectly manageable (once the letter/sound correspondences are familiar). They will all feel a sense of pride at being able to decode such a ‘long’ word.
6. Put up the word chart and model sounding out all through the words individually as you point to each grapheme and blending the sounds to read the words.
7. Encourage individual children to take turns doing this.
8. Even a child who hasn’t yet mastered the skill of blending will be able to sound out some of the letters- this allows for differentiation.
9. Ask the children to suggest other words containing the sound.
10. Hide the word chart, call out one of the words and choose a child to count the sounds in the word- again model if the children are unsure of what you mean.
11. A child who is not yet secure in the letter’sound correspondences/blending and segmenting skills  can be asked to draw a dash for each soundthis ensures that all are involved and feel a shared success.  (Make sure you are counting sounds and not letters- so for example the word singing contains 5 sounds and gets 5 dashes.)
12. Choose another child/or one child at a time to come up and, depending on ability, either select grapheme cards from your display to map the correct letter/s onto each sound dash in order all through the word.
13. Choose another child to edit the word now formed, by sounding out and blending the sounds.
14. I haven’t mentioned the JP action songs/jingles to accompany the sound but if you have the CD you could also do this.
15. I haven’t mentioned the finger phonic books either as you may not have these.
16. There is a lot of content above and it could be spread out over 2 days, but I feel the most important aspects are teaching the letter/sound correspondence and some blending and segmenting skill development.
17. Modelling correct letter formation is also important even if the children are still at the pre writing exercises stage.

You have to adapt JP to suit the Irish accent as it is written to reflect ‘British received pronunciation’ (I think that’s the correct term.)

For example they pronounce ‘autumn’ as /or/t/u/m and ‘saw’ as /s/or/.

In the beginning the JP action and song for ‘or’ struck me as being strange- they have a child saying /or/ for the the doctor whereas over here we would naturally say /aw/ until I realised that it is simply down to pronunciation.

You just need to be aware of this and adapt accordingly.

For this reason I no longer use ‘reading scheme books’ and when I do use readers they are a series of decodable readers (Jelly and Bean).

When I discovered Synthetic Phonics over the summer holidays 2 years ago, and was totally convinced by the sense it made the more I read about it, I decided to approach my principal with a view to changing to this method.
She trusted my judgement and agreed to a trial year.
However,unfortunately the parents had already been given the booklist. So the children arrived in September wih all the Sunny Street Books and these were all put to one side.
I had a meeting with the parents to explain what I intended to do.

By the end of the year the Sunny Street books were finally returnded to the children began to leaf through them. Never having learned the words as sight words, the children were well able to decode practically all the words – the only words that posed any problem were ones that contained advanced code letter/sound correspondences not yet explicitly taught but which they made a good attempt to sound out using their sounds and many could tweak the tricky part to read the word.

I had a mixed junior/senior infant class and the juniors could easily read many of the senior words.

I begin by teaching the 40+ basic code letter/sound correspondences.ie one way to represent each of the 40+ sounds of the english language.

Initially their reading material is simply at phoneme (letter/digraph level) ie the sound book material where they look at the letter and respond with the corresponding sound.

As soon as they have been taught the first 4 correspondences
s a t i
they are immediately taught to put this knowledge to use, to sound out and blend the sounds all through printed words to read them, and to segment spoken words into sounds and map the correct letter/s to these sounds to spell them using lists of cumulatively decodable words. Model how to count the sounds in a target word, drawing a dash for each sound and then select a grapheme tile or write the corresponding letter/digraph on the correct dash to spell it.

Developing the childrens blending and segmenting skills and consolidating their code knowledge in this way is an essential part of the programme.

As each new letter/sound correspondence is introduced, the cumulative bank of decodable words grows.

Begin introducing the “tricky” words which are high frequency and as such required for composing sentence level reading material. These words are taught as being decodable, but with a ‘tricky’ bit. The bit that is ‘tricky’ still represents a phoneme/grapheme correspondence, even if it is a rare or unusual one. Tell the children that, while they haven’t been taught the letter/sound correspondence explicitly yet, they will in time but in the meantime tell them that ‘in this word these letters are code for the _ sound’. The children then simply continue to sound out and blend as usual.

They also become adept at sounding out,blending and then tweaking unusual or alternative letter/sound correspondences to get the pronounciation right.
Teach them to tweak.
In these cases the context may help – they are not guessing the word from the context but tweaking the pronounciation based on context eg. I can read/Mammy read a story for me.

Many of the so called tricky words are not tricky at all eg “the” is simply a 2 sound word:/th/ and /e/ which is straight forward to blend.

“He”, “she” and “me” (and many other words) are not tricky if you teach the children to “try the short vowel sound first and if that doesn’t sound right try the long vowel sound”

The children can be taught to decode words such as “was” “want” and other “wa” words if you explain that when “w” is followed by “a” you say /wo/

If you follow a systematic synthetic phonics programme all the various letter/sound combinations will be explicitly taught right through from basic to complex.

Once you have introduced some tricky words you can now move your reading material on to decodable sentence level.

As their letter/sound knowledge and blending skills develop you can move onto simple decodable stories –either teacher written or use a series of decodable readers such as “Jelly and Bean”.

I am currently using the Jelly and Bean series. There are over 100 readers in the series and the children keep one for 2 nights, recording books read on a reading sheet. This builds into an impressive reord of books read – no guessing from picture, context or initial sound clues involved!

We now put a small charge on the booklists towards the cost of the decodable reading schemes rather than requiring the parents to buy scheme readers involving sight words.

The parents are instructed how to help their children read. We hide the picture and the children simply sound out the words and blend to decode/read.
They enjoy checking the picture to find that they were right. There is no need to listen to the children read every page each day – just read one page with them to check they are sounding out and blending to read.

Approaching reading this way removes the necessity to teach sight words.
Instead we teach a default strategy for confidently approaching any unknown word – thus empowering the children.
If it does happen that they come across a word containing an as yet untaughtl letter/sound correspondence I simply say “in this word when we see this/these letters we say / / and the children continue to sound out all through the word and blend the sounds as usual.

The children also choose a library book each night for their parents to read to them.

We continue to use the Sunny Street big books and use the programme for language and vocabulary development.
Last year we changed from using JP as the primary resource, and now use Phonics International but continue to use some of the JP resources.

It may help to explain tthe two sounds as voiced as in ‘the’ and unvoiced as in ‘think’ – ask them to place a hand on their throat as they say the ‘th’ sound in each word and talk about what they feel.

You could compile 2 columns on the board, calling out words spelt using ‘th’ -in any position in the word (eg: that, there, thirsty, thank, mother, father,mouth, cloth – and ask the children to help you decide whether the ‘th’ sound is the same as the that heard in the word ‘the’ or in the word ‘think’.

Sounds a little complicated- easier to do than explain!