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Synthetic Phonics Discussion Forum

Synthetic Phonics

  Synthetic Phonics for teachers and parents


Synthetic Phonics
Subject: Passive children are losing out


Author:
Julie Craig (worried)
[Edit]
Date Posted: 23:45:08 10/22/06 Sun
Hi at the forum,
I work at a girls secondary school and am becoming extremely concerned at the growing number of year 7 pupils who have quite obvious learning difficulties that have not been addressed in their primary school.
Whilst some have dyslexia we have one girl whose ability levels are too low to record and another girl who cannot make out the print on paper or copy from the white board.Their parents all tell the same story, "we have been trying to get help for xxxxx throughout primary school".
Has anyone else experienced this?
The one thing they all seem to have in common are these are lovely quiet polite girls who no matter what their difficulties don't disrupt lessons.
Subject: Sharing #3 as requested


Author:
Roberta - 77036
[Edit]
Date Posted: 05:57:32 09/30/06 Sat
Roberta L. Monson -- Standard Route Tongue Twisters

Standard Route -- Practical Exercise -- Tongue Twisters.

The student, "D," is an adult. He knows all the letter sounds, digraphs and blends. Yet "D" still has difficulty in reading out loud. This particular student reads out loud in a halting and jerky manner, but is able to comprehend what he reads. This student dislikes reading aloud because he recognizes that he is a slow reader. "D" must set time aside to practice the sounds audibly. This student needs remediation in putting the sounds together quickly. He needs to write the letter sounds on paper and in the air. He must spend time familiarizing himself with words he has not read or seen before. I suggested he make a list of difficult words he finds in his work situation, and when he has down time at home, he should look them up in the dictionary to help him remember the pronunciation and the meaning. I suggested he use a small 3 X 5 notebook in which to write his words, and later the meanings. The notebook can easily be slipped into his pocket. I suggested that he use a tape recorder at home to listen to himself read, but that he uses a book in which he recognizes all of the words. When he reaches the reading pace he is happy with, then he should move to a more difficult book -- perhaps a book about a subject in which he is very interested.

Compounding his slow reading is his deafness. He hears with the use of hearing aids. Before he was willing to read the sentences in 3.3.16, I asked him if he would say "black bugs' blood" three times in a row. Since he heard me say it both correctly and incorrectly, he agreed with a smile. He had difficulty repeating this phrase correctly until he said it over slowly and concentrated on what he was saying. After this little exercise, he was willing to read the 10 tongue twisters. He had difficulty with the following sentences: "Sanjeev's sixth sheep is sick."; "Wayne went to Wales to watch walruses." and Swan swam over the sea, Swim, swan, swim! Swan swam back again. Well swum, swan!"

"D" found it fascinating that practicing the tongue twisters out loud while concentrating intensely made it easier for him to say the sentences. He agreed that he needed to practice unfamiliar words from his work place, and believes the 3 X 5 spiral notebook will help him to remember unfamiliar words. He liked the small notebook because no one else need know what he writing or practicing at work. He confided in me that even before he began wearing hearing aids, he mispronounced certain words, and that he is a "bad" speller. In the past, he said that it was very difficult for him to complete reading and writing exercises at the same pace as his peers. He mentioned that reading a book in which he knows all of the words seemed quite easy, but he agreed to work on his pace.






"D" admitted that he does not like to read aloud or write because of his slow pace and his poor spelling. He said that when in school, most of his teachers simply let him glide along with the class. He supposed it was the easy way out for the teachers and him. Now, he is realizing that in order to earn a promotion with his company, he must work on his reading and writing skills. "D" stated he is weary of hiding his reading and writing problems. He can now see how "practice makes perfect," and that as a youngster he founded it easier to glide along without putting forth any effort to learn. "D" also stated if his former instructors had taken a little more time with him, it would have helped. It seemed like all of the "smart" kids learned more easily. Finally "D" said that he knows he isn't "dumb,"and that now he has a clear reason for learning to read, spell, and write better.
Subject: READING FREEDOM 2000


Author:
DEBORAH SHELTON
[Edit]
Date Posted: 20:55:19 09/29/06 Fri
I would like to discuss the Reading Freedom 2000 program by Hunter Calder for this module. I use this program in Sydney with the Year 5 and Year 6 boys I work with that have reading difficulties, i.e. 10-12 year olds. Reading Freedom is a carefully structured program specifically designed for students with reading problems. It takes the student sequentially through the hierarchy of phonic skills. Each activity book and unit of work in Reading Freedom is built on words or skills that students have encountered previously. Students gain confidence in their word attack skills because they are expected to apply their phonic knowledge only to words that are accessible to them. Once students master the regularities and simple generalisations inherent in phonics instruction they are introduced to irregularities and more complex word structures.

The program has four workbooks which progress in the degree of difficulty the students encounter. Book 1 has single letter sound correspondences. In Book 2 two-letter sounds, long vowel sounds, the Magic ‘e’ Rule, soft ‘c’ and ‘g’ and more long vowel rules are covered. Book 3 has diphthongs, vowels before ‘r’, digraphs and silent letters. Book 4 covers compound words, syllabification, and word analysis i.e. prefix-base word-suffix.

Book 1 introduces the 5 short vowel sounds and 20 consonant sounds. Using these letter sounds, the students are given lists of cvc, ccvc and cvcc words to master with each vowel sound. So for the vowel sound ‘a’ there are 150 words to read plus 90 words using ‘a’ base words with word endings of ‘s’, ‘ed’ and ‘ing’. The units of work also give the student opportunities to practice spelling the words they are reading too. Interestingly the letter ‘q’ is not covered as a single letter sound. It is introduced at the beginning of Book 2 as a two-letter sound ‘qu’.

The words used in Books 1, 2 and 3 are familiar words which the student at ages 10 to 12 would generally have in their spoken vocabulary. In Book 4 the student is exposed to more complex words for the purposes of syllabification and word analysis. Some of the words are less frequently used but are not archaic. By reading and discussing these words the boys develop their vocabulary knowledge, which is important at this age. None of the words used are inappropriate.

As the Magic ‘e’ Rule is covered in the third unit of Book 2 which contains five units, in future I would delay the Magic ‘e’ Rule until later in the program. As I photocopy the sheets for the students to use I am able to change the sequence of the units.

I think this program is a very good one to use with older students with reading difficulties. I would make some alterations to the teaching sequence as outlined above, plus I think vowels before ‘r’ can be covered before long vowels and the Magic ‘e’ rule. The worksheets are attractively presented with cartoon-like illustrations and there are a wide range of activities for the student to carry out with the words they have learnt to read, e.g. vocabulary meanings, alphabetical order, spell checking, cloze exercises and reading comprehension, etc. The comprehension passages are carefully structured to reinforce the phonic skills acquired in the preceding units. Although the work covered is relatively simple initially, because it is well presented, older students enjoy using the worksheets as the work is not seen as ‘babyish’. An important consideration when working with older students with reading difficulties! There are also assessment units the teacher can use at the end of specific units to assess students’ progress and a diagnostic handbook with a comprehensive range of tests and checklists to evaluate the student’s reading ability before commencing the programme.
Subject: The Water Game


Author:
Alison Sae-Sue
[Edit]
Date Posted: 13:58:58 09/21/06 Thu
My tutor asked me to share this game which practises listening skills and recall of words - it's called the Water Game.

An auditory memory is a memory of something we have heard. An activity I have tried based on auditory skills is the “Water Game”. I played it in Thailand with my young students. There is an important festival in April called Songkran in which water is poured, thrown or squirted at friend, family and strangers over several days.
This is a game that was very popular with my students at this time of year.

Activity: Sit the students in a large circle. Have ready a filled water spray bottle and several cards with the letter sounds and blends that have been practiced and worked on in class. Select one student, know known as “the sprayer” and in secret show him/her one of the letter sound cards – for example ch-. Then ask this student to write a word that contains the selected sound or blend – for example cheese. (They may need help with this)

The sprayer – complete with filled water bottle - now stands in the centre of the circle and tells the seated students what the selected letter of blend is. Then one by one the seated students think of and say a word containing the selected sound. They carry on round the circle saying their words – chair, church, chop, Charles…. When someone says cheese the sprayer squirts the student with water from the bottle and then that student is the next sprayer. The game is repeated with various letters and blends as appropriate until everyone is thoroughly soaked!

While perhaps not suitable in all teaching circumstances, this game focused on auditory skills, had an element of fun and was culturally appropriate for the group of students
Subject: Private Tutors


Author:
Roberta - 77036 (Happy)
[Edit]
Date Posted: 10:55:11 09/15/06 Fri
Fellow Students: My personal observation and experience at one of our local elementary schools has led me to conclude that students with any form of dyslexia and who have a normal I.Q. range or higher are resigned to early failure in school UNLESS their parents provide special tutors outside of the classroom.

I invite and welcome your comments.
Replies:
Subject: try saying this thast


Author:
Kate
[Edit]
Date Posted: 02:47:56 08/02/06 Wed
I am dyslexic and was diagnosed 3 years ago.

I have at the age of 25 finally managed to prounounce
"th-" as in words such as Authorities. I just couln't get the sound out before.I have been practising with some success albeit with conscious effort over the last few months. However my enthusiasm has been dmapened by the realisation that this acheivement may actually throw up more problems than it solves. Take the following amusing incident in the call centre where I work.

I was carrying out telephone research surveys for local government policies - water, recreation facilities, wheelie bins etc when I was presented with the following script that had to be read verbatim.
"This important study will be used by local authorities and may be used to help improve local services in the future."

Now try as I might to pronouce this all correctly, focusing on making the correct "th-" sound by carefully putting my tongue between my teeth, what I usually said was

"This important study will be used by local auforities and may be used to help improve local services in the thuture"

Making me sound somewhat eccentric. This trend has dogged me through (froo) words such as "thouroughly",frightened" and "finally" till I have reached a point where it is frankly easier not to boffer.
If any one of you august ladies and gentlemen have any suggesstions as to how I can get over this obstacle to clear speech, do please let me know.
Replies:
Subject: Magic E


Author:
Alwyn
[Edit]
Date Posted: 07:26:03 06/26/06 Mon
4.7 Magic E
I did this exercise with a 7yr old boy. He was completely confused at first. We spoke about the E being magic and being able to change the sound of another letter. To make it easier we used wooden letters where all the vowels are the same colour but different to the others letters. He very quickly realised that the E changed the sound of the same colour letter. We then used letters of different sizes, changing the vowel to a larger letter when its sound changed. We also made a card with words on and an E on a separate piece, to make up new words adding and removing the E. We also wrote the words in large bubble writing so then he could colour in the words but keeping the vowel and the E the same colour. It took a lot of work and lots of repetition but once he’d grasped it, his smile was back and he wanted to go on and on. We go over this rule once a week using these methods. I have found that these methods have worked with the pupils I work with, hope they can be of help to you.

Alwyn
Replies:
Subject: synthetic phonics


Author:
Luke Danskin
[Edit]
Date Posted: 03:47:37 03/24/06 Fri
Hello i'm a year 13 student currently doing a study into synthetic phonics and was wondering if someone could answer my questions...
-Why are synthetic phonics fairly controversial, in terms of the british government recently making primary school teaches teach it?
-Are they really of much use to people that arent dyslexic? As wouldnt they pick up spellings and sounds anyway?
It would be a great help, thanks
Replies:
Subject: teaching cvc words


Author:
Sarah Cox
[Edit]
Date Posted: 17:29:49 06/23/06 Fri
My tutor asked me to post my lesson plan to teach CVC words

The activities I will describe are designed to teach the animal 3-letter words cat, dog, ant, bug. I am envisaging a class of five year olds. In fact I have done a few of these activities in such a class here in Malaysia.

This is a sound-blending lesson that would come a few weeks after I had taught the individual letter sounds that feature in these animal words [c-d-b-a-o-u-t-g].

I would start the class like this:
"We're going to save four animals lost in the classroom. Save them, label them and keep a record of them. It's a great lesson for you animal lovers! Let's start with an animal I-spy game"

Before the children came in the room I had already 'hidden' a toy cat, dog, ant and bug somewhere in the room. Now I would sit the children on the carpet in a rainbow shape and say: 'I spy with my little eye some animal beginning with 'd'. Please somebody. Save him!' I would do this for each of the animals. This is great to get the children motivated and reinforce the initial sound of the word.

The soft animals - dog, cat, ant, bug - would be 'saved' and brought to the carpet. Time to start the reading/writing process. "Now we need to label these precious animals"....

I would hand out alphabet letter cards to all the students. Lower case only. They would have one or two letters each depending on the size of the class. I would use the class phonics puppet 'Pip' to help me spell the names of the animals we had on the carpet. The puppet would sound out the letters. d.o.g. The children must listen and look at their letter cards. "Who's got the first sound?", "Who's got the last sound?" "Who's got the middle sound?" The children who have the appropriate sounds in their hands would stand up and show their letter and we would arrange the children until the word was spelt correctly: First sound - middle sound - last sound. The letters would then be arranged on the letter rack for all to see. The word is formed. This would be repeated for the other animals.
The children now read the words out loud [big voice then small voice ]. I write the words on the board, some volunteers do that too and then we all write the words in the sky.

Then the children would copy the animal word [now on the board and letter rack] onto an individual white board, erasing and re-writing until they are happy with their writing. Then they would copy it or memory-write it onto a luggage label. Lots of coloured pens on offer at this point!! A little picture of the animal might be nice too. I would choose one of these labels and attach it to the toy animal. Maybe I would choose the neatest label or the most colourful. I would do this for the other three animals.

The animals have been saved and labelled.

The last activity in this sixty-minute lesson would be to record the names of the animals. In other words, it is worksheet time. I would devise a worksheet with three exercises.

1] [Easy] The children should link the word [dog, cat, bug, ant] to the picture of the animal.
2] [Slightly harder] The children should fill in some missing letters in the word
3] [More challenging] The children should draw the animal and write the word by themselves. Some children may need to copy, others can do read/say/cover/spell/check , others will be ready to write the word by themselves.

If I had a helper in the class I would set up a reinforcement activity for those children who were really struggling. They may be completely new to the class, or have a specific learning difficulty. They might need extra practice reading the words. For this I would probably set up a 'pairs' card game, whereby the students have to turn over matching picture and word. Then they keep the pair. For a writing activity I would use the 'trash-basketball' game I read about in a phonics publication recently. The children write the words as many times as they need to on scraps of paper. If they are not happy with the word they scrumple it up and throw it into the trash basket, trying to score a hoop [if that is the correct basket-ball term] The paper in the basket should of course be re-cycled later! When they are happy with the word they have written, they blu-tack it to the board next to the picture.

Brighter children who have already finished the worksheet could play 3-letter word boggle with a partner.

I think the combination of activities described above should enable each child to feel comfortable with the written form of the words dog, cat, ant and bug. The animal theme to the lesson is bound to appeal to these small children.









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Subject: multisensory teaching methods


Author:
Marjorie
[Edit]
Date Posted: 13:18:18 08/19/06 Sat
I have been working with a child 9 years old that has a learning problem. For the past year I have tried Hook on Phonic with some success but he still had a problem with his b-d reversing them along with 3, 6 plus 5. I now have him practice writing these letters and numbers in the air, and taught him the index finger method. He is doing much better but still writes his 5 backward any suggestion on this.
Replies:
Subject: rhymes


Author:
marjorie
[Edit]
Date Posted: 08:27:55 09/01/06 Fri
I read to the children a few nursey ryhmes that I knew they would know and have them fill in the rhyming word at the end. they enjoyed doing this until I presented ones that I thought they would know. Three-fourth of the children did not know them and could not find the right words. When I conducted a survey of how many parent read to them only one-fourth raise their hands. I was amazed at this, so I sent home a letter requesting that this week I would like the father to read a story each night to their child. Each child took home a book to be read each day and brought it back the next day to receive another one. The father was to sign the paper they had read to their child. At first, the fathers gave me a hard time but after the week was up half the fathers were still reading to their child maybe not every day but aleast once a week and the child really loved it.
Replies:
Subject: reminder three:Jolly Phonics


Author:
majorie
[Edit]
Date Posted: 16:15:40 08/21/06 Mon
I tried the Jolly Phonics with 4 year olds. they enjoyed the sounds that were easy to do, the others were alittle hard for them. they also losted interested after about 10 minutes. working with the 5-6 year olds was alot better they could do most of the sounds and understand them. I notices that the boys liked making the sounds of the animals, plane anad drum much more than the other sounds. the girls like the softer sounds. after we were finish they still wanted do more. I found them inter acting the sounds during the day.
Subject: WORD BINGO-A VERY POPULAR GAME!


Author:
debby shelton
[Edit]
Date Posted: 03:43:50 08/14/06 Mon
Word Bingo is a very popular game with the 8 to 10 year old boys I teach who are having difficulties with reading. We play the game after we have covered our 'word family' unit for the week (a list of 60 words)so the boys have already had opportunities to read the words we are using and have done comprehension and vocabulary exercises on them. I have found that in addition to the game itself there are lots of incidental ways that the boys practise reading the words as we play the game.
A group of no more than 4 seems to work best and I give each player a blank card with 6 spaces for the word cards to be placed on with 3 'free ' spaces I have filled with a star. I deal the word cards out at the start of each round and the boys often automatically just start reading the words as they put them out and also read the words the other boys have been given. I often hear comments such as 'I had * last time', or 'I've got * again' etc. I show each word to the group saying 'The next word is ...' and they are always keen to say it out loud. They look at their words and cover it up with a counter if they have it. They get very excited as they cover up their words commenting on the other words they and the other students have left. If the word is misread as I show it, then it is a good teaching opportunity to revise the letter sound or combination, or to work on their blending skills. When 'Bingo' is called, the words covered have to be read out as a 'Bingo check' giving another opportunity to practise reading the words. Then we look to see what other words the others have left and play on for the 2nd Bingo, etc. until everyone has an opportunity to call 'Bingo'. By the time we finish the boys can usually read all the words correctly and confidently. The boys will even comment on words they still find tricky too. It is definitely a favourite game of the boys and the best thing is the amount of reading practise it provides without them realising it!
Subject: Using clear pronunciation


Author:
Nicky Arnott
[Edit]
Date Posted: 04:11:32 05/29/06 Mon
There are many children at my school who constantly say ‘wiv’ instead of ‘with’, ‘paf’ instead of ‘path’ because that is what they constantly hear at home.

It is important as teachers, whether in the classroom or at home, to train ourselves to pronounce each sound accurately. It will only cause confusion and frustration for the children if emphasis is wrongly put onto a sound e.g. saying ’puh’ instead of a pure, short ‘p’ sound, ‘buh’ instead of a pure, short ‘b’ sound and ‘na’ instead of a pure, short ‘n’ sound.

Always remember that a carefully structured synthetic phonics programme is the ‘key that unlocks the door to our language’.
Replies:
Subject: Not just phonics phonics phonics


Author:
Sarah Cox
[Edit]
Date Posted: 18:54:11 06/21/06 Wed
This is an extract from my 4th assignment about the criteria I would use when assessing a phonics program. My final criteria was "not just phonics phonics phonics" :
The English language is not a very phonetic one. Children need to be equipped to cope with tricky, non phonetic text. I would be wary of any reading scheme that was purely phonetic in nature and didn't ever plunge the children into a small pool of 'whole language'. Children like a bit of detective work and I disagree with those who say all children should be able to read every word they see at this early stage. Where is the challenge in that? It may be true that dyslexic children need that safety net. Best not to de-motivate such children with too many unsoundable words but most children will find some recognizable sounds in even the trickiest word. "Yacht" may not be spelt phonetically [yot] but the first and last letter sounds are clear enough and a good reading program will occasionally challenge children to look at the context and the surrounding words and work it out for themselves. The most common unsoundable words ["saw" "said" "here" etc] need to be learnt and, again, I would look for a phonics program that produced lists and memory games to enable the children to memorize these tricky but essential words. The Jolly Readers do contain tricky words. These are all shown visually on the back page, flowers stemming from the same flower pot. At the end of each reader the parent/teacher might play some memory games with the word flowers! The sequence "Look, say, cover, say, write, check " would work well as an activity here.
Replies:
Subject: N can read


Author:
Mhd Malki
[Edit]
Date Posted: 09:27:18 07/18/06 Tue
N can read and he is proud of himself.
The next day I called N to my office and started a game he really likes "cards". The playing cards looked a bit strange to N because they had only figures in the four corners, no drawings to represent the numbers. N prefered to play "Basra"- a game where you can collect similar cards and other cards which come to the same total. eg. if you have the card 10 in your hand, you can collect cards with 10 and other cards that make 10 (6+4 , 7+3, 5+5 , 9+1 etc..)- N was confused first, but with some directions he could differeniate between the cards 6&9 ( of course to win the game) whih he finally could. He felt i compete him which made him work harder. the trick finally proved successful and he was happy with the result. By the end of the game, I gave N plain cards and asked N to write the numbers in the four corners. it was his assignment for the day.
The next day, N proudly came with his playing cards. "all done well, great work" i said. This made him feel great about his achievement. We played another turn with his cards. No hesitation appeared this time recognizing the numbers as he kept writing them himself. He won again.

I asked N to play another game with letters and words. (matching cards) we started with the letters he is not confused about. Gradually i started to add letters he used to be confused with one at a time. When one gets a match, he pronounces it and keep it. the one who coolects the greater cards is the winner. N did his best to win the game. When he struggles with a letter i ask him about friend's name or a favourite thing that begins with the letter. by the end of the round, I ask him to draw his friend or thing with the initial letter of his/its name. N always came the next day with the drawing. This helped much in recognizing the letters and their sounds.

Our next stage was playing with (3letters) words......
To continue next time
Subject: Worksheet criteria


Author:
Julieann
[Edit]
Date Posted: 12:24:09 06/27/06 Tue
• To achieve success, worksheets need to be easy, enjoyable and manageable. The work shouldn’t be designed as a test. It should be to practice and reinforce what has already been learned. If need be have the first one or two answers filled in which will help the child feel that they can succeed at the activity.
(Children tend to remember the negative results more often than the positive ones).
Subject: Difficulties with hearing


Author:
Julieann
[Edit]
Date Posted: 12:20:05 06/27/06 Tue
ľ Difficulties with hearing:
If a child is not hearing the correct sound of the word this can cause major difficulties as an inability to sound out the word correctly can result in language difficulties. This problem is often due to a history of ear infections, colds, glue ear etc. encountered in early childhood.
Subject: Criteria for phonics worksheet


Author:
Alwyn Wakefield
[Edit]
Date Posted: 06:19:42 06/11/06 Sun
Hi
I work in a high school and have a pupil that I work one on one with. He is 12yrs old but has learning difficulties and reads at about 6yrs. I have been using phonics worksheets with him as he struggles with letter sounds. The ones I was using were New Phonics Blending 1 through 4. I thought these were fine untill i did a check through the worksheet criteria, here are my findings;
Criteria for Phonics Worksheet 2.5.1.

The worksheet I chose was from New Phonics Blending 2.

1. This worksheet had no examples filled in for child to see.
2. The amount of work that was contained would not last for five minutes.
3. There were no words at all on this worksheet to help the child.
4. This worksheet had three pictures and letters were in another. I son’t think it would inspire a child.
5. All worksheets on level two were in the same format and difficulty level. In level three the same format is used but parts of sentences have been added, blends were used instead of letters, level four was the same only using different blend sounds. There is no introduction to blends.
6. There were no follow up sheets.
7. These worksheets showed two stereotypical pictures.
8. These worksheets did show children and adults but only children from minority families.
I thought these worksheets were fine but I would not use them after going through this list. A very poor showing I think you would agree. I might also add that school provided these worksheets, so beware they may not be best.
many thanks,
Alwyn
Subject: "N" could finally read his first ten words


Author:
Mhd Malki
[Edit]
Date Posted: 10:31:45 06/07/06 Wed
Being the head of the English department at my school, I noticed N's struggle with the language in the classroom. His teacher was encourging him to read any sentence or simple word, but in vain. The more the teacher tries, the farther N is away.

I called N and asked him to visit my office at the English class daily. After discussing N's hobbies, I realized that he is good at dancing, drawing playing cards,...etc.
I worked on his strengths trying to give him the chance to see himself as a successful boy."you can do many things better than i can" I can't dance "Arda" -a local dance-, or compete you in drawing, you can also win any computer game ,as you say, and reach high levels.

N started to talk about all other things he is good at, he was proud of himself. He never stopped talking about his achievements for the 30 minutes period.

The next day, TO my surprise, i found out that N unable to recognize h, f, v, r, t,j ,w &y. he was also confused about b&d, P&q, n&u, m&w and of course the numbers 3,6& 9.

As a result he was unable to read any words, he didn't even try to because he will fail"as he said". So the only way to solve this problem was cheating at exams.
i worked out some techinques to help N with his letters and words, which i'll share with you the next time.
Subject: A phonics worksheet


Author:
Julie Tandy
[Edit]
Date Posted: 08:40:06 05/19/06 Fri


A Phonics Worksheet.



A worked through a published worksheet on blending the “bl” sound the infant teachers use, addressing the eight points. This is what I observed.

1. There were no examples given on the sheet for the child to follow, and no answers filled in already, only instructions “ put bl in the spaces”.

2. The sheet had more than 5 minutes work and I feel that some children would find this sheet too difficult, therefore they would not be able to complete the sheet and would be unable to feel successful in this task.

3. Lower case letters were used except for capitals at the beginning of sentences.

4. There was one picture showing a boy blowing out candles on a birthday cake. The children had to draw a further four pictures of Ten black blocks, A blue blanket,Blossom on a tree and a blackboard with “bl” words on it. As well as the ten “bl” words to complete they then had to draw these four pictures.

5. Moving from one level to the next could be more difficult for a child that is finding blending sounds difficult to understand.

6. This sheet does practise a particular sound in more than one way, by writing, drawing and choosing a word from a group.

7. This work sheet is not following a steriotypical action , as it could have used a girl or boy blowing out candles. But when looking at other sheets they had Mum making cakes and Dad going to work.

8. The sheet I was looking at did not include families or children from black or ethnic minority
Subject: Hearing a child read.


Author:
Julie Tandy
[Edit]
Date Posted: 09:07:11 05/14/06 Sun
I am a teaching assistant at a small village primary school with approximatly seventy children. I work with children in both key stages, but for numeracy and literacy I only work with key stage two children. This course has given me the opportunity to work with younger children.

We commenced reading a book that B was familiar with. We then read the first two pages of this book and any words that she hesitated over I would read for her.

I then explained that the next words she could not read, I would give her the first sound of the word.

She did very well with this, by looking at the pictures and guessing the word.

Her confidence increased and she then wanted to continue reading but with a book she wasn’t familiar with. I felt she was much more confident using this method than the golden rule method, but could this have been due to the teaching/learning strategies used at this school.
Subject: Jolly Phonics


Author:
Lorraine
[Edit]
Date Posted: 04:00:13 05/02/06 Tue
I have just finished my first assingnment. But I am not exactly a new student I finished Teaching of children with Dyslexia last December. I wanted to do Synthetic Phonics because I have been using Jolly Phonics for a while now with great results. I find because the children can see the letter and also see the action of the mouth or hand that the sound should make on the flash card with myself making the sound and doing the action they learn much quicker also having fun at the same time. If the child cannot remember the sound straight away they relate it the the action. I have found alot of my six year olds that could not read are now enjoying sounding out their readers. Such a great acheivement. I photocopied all the flash cards out of the Phonics Handbook by Sue Lloyd coloured them in and laminated them to make them more interesting.Also I thought by doing this course I will learn at more more.
Subject: teaching phonics


Author:
Sue Maddox
[Edit]
Date Posted: 07:53:57 04/13/06 Thu
I am currently working as a higher level teaching assistant in a primary school, supporting children with learning difficulties from the age of 5-11. I ahve the Certificate in teacing children and teenagers with dyslexia and the Hornsby Diploma in Teaching speciic learning difficulties.Two of my assignments with the world of dylsexia can be found on their web site under teaching methods and dot's diary.

I think it is very important to recognise the child's individual learning style.
I have recently started working with a boy who is showing early signs of dyslexia. He is five and a half. He was having sessions from the ELS (early literacy support) programme and it came to light when reading cvc words, he could only sound the letters (e.g. c-a-t) of the word, but could not repeat the whole word. And also that he could not hear some letter sounds when blended with another letter e.g. m-i-lk, or h-a-nd. This was also beginning to show in his written work. He could recognise the word when made with magnetic letters and would sound out m-i-lk, or h-a-nd, but when asked to write them down, he missed out the 'l' or the 'n'.

I have since tried the synthetic approach and this appears to be his preferred learning style.
Subject: Clarification in Phonics


Author:
Geni
[Edit]
Date Posted: 09:32:55 09/19/05 Mon
Hi

I need a clarification in the usage of some of the words. 'CH' does not have the sound of /s/ or /k/. But why do we use 'Ch' in chronicle when in actual we pronunce it as C/k/ronicle? In the same way why do we pronunce lead as led (as in metal led) when in actual the word could be devoid of 'a' in it.

.
Replies:
Subject: Phonic Blends


Author:
Pat Minton
[Edit]
Date Posted: 09:22:59 09/19/05 Mon
I have used Phonic Blends, a form of synthetic phonics, from Learning Materials Ltd in Wolverhampton since 1970 in the UK. The children build up the words from the letters provided and I have found them to be excellent, better than anything else.

I have had long discussions about why the PB method is so successful and we thought that when a person spells they have to retrieve letters from their long term memory and that using PBs is somewhat similar. They have to think of the letter they need. I now make my phonic blends more carefully structured as I use them to introduce a word pattern (at least usually) as well as revising work.
Replies:
Subject: Phonics vs. "Look-say"


Author:
Joni J Rathbun
[Edit]
Date Posted: 09:56:03 09/19/05 Mon
I haven't seen look-say in action since I was in first and second grade
(1959-60) and was in a look-say classroom. As a teacher, however, I've
yet to see anyone actually using the look-say method.

BTW, teaching phonics alone doesn't teach reading. It teaches
decoding skills for ... some of what children will eventually encounter
in print.
Replies:
Subject: Reading ability gets a boost from phonics


Author:
George Archibald
[Edit]
Date Posted: 09:53:33 09/19/05 Mon
A study has confirmed the premise of the Bush administration's
"Reading First" initiative that systematic phonics instruction is
essential in teaching young children of all backgrounds to read
successfully.
The study, just published by researchers of the National Institute
for Early Education Research and Rutgers University in New Jersey,
re-examined findings of the National Reading Panel (NRP) in 2000.
The study gives even greater weight than the NRP to the importance
of intensive phonics, which is systematic instruction of letter-sound
relations in English and how to use them to read texts with controlled
vocabulary.
"In our analyses, we found that programs using systematic phonics
instruction outperformed programs using less-systematic phonics," the
study concluded, adding that the difference with systematic phonics
"is statistically significant."
The study, titled "Teaching Children To Read: The Fragile Link
Between Science and Federal Education Policy," also confirmed the
NRP's finding that children's reading ability improves after they have
acquired basic "phonemic awareness and letter knowledge" by second
grade, when phonics instruction is combined with language activities
and tutoring.
"Systematic phonics instruction when combined with language
activities and individual tutoring may triple the effect of phonics
alone," concluded the study team led by Gregory Camilli of Rutgers'
graduate school of education in Brunswick, N.J.
The report said the NRP did not focus enough on language
activities and tutoring as part of a comprehensive literacy program in
elementary schools.
"As federal policies are formulated around early literacy
curricula and instruction, these findings indicate that phonics, as
one aspect of the complex reading process, should not be
over-emphasized," the report said.
Reid Lyon of the National Institute of Child Health and Human
Development, who is President Bush's chief reading adviser, called the
study "very strong."
"The Camilli study does reflect a more mature and scientific
approach to understanding particular findings, given that it was a
scientific attempt to replicate [the NRP study], which is one of the
most crucial things we can do in science," Mr. Lyon said.
The Camilli study re-analyzed 37 of 38 scientific reading studies
over several decades that were used for the NRP report, plus three
other studies, and applied a numerical "effect size" for use of
"systematic phonics" versus "less-systematic phonics" and "no phonics"
reading and language activities.
The Camilli study gave a .514 score to "systematic phonics,"
compared with a .41 effect size in the NRP report.
"The National Reading Panel found very clearly what Camilli also found, that phonics is absolutely necessary, it's non-negotiable, but by itself is not sufficient," Mr. Lyon said. "Phonics has to be provided in a comprehensive reading program that also includes phonemic awareness, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension."
Subject: Zoo Phonics


Author:
Amonco
[Edit]
Date Posted: 09:49:38 09/19/05 Mon
Zoo-phonics, a California-based educational company, is proud to
announce the release of the new Parent Kit, a playful, yet highly
effective, in-home teaching tool for parents to use with their children,
ages three to seven, to help them to become strong readers and spellers.


Says Char Wrighton, co-author of Zoo-phonics, “Our goal is to get
children ready for kindergarten and first grade. Too many children
are unnecessarily slipping through the cracks. It is hard to reverse
a child’s feelings of failure. We are confident that if children
entered kindergarten knowing the shapes and sounds of the alphabet
— even being able to read and spell simple words — they would be
ahead of the game.”


Besides being visual and auditory, Zoo-phonics is a kinesthetic
method for teaching phonics, reading and spelling. This allows a
child to learn by doing what she/he does best: wiggling and making
sounds.


Georgene “Gigi” Bradshaw and Charlene “Char” Wrighton
(award winning educators) and long time friend, and illustrator,
Irene Clark created the Zoo-phonics Program over 15 years ago.
Today, Zoo-phonics is used throughout the nation and overseas.

The parent/child-friendly materials and concepts, in the new
Zoo-phonics Parent Kit, will make it easy for a parent to give their
child a jump on reading, spelling and writing and/or to supplement
school curriculum. States Wrighton, “We also want to train parents,
free of charge, to use the Parent Kit and to learn how to create literacy
moments – whether in a restaurant, the car, waiting for a doctor’s
appointment, or in the grocery store.”


Information, free samples, support materials and parent training
workshops are available by calling 1.800.622.8104 or visit “The Zoo”
at www.zoo-phonics.com. You'll also find information about the
Zoo-phonics Computer Software and Spanish & English Immersion
programs.


Visit http://www.zoo-phonics.com before the chat to see the wide
selection of programs available. Once there, click on the icons to
the left of your screen to learn more about school and homeschool
software programs. Then bring your questions to the chat.
Subject: Fast Phonics


Author:
Loz
[Edit]
Date Posted: 09:31:10 09/19/05 Mon
hi,

I've just heard of Fast Phonics but am currently using "Think About It" to teach phonics.

I'm considering using a combination of both to enhance learning and was wondering if anyone else out there has tried this and if so, any ideas would be helpful?

.
Subject: English Pronunciation


Author:
Xin
[Edit]
Date Posted: 09:29:24 09/19/05 Mon
I used phonics to improve my English pronunciation. I think phonics rules are great. Therefore, I wrote a software with all the phonics rules and 4,000 words to help English learners correct their pronunciation. I like to invite you to come to my website:

http://www.pronunciationpatterns.com

to download a demo to see if you find my program helpful teaching phonics.

Xin Wang
MBA -- Class of 2005
Carnegie Mellon University
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