Synthetic Phonics programs now talk of ‘consonant blends’ or ‘adjacent consonants’, but what are they? Why is it that the letters ‘bl’ in the word ‘black’ are adjacent consonants while ‘ck’ are not? Speech and language therapist, Hema Desai explains the difference and suggests fun, multisensory activities to embed learning. As a speech and language […]
Read MoreI read this post and thought it was really worth reposting. It explains in simple and sympathetic language why decodable books have an important role to play in learning to read. New Zealand has been slow in adopting Systematic Synthetic Phonics, but things are changing for the better. This is a really worth a read! […]
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1. Step-by-step You don’t need to teach the whole alphabet to get reading going. Start with a few letters and get children to build words with them. Our series starts with the sounds s, a, t, i, m. 2. Word-building rocks! Word-building is the best way to teach reading and spelling. Write the letters on […]
Read MoreRead here a the recently published report by Dr Marlynne Grant: Longitudinal Study from Reception to Year 2 (2010-2013) and Summary of an earlier Longitudinal Study from Reception to Year 6 (1997-2004) The Effects of a Systematic Synthetic Phonics Programme on Reading, Writing and Spelling – with whole classes of children who started with the […]
Read MoreHere is our latest tutorial explaining the term ‘grapheme’. This tutorial is aimed at teachers, teaching assistants and parents helping children learn to read with phonics. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsWtyKqpHko
Read MoreMany schools are having to choose a phonics programme to use in mainstream classrooms or with their catch-up pupils. How can they tell which programmes are of high quality and that they adhere to the principles of Synthetic Phonics? Debbie Hepplewhite has written a really useful list of criteria. Click on the link below: http://www.syntheticphonics.com/pdf%20files/Criteria%20for%20evaluating%20a%20phonics%20programme.pdf
Read MoreTeachers and parents interested in the phonics debate will want to see this You Tube video clip by Alison from spelfabet. Informed, measured, amusing and true! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9e8SJFuGRFM
Read MoreThe Boomfield Learning Centre in London Bridge will be running two Synthetic Phonics hands-on workshops this term for TA’s and parents. Synthetic Phonics 1 on Monday 19th November 9.30-12.30 The workshop will cover the English Phonic Code, blending and segementing, precise pronunciation and using decodable texts. Synthetic Phonics 2 on Wednesday 5th of December 9.30-12.30 The workshop will […]
Read MoreWhat is the difference between ‘a blend’ (the noun) and ‘to blend’ (the verb)? Now that most schools are getting used to using synthetic phonics programmes some old terms are being dropped and new terms are introduced. So how do we now use the word ‘blend’ as a noun or a verb?
Read MoreWe often hear people calling for a ‘back to basics’ approach in education. But is Synthetic Phonics really backward looking or has it some new elements which differ from how reading was taught in the past?
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