I have found that the multi-cueing methods which are recommended by our own infant curriculum and which amount to guessing using picture, context and/or initial sound cues, and which are also encapsulated in the Reading Recovery method, to be far less effective when teaching both beginner readers and older strugglers than teaching according to the synthetic phonics teaching principles. (more…)

I’m sure those teachers using Jolly Phonics or a similar synthetic phonic programme are familiar with the ‘invented’ spelling regularly used by children who have only learned basic code graphemes to date and so are unfamiliar with advanced code alternatives. (more…)

The following is a link to a simple ‘parents’ guidance’ to support early reading ( by Debbie Hepplewhite – a teacher, synthetic phonics consultant, trainer and advisor and editor of www.rrf.org and www.synthetic phonics.com) which may be of help to you. (more…)

The letters ‘e’,'i’ or ‘y’ alert the reader that the preceding ‘c’ will represent the /s/ sound.
This is ‘soft c’
I would ask the children what sound ‘c’ represents.
They will most likely respond by making the /k/ sound.
Ask for examples and write them in a column on the board. (more…)

First a little information to explain some of what I do

I refer to ‘letters’ and ‘sounds’ however I don’t shy away from using the terms grapheme, digraph, trigraph, phoneme to the children as the need/occasion arises. (more…)

The final part of Kat2′s journey into the Phonics International programme outlines the links that it has with Jolly Phonics and how this scheme has many excellent factors that can be brought into the Phonics International Scheme, for example the actions and songs. Read on to see how Kat2 introduced the scheme to her staff at school and how it was integrated into the school plan. (more…)

Part 3 in Kat2′s series about how she discovered Phonics International, an online Synthetic Phonics programme written by Debbie Hepplewhite. For those using Jolly Phonics in their classroom, this programme is worth checking out. In this post, Kat2 talks about meeting Debbie and how she introduced her to this vast and exciting programme. Kat2 also explains how she adopted this programme into her class. The final segment compares Jolly Phonics to Phonics International and explains how the resources can compliment each other. (more…)

Continuing on from Kat2′s last article about Phonics International, this post concentrates on she used the Phonics International scheme in her classroom. Part 3, which will be uploaded separately goes into more depth about the program itself and when Kat2 met the author. (more…)

(Preface from Anseo.net) The following is an article written in January 2007, just before the launch of “Phonics International”, a synthetics phonics programme, which is online.  Many Irish schools are using “Jolly Phonics”, which is a synthetic phonics programme and many of the items in this series will be very helpful to them, particularly after the initial stages of the programme.  Those who have not bought into a synthetics phonics programme should also read with interest as “Phonics International” is renowned as being excellent.  We welcome Kat2 to our team.  Some readers may know her from the Education Posts forum, where her help has been greatly appreciated. (more…)