Phonics for reading and writing

rrf newsletter Autumn 53

1. Teach letter-shapes just by their sounds at first, not their names.  Introduce letter names through singing an alphabet song in the first instance, but ensure that the automatic response to letters and letter-combinations is saying the sounds that they represent. 

2.  Teach -

•  blending all-through-the-word so that the children can immediately start using the few letter-sounds that they know in reading simple words - the practical application of code-knowledge makes them see the point of what they are learning and is very satisfying for them. While teaching blending, you cannot avoid pronouncing the whole word after the individual phonemes, but once the children begin to get the hang of it, avoid pronouncing the whole word whenever possible - get them to arrive at a pronunciation by sounding out and blending.

• Teach segmenting all-through-the-spoken-word so that the children can immediately start using letter-sounds to spell simple words aloud and by writing.

3.   Tolerate invented spelling at first, provided that it is phonemically accurate - children will understand the nature of the code better if they practise using it in both directions purely as a code e.g  Kat for cat    caik for cake . 

4.  Teach no sight words at first so that decoding is uppermost in children's minds.   When irregular words are tackled, teach the children to blend these words as well.   Naturally they will have to be told the correct pronunciation.   Then when an irregular word comes up in their reading the children will blend it and be reminded of that 'tricky' word.    

5.  Once the basic sounds of the alphabet letters have been covered including some digraphs, start introducing alternative sounds for the letters already learnt and alternative spellings for sounds.  

6.   Use texts which are decodable on the basis of what the children have been taught at any given point, and make it clear that these are not just to be decoded but also to be read for meaning. Do not promote reading strategies which are merely guessing words from pictures, context or initial letter cues.  

7.  Practise correct spelling, handwriting and simple punctuation through regular dictation. That is, controlled letters, spelling variations, words and sentences which the children can be expected to write.