Free Tips and Resources for Phonics Teaching

Information, programs, games, activities and resources selected by SPELD SA teachers to support the teaching of phonics.

1. Synthetic Phonics Assessment:

These tests were created for the SPELD SA Study to provide teachers with a tool for monitoring their students’ achievement on a term by term basis. The content of the tests relates directly to the progression of skills in the Scope and Sequence Chart.

2. Example Plans

3. Information

4. FAQ

5. Games/Activities

6. Resources

1. Synthetic Phonics Assessment [top]

Year: Reception/Foundation

Synthetic Phonics Scope and Sequence Chart modelled on the Jolly Phonics Program and Supporting Tests for Monitoring Achievement and Spread-sheets for Record-keeping.

These tests were created for the SPELD SA Study to provide teachers with a tool for monitoring their students’ achievement on a term by term basis. The content of the tests relates directly to the progression of skills in the Scope and Sequence Chart.

Reception End of Term 1 Test Materials [top]
Reception End of Term 2 Test Materials [top]
Reception End of Term 3 Test Materials [top]
Reception End of Term 4 Test Materials [top]

Year 1: Supporting Tests for Monitoring Achievement and Spread-sheets for Record-keeping.

These tests were created for the SPELD SA Study to provide teachers with a tool for monitoring their students’ achievement on a term by term basis.

Year 1 End of Term 1 Test Materials [top]
Year 1 End of Term 2 Test Materials [top]
Year 1 End of Term 3 Test Materials [top]
Year 1 End of Term 4 Test Materials [top]

Year 2: Supporting Tests for Monitoring Achievement and Spread-sheets for Record-keeping.

These tests were created for the SPELD SA Study to provide teachers with a tool for monitoring their students’ achievement on a term by term basis.

Year 2 End of Term 1 Test Materials [top]
Year 2 End of Term 2 Test Materials [top]
Year 2 End of Term 3 Test Materials [top]
Year 2 End of Term 4 Test Materials [top]

3. Information [top]

Helpful Hints for Blending [top]

Helpful Hints for Blending - Sue Lloyd, author of Jolly Phonics

If the short vowel does not sound right, try the long one. This works with regular and irregular words eg he, be, me, blind, mind, apron, able, emu, item, o’clock.

If the letter c is followed by the vowels ‘e, i or y’, the sound is usually softened to ‘s’ as in face, dance and Nancy.

If the letter g is followed by the vowels ‘e, i or y’, the sound is usually softened to ‘j’ as in gym, giant and podgy.

When blending a ‘y’ which is not the first letter in the word, first try the short ‘i’ and if that doesn’t work, try the long ‘i’.

Advice on ‘tweaking’ the sounds in a word:
When we blend sounds to make a word, we often have to ‘tweak’ the sounds in order to pronounce the word properly. However, the pronunciations are so close that children are usually able to read the words, especially if they are in their vocabulary. Here are some common examples:

  • as, resist, is etc. – the /s/ sound is more like a light /z/ sound
  • pasta, lemon, attack, packet etc. – in many words a vowel is not always pronounced accurately and makes an /uh/ type of sound. This is known as a schwa. Sometimes it can even sound a bit like a different vowel, as in packet /pacit/. This causes few problems with reading but makes spelling much harder.
  • ink, tank, sunk etc. – the is pronounced /ngk/ - there are few problems for reading and the spelling difficulties can be overcome by teaching the children to write when they hear /ngk/, and learn the odd one that does not follow this advice, such as 'uncle' .
  • sense, sneeze, mouse, cassette, opposite etc. – the on the end gives no sound but the word can be heard after blending the letter sounds that come before the .
  • apple, kennel, devil, royal, cheerful etc. – these all have an /l/ sound at the end. The children cope well for reading but have to remember which alternative to use for spelling.
  • catch, pitch, hutch etc. – the is not pronounced.
  • doctor, collar, - the and have an /er/ sound. Again spelling is more of a problem than reading.
  • salt, alter, walrus etc. – the gives an /or/ sound but the is also pronounced. 
  • bold, told, sold etc. – the is not a /o/ or an /oa/. It is in-between these two sounds and only becomes more difficult when spelling.
  • blue, grew, rude etc. – have an /oo/ sound rather than a /ue/ sound.
  • fast, class, path etc. – children who pronounce these words with an /a/ sound have no problems. Those who pronounce the words with an /ar/ sound can usually ‘tweak’ the pronunciation and cope well with these words, especially when it has been explained to them.

Components for 90-Minute Wave 1 Literacy Blocks throughout Primary Years by Deslea Konza [top]

4. FAQ [top]

When should I use c, k and ck? [top]

I am looking at when to use c, k and ck. I have found the rules on when to use ck and k at the end of words but are there any guidelines on when to use c or k at the beginning of words? - Jan Polkinghorne accredited Jolly Phonics Trainer   The way I do it is to pull out a dictionary, get students to compare the number of pages of words starting with c to those starting with k. the c pages far exceed the k pages so the general rule of thumb is if you don’t know for sure use c not k because it is far more common.   

You can further refine this later if you want but I wouldn’t to begin with. The letter k is substituted for c if /k/ is followed by an e, i, or y. – kin, sketch, kind, keep but there are exceptions like kangaroo. This approach later leads into the use of hard c soft c where c followed by e/i/y makes a ‘s’ sound not a “k” sound.
But for the receptions I would keep it simple. One good activity is to let them search for “k” sound words and keep a list of those beginning with c and those beginning with k.

5. Games / Activities [top]

Bottle Top Letters

Bottle Top Letters are designed for those who are using bottle tops with letters on to build words.

Bottle Top Letters (Instructions) Bottle Top Letters - Print (Letters you can print for your bottle tops) Bottle Top Letters - Sassoon (Letters you can print for your bottle tops) - Jan Polkinghorne accredited Jolly Phonics Trainer

Word Sorts

(Reception and above)

a, e and u in CVC words

k & ck

adding ing

real or rubbish

ee or ea

ou as in mouth

soft c or hard c

ai, a-e and ay

plurals s & es

 

 

 

soft g or hard g

 

 

 

 

 

suffix ed sounds like t, d or id

          
           
           

A word sort activity involves sorting words into categories. The student is given a master sheet with category headings and a sheet of words that have several types of contrasting sounds, spelling patterns or meanings. The student cuts out the words and sorts them into the given categories. They then examine the words in each category and create a ‘rule’ or generalisation. For every rule, there are exceptions. Word sort activities call these words “odd bods”. Students should be encouraged to find out why a word does not fit the pattern or generalisation.  

 

6. Resources [top] 

Word Bank – provides suitable words for blending practice - Created by Sue Lloyd

Question Sentences (Group 1) - Created by Sue Lloyd

Question Sentences (Group 2) - Created by Sue Lloyd

It is important to give the children with reading problems material that they can decode for themselves. Often they feel that books are too hard for them. The above Question Sentences can help to fill the gap. They are sometimes amusing and provide another source of reading practice.

Dictation Sentences 1 - Created by Sue Lloyd [top]

Dictation Sentences 2 - Created by Sue Lloyd

Dictation is one of the most effective ways to teach children to write. Sentences for dictation with tricky words are provided in the links above.

Literature that supports introduction of new sounds - Compiled by Victoria Carlton ICE [top]

The pdf printable chart below uses the letter-sound sequence of the Jolly Phonics program as its basic structure. Decodable reading books from a number of series have been inserted at the point where they will provide practice for previously learned letter-sound associations. PDF Classification of phonic readers by year level  
Key Ring Letters [top] Some schools find it useful to cut these letter sound cards out, punch a hole in the corner and attach them with a split ring ( available at Office Works or similar). This is one way to help stop them being left home.
Print with a duplex printer or make double sided on your photo copier.

Key rings PDF Precursive Sassoon set 1 and 2 - Print set 1 and 2

Key rings PDF Precursive Sassoon Set 3 and 4 - Print set 3 and 4

Key rings PDF Precursive Sassoon set 5 and 6 - Print set 5 and 6

Key rings PDF Precursive Sassoon set 7 - Print set 7

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