Using the Faith in Phonics Series

A child who is really struggling will need additional help at home or in school to develop the vital skills for literacy of knowing the sounds and blending those sounds all through the word for reading.

Choose your moment! A tired or hungry child may not be an enthusiastic reader. Many children respond well to a regular time slot when they expect to read (and be read to). Don’t worry if the whole book is not completed in one session.

Check that the child has learnt the sounds or spellings of the sounds covered in the book. For Set 1 Books you could see how fast they can say all the sounds on the back cover.

Ask the child to read the sounds on the practice page near the front of the book and then sound out and blend as many words as are helpful – paying particular attention to any two syllable words which might cause difficulty.

Point out any tricky past tenses where the suffix -ed says a single sound, /d/ or /t/, and try reading the past tense verbs if these are likely to cause problems.

Using the notes provided, explain any tricky words that the child is unable to read ‘at a glance’.

Read the introduction on page 1 and make sure the child is familiar with the names of the Bible characters and any place names. There are notes to help children sound these out as usual.

Then let the child read the story and enjoy the pictures. You may need to contribute to the story by reading some small print yourself in some of the early texts in Set 1.

Finish by reading the reflection and asking the questions.

After reading a Set 2 Book, you could choose a few words on the back cover for the child to read again, particularly if any words contain sounds the child was unsure of. Alternatively, make a game of counting how many words from the back cover the child can read in one or two minutes, either before or after reading the text.

Reading the story again will help the child develop fluency and improve comprehension. But above all, keep the reading session light hearted and enjoyable. Be patient and praise their efforts!

Tips to help with reading

If the child gets stuck on a word, slow down and encourage them to say the sounds. Make sure that pure sounds are used. Remind them of any letter-sounds they have forgotten and ask them to speed up the sounds so that it’s easier to hear the word. If they find this hard, say the sounds faster yourself and ask whether they can hear the word. If not, say the word for them. If there are too many words the child can’t read, try an earlier book in the series. Children move through several stages when learning to read.

♦ At first they sound out (out loud) and say the word

♦ Later they can be encouraged to sound out in their head and say the word.

♦ And finally they just say, read ‘at a glance’ (no need to go on sounding out if you recognise the word!)

Difficulty with two syllable and polysyllabic words

Some children have no difficulty blending all through a word like ‘bandits’. Others may need more help. If they do, cover the second syllable with a finger or piece of paper and encourage the child to sound out each syllable separately before blending the syllables. Book 4 in Set 1 gives plenty of practice in reading two syllable words.

Difficulty reading words with suffixes (-s, -es, -ed, -ing, -er, -est)

Again, some children have no difficulty adding -s to a word for a plural or present tense verb. For those that need help, cover the -s with a finger so that they can read the root word before adding the /s/ sound. Words ending in -ing, -er, -es and -est can be treated as two syllable or polysyllabic words as described above.

Faith in Phonics

DECODABLE

Jackie Day

BSc, MBChB, PGCE

Jackie is a retired primary school Special Educational Needs Coordinator, currently involved in supporting Dr Marlynne Grant with training for her phonics programme, Sound Discovery®. Whilst raising her three daughters, Jackie ran her local Sunday school and discovered a love of teaching and completed a PGCE.

Working part-time Jackie was able to focus on working with children with Special Educational Needs, some of whom were starting Junior School in Y3 unable to read. In 2000 Jackie met Marlynne and was introduced to her systematic synthetic phonics (SSP) programme. Sound Discovery® transformed Jackie’s work and she began writing stories and other texts to supplement the programme.

Under the English Hubs training programme, Jackie delivered Sound Discovery® phonics training to schools with Marlynne. During the pandemic lockdowns they worked collaboratively on an electronic version of training and produced a set of phonics videos, each of which ended with a decodable story.

PHONICS CONSULTANT Dr Marlynne Grant

BSc, Cert Ed, M Ed Psych, PhD, AFBPsS, C Psychol. REGISTERED

AS EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGIST WITH HCPC (HEALTH & CARE PROFESSIONS COUNCIL)

Marlynne has worked as an Educational Psychologist for many years with various Local Authorities. Marlynne is a trained teacher with a PhD from the Education Department, Cambridge University and a professional Masters qualification in Educational Psychology from Exeter University.

Marlynne conducted an eight-year research study into systematic synthetic phonics (SSP). The study helped to inform government policy and featured in the House of Commons report Teaching Children to Read (2005). Marlynne has been instrumental in conducting further studies that have yielded outstanding results. The studies were especially effective with vulnerable groups, including the disadvantaged and those with special educational needs. The results of her research are referenced in the government policy paper, The reading framework, Teaching the foundations of literacy, (2021).

Marlynne wrote the phonics programme Sound Discovery® which is validated by the Department for Education as a complete SSP programme. She also wrote the ‘daughter’ programme Rapid Phonics with Pearson Education. Marlynne was the Language Consultant on the popular Easy words to read children’s story books published by Usborne.