Progression in phonics

1. Progression in phonics • Six phases of learning • Taught from Reception to Year Two using ‘Letters and sounds’ and ‘Year 2/3 spelling programme’ • Children should be able to read independently by end of programme • Spelling continues throughout Key Stage Two through use of : ‘Year 2/3 spelling programme’ • Spelling bank • Catch up intervention programmes • School based schemes • Handwriting

3. Purpose of phase 1 • Explore and experiment with sounds and words • Distinguish between different sounds in the environment and phonemes • Learn to orally blend and segment sounds in words

4. By the end of phase 1 • Children will have experienced a wealth of listening activities including songs, stories and rhymes. • They will be able to distinguish between speech sounds and many will be able to blend and segment words orally. • Some will also be able to recognise spoken words that rhyme and will be able to provide a string of rhyming words, but inability to do this does not prevent moving on to Phase Two as these speaking and listening activities continue.

5. Games for Phase 1 • Key Stage two specific games and activities (see Letters and sounds Phase games and activities Appendix) • Phase 1 activities are primarily pitched at 3 to 5 year olds. The learning in the recommended games is suitable for Key Stage two children with language and learning difficulties but all activities would need to be made age appropriate.

6. Purpose of phase 2(up to 6 weeks – Suggested Timetable p50) • Learn 19 letters and know the phonemes that represent them. • Move on from orally blending and segmenting to blending and segmenting letters to read and spell (maybe with magnetic letters) VC and CVC words • Introduce two syllable words, simple captions and some tricky HFW.

7. Suggested daily teaching Revisit and review • Practise previously learned letters • Practise oral blending and segmentation Teach • Teach a new letter • Teach blending and/or segmentation with letters (weeks 2 and 3) • Teach one or two tricky words (week 3 onwards) Practise • Practise reading and/or spelling words with the new letter Apply • Read or write a caption (with the teacher) using one or more high-frequency words • and words containing the new letter (week 3 onwards)

8. Phase 2 letter progression Set 1: s a t p Set 2: I n m d Set 3: g o c k Set 4: ck e u r Set 5: h b f,ff l,ll ss

9. Games for Phase 2 • Teaching a letter p51 • Oral blending games p56 • Sound buttons • Buried treasure Use your imagination to jazz these games up and make them suit your needs.

10. Teaching HFW • Some HFW should be taught during each phase. • Many HFW are simple to work out using phonics. • Some are ‘tricky’. Children need to be taught strategies for spelling and reading these words. • These are similar to strategies we will look at later. P64-65

11. Applying • Must have opportunities in class to read and write the words that they have been learning in phonics sessions. • Guided reading • Shared reading • Captions • Labels • Whiteboards and pens • Magnetic letters • Differentiated literacy work

12. By the end of Phase Two children should: ■ give the sound when shown any Phase Two letter, securing first the starter letters s, a, t, p, i, n ■ find any Phase Two letter, from a display, when given the sound ■ be able to orally blend and segment CVC words ■ be able to blend and segment in order to read and spell (using magnetic letters) VC words such as: if, am, on, up and ‘silly names’ such as ip, ugandock ■ be able to read the five tricky words: the, to, I, no, go.

13. Assessment • Work with groups and observe: Oral blending CVC words If you say j-a-m can they blend it into jam Oral segmenting CVC words If you say bed can they segment it into b-e-d Phoneme-grapheme correspondences Can they match letters to their sounds and sounds to their letters? Appendix p199.

14. Purpose of phase 3(up to 12 weeks – Suggested Timetable p76-78) • Teach another 25 graphemes • Introduce digraphs • Learn letter names • Continue to practise blending and segmenting using new phonemes and two syllable words

15. 25 phonemes taught in Phase 3 Letters Set 6: j v w x Set 7: y z,zz qu ch sh th ng ai ee igh oa oo ar or ur ow oi ear air ure er

16. Suggested Daily Teaching in Phase 3 • Revisit and review • Practise previously learned letters or graphemes • Teach • Teach new graphemes • Teach one or two tricky words • Practise • Practise blending and reading words with a new GPC • Practise segmenting and spelling words with a new GPC • Apply • Read or write a caption or sentence using one or more tricky words and words containing the graphemes

17. Games in Phase 3 • Teaching grapheme recognition and recall – games introduced in earlier phases. • Countdown / Sentence substitution p86 • Phoneme Frame / Quickwrite p88 • Full circle p90 • HFW – as in earlier phases • Practising reading and writing captions and sentences p95

18. Countdown chicken shell rang path tonight boatman

19. Sentence substitution Mark fed the cat. dog moon Gail hid (alternative suggestions p. 104)

20. Phoneme frame/Quickwrite • Phase two/three words p. 102/103 • Use sound talk to segment word – reinforce by counting phonemes on fingers • can use magnetic letters or fans for non writers

21. Phase 3 games Full circle p. 90 car

22. Applying • As in previous phases plus • Demonstration writing p.97 • Writing sentences • Shared writing • Independent writing Think it say it write it check it

23. By theend of Phase Three children should: ■ give the phoneme when shown all or most Phase Two and Phase Three graphemes ■ find all or most Phase Two and Phase Three graphemes, from a display, when given the phoneme ■ be able to blend and read CVC words (i.e. single-syllable words consisting of Phase Two and Phase Three graphemes) ■ be able to segment and make a phonemically plausible attempt at spelling CVC words (i.e. single-syllable words consisting of Phase Two and Phase Three graphemes) ■ be able to read the tricky words he, she, we, me, be, was, my, you, her, they, all, are ■ be able to spell the tricky words the, to, I, no, go ■ write each letter correctly when following a model

24. Purpose of phase 4(4 – 6 weeks) • To consolidate children’s knowledge of graphemes in reading and spelling words containing adjacent consonants and polysyllabic words

25. Phase 4 • can blend adjacent consonants in words and apply this skill when reading unfamiliar texts, (CCVC, CVCC, CCVCC) step listclap graspstrap • can segment adjacent consonants in words and apply this in spelling Beware – Adjacent consonants are not digraphs. They make two distinct sounds.

26. Adjacent consonants • Children with speech and language difficulties find this stage tricky. Persevere – they will get there. • Adjacent consonants are no longer taught as blends as this can be a barrier to learning. Not everybody knows this yet. • Spread the word to other people • Watch out for old resources (and some new ones) • Train children to think about mouth movements

27. Games for Phase 4 • CVCC and CCVC words p111 • Phoneme frame CCVC p116 • Two syllable words Plus many other games introduced in earlier phases.

28. Applying • As previous phases and • Reading across the curriculum p. 124

29. By the end of phase four children should: ■ give the sound when shown any Phase Two and Phase Three grapheme ■ find any Phase Two and Phase Three grapheme, from a display, when given the sound ■ be able to blend and read words containing adjacent consonants ■ be able to segment and spell words containing adjacent consonants ■ be able to read the tricky words some, one, said, come, do, so, were, when, have, there, out, like, little, what ■ be able to spell the tricky words he, she, we, me, be, was, my, you, her, they, all, are ■ write each letter, usually correctly

30. Purpose of Phase 5(throughout Year One) • Children broaden their knowledge of graphemes and phonemes for use in reading and spelling • Learn new graphemes and alternative pronunciations some of which they will have already encountered in high frequency words for example /ae/ ay a_e ai a e.g. snake day • Learn to choose the appropriate graphemes when spelling and begin to build up word specific knowledge

31. Suggested daily timetable Revisit and review • Practise previously learned graphemes • Practise blending and segmentation Teach • Teach new graphemes • Teach tricky words Practise • Practise blending and reading words with the new GPC • Practise segmenting and spelling words with the new GPC Apply • Read or write a sentence using one or more high-frequency words and words containing the new graphemes

32. Suggested timetable - Weeks 1–4 • Practise recognition and recall of Phase Two, Three and Five graphemes as they are learned • Teach new graphemes for reading (about four per week) p. 134 • Practise reading and spelling words with adjacent consonants and words with newly learned graphemes • Learn new phoneme /zh/ in words such as treasure • Teach reading the words oh, their, people, Mr, Mrs, looked, called, asked • Teach spelling the words said, so, have, like, some, come, were, there • Practise reading and spelling high-frequency words • Practise reading and spelling polysyllabic words • Practise reading sentences • Practise writing sentences

33. New graphemes for reading

34. Suggested timetable - Weeks 5–7 • Practise recognition and recall of graphemes and different pronunciations of graphemes as they are learned • Teach alternative pronunciations of graphemes for reading (about four per week) p. 136 • Practise reading and spelling words with adjacent consonants and words with newly learned graphemes • Teach reading the words water, where, who, again, thought, through, work, mouse, many, laughed, because, different, any, eyes, friends, once, please • Teach spelling the words little, one, do, when, what, out • Practise reading and spelling high-frequency words • Practise reading and spelling polysyllabic words • Practise reading sentences • Practise writing sentences

35. Alternative pronunciations

36. Suggested timetable - Weeks 8–30 • Practise recognition and recall of graphemes and different pronunciations of graphemes as they are learned • Teach alternative spellings of phonemes for spelling p. 144 • Practise reading and spelling words with adjacent consonants and words with newly learned graphemes • Teach spelling the words oh, their, people, Mr, Mrs, looked, called, asked • Practise reading and spelling high-frequency words • Practise reading and spelling polysyllabic words • Practise reading sentences • Practise writing sentences

37. Games for Phase 5 • Split digraphs p135 e.g. tie/time • Known/alternative graphemes for reading p136 (milk, find, wild, skin) More alternative pronunciations on page 152 • Phoneme spotter/rhyming word generation /best bet p145-147 (video sequence) Plus many other games introduced in earlier phases.

38. By end of Phase five children should: ■ give the phoneme when shown any grapheme that has been taught ■ for any given phoneme, write the common graphemes ■ apply phonic knowledge and skill as the prime approach to reading and spelling unfamiliar words that are not completely decodable ■ read and spell phonically decodable two-syllable and three-syllable words ■ read automatically all the words in the list of 100 high-frequency words ■ accurately spell most of the words in the list of 100 high-frequency words ■ form each letter correctly

39. Purpose of phase 6(throughout year two) Reading Learn some of the rarer phoneme-grapheme correspondences. Develop automaticity in reading. In particular, reliably recognising digraphs as representing one sound. Children should become fluent readers during this phase and develop a range of comprehension strategies.

40. Purpose of phase 6(throughout year two) Spelling Identifying the tricky bit in a word. Develop strategies for spelling longer words. Develop guidelines for making choices between spelling alternatives. Begin to explore spelling conventions e.g. when using the past tense, adding suffixes etc.

41. Games for Phase 6 • Word sort • Team sort • Add race • Clap and count • Action replay • Suffix match • What comes next? Plus many other games introduced in earlier phases.

42. Strategies for spelling • Route to spelling • Best guess / Best Bet • Clap and count • Memory strategies

43. Applying Words that have been learned in phonics/spelling sessions must be applied in independent writing. Insist that children spell these words: Independently Successfully Consistently

44. Self Assessment • Encourage children to take responsibility for checking that they are correctly applying strategies in their own writing. • Explicitly teach them how to do this. • Encourage children to mark all the correct letters in a word and celebrate those that they have got right as well as identifying mistakes and learning from them.

45. Equipping children to read and write independently • Increase automaticity • Recognition of graphemes has to be automatic not segmenting every single letter. • Cyclical – greater understanding of spelling leads to greater understanding of reading which leads to a greater understanding of spelling. • Explicitly teach ways to read graphemes with various pronunciations.

46. Spelling throughout KS2 • Continues exploring conventions, strategies, spelling patterns in much the same way as in Phase 6. • Will almost certainly need lots of revision of spelling choices for long vowel phonemes. Most adults get stuck on these sometimes. • Don’t forget to keep it fun.

47. Spelling throughout KS2 Most spelling conventions become easier to identify and understand when children have a sound knowledge of phonics. Even teachers with secure subject knowledge in terms of spelling will need to reflect on how phonics can make things easier. Ensure that there are many opportunities to apply Build in self assessment.

48. Impact on reading Two consonants e.g. Hopping, jumping– signals short vowel Single consonant e.g. hoping signals long vowel (Therefore no longer need split digraph to signal • Spelling bank says: • Most verbs just add –ed • When a single syllable verb ends with a consonant preceded by a short vowel you double the final consonant when adding –ed. • If a word ends in e, avoid the double – by dropping one as necessary. Adding –ed to verbs • Essential phonic knowledge • Know how to segment • Recognise consonant and vowel phonemes. • Distinguish between long and short vowel phonemes • Know that –ed endings can be said in three ways • /t/ as in jumped • /d/ as in hoped • /i/d/ as in wanted