Parents’ Workshop: Phonics at .......
th
25 October 2010
Phonics Workshop 25.10.10 Parents’ Handout
JOY
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List of Contents 1. What is Phonics?..........................................
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2. Phonics at
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3. Over to our kids...........................................
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4. Activities: Body Percussion....................................... 7 Crossing the River................................... 8 Fishing for Phonemes............................. 9 Jolly Phonics.............................................. 10 Miss Esra had a Box................................ 11 Noisy Names............................................. 12 Noisy Neighbours.................................... 13 Silly Soup.................................................. 14 Sound Puppets.......................................... 15 Sound Stories.......................................... 16 Spelling Games........................................
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Tricky Words Bingo...............................
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What’s in the Box?................................
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5. Over to You........................................................ 20 6. Useful Websites/ What you can do at Home.................................... 21
Phonics Workshop Workshop 25.10.10 25.10.10 Parents’ Parents’ Handout Handout Phonics
OYY JJO
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1. What is Phonics? Phonics is a means to an end – a method of teaching reading and writing. Initially children are taught to listen to, identify and attempt to replicate different sounds, including environmental sounds and musical sounds. They also learn with the same initial letter). Children listen to sounds in words and identify them. Children then move on to link letter shapes - graphemes (1 letter) diagraphs (2 letters) and triagraphs (3 letters) to the 42 main letter sounds or phonemes in the English language. Children also begin the adventure of reading and writing. They decode words by learning the important skills of blending – combining letters to read words, and segmenting – taking a word and splitting up the word into individual sounds which make it. Children also learn to read tricky words; these words are not phonetically decodable. Children learn which part is tricky and learn to read these words by sight.
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2. Phonics at Phonics teaching at TEIS is active and fun. It is not concerned with teaching letter formation and handwriting. We use a range of exciting games so that phonics is taught in an active child-centred way. At TEIS we begin phonics at two years old. The main source for our curriculum is “Letters and Sounds� which is used in the UK. This is a systematic programme which allows teachers to guide students through the adventure of sound recognition and early reading. It is hard to understand how children learn as letters are concretely linked in our heads with sounds. But think of the shapes b, d, p, and q and listen to their sounds. It is easy to see how children need methods to link letters and sounds. Jolly Phonics uses mnemonics, (memory aids) which facilitate multi-sensory learning. Children see a letter and say the sounds as they do an action. This enables children to learn quickly, to retain knowledge and to have fun. They begin to look around their environment for letters. Children are detectives learning to break codes and experiencing miraculous firsts of reading.
Phonics Workshop 25.10.10 Parents’ Handout
JOY
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In Pre-school children enjoy active games relating to Phase 1 of the letters and sounds programme. They play fun games based on the following: Environmental Sounds Musical Sounds Rhythm and Rhyme Voice Sounds Alliteration Nursery children develop their skills in the above areas and begin to learn about different sounds. They identify sounds in their names and initial sounds of familiar words and begin to do the Jolly Phonics actions for different sounds. They also begin to play oral blending games. . In Reception children begin the adventure of reading. They learn all of the single letter fun of games to begin to blend and segment words and can read and write three and four letter words. They learn to read and write some “tricky words”. In Year 1 children consolidate their learning of letter sounds and learn a range of vowel diagraphs such as: ar, ee oy. They become more confident and independent readers and writers and we are so proud of their achievements.
Phonics Workshop 25.10.10 Parents’ Handout
JOY
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3. Over to our Kids TEIS children love phonics. Children in our year 1 classes are really phonics experts as they have experienced all the phases of phonics teaching. Here’s what some of them have to say: “Phonics is about words, I like it, it’s fun, I like tricky words.” Semih “In phonics I have fun because when we are playing games with my friends. I have fun we play catching fish. I can read a little bit.” Mina “I like phonics; it’s very fun because we always do games.” Sarp Ali “I like phonics; I can read books because of phonics. I like books about skeletons.”Alp
Phonics Workshop 25.10.10 Parents’ Handout
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4. Activities Body Percussion Aims: For children to develop their phonemic awareness, which relates to the structure of words, not meaning, the number of sounds in the words. Children use their bodies as instruments allowing them to have a physical sense of words and sounds Suitable age range: 2 – 6 Description: A range of activities are included in body percussion. Singing songs and clapping is the first stage. Children repeat sounds or songs and tap, clap, stamp, or click. They find different ways to make sounds. Children respond physically which really helps them to listen to and learn about sounds. Children repeat sounds which they associate with movements and sounds. Early reading starts with a dance of joy.
Phonics Workshop 25.10.10 Parents’ Handout
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Crossing the River Aims: For children to practise their recognition of letters and to develop their segmenting skills; the ability to hear a word and identify the different sounds in it. This is an essential skill for early writing. Suitable age range: 4 – 6 Description: In this game children cross a river of letters and sounds. Letter cards are placed on the floor as stepping stones on a river. Children listen to a short word of up to four letters. They try to cross the river by jumping onto the correct letters to spell the word. As they jump, their friends say the sound of the letter that they are stepping on. At the end children retrace the journey by saying the letters that were stepped on and blending them to read the word.
Phonics Workshop 25.10.10 Parents’ Handout
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Fish for Phonemes Aims: For children to practise recognising letters that they have been taught and to practise both segmenting and blending words with these letters, to make words. Suitable age range: 4 -6 Description: The teacher has puts some fish shapes with letters on them onto the carpet. The vowel phonemes are on red fish, consonant sounds are on blue fish. The fish have paper clips around them. There are “fishing rods” which can simply be a string with a magnet attached. The teacher says a phoneme and the children try to catch a catch as many fish as they can in a given time. After the children have caught fish the teacher asks them to make a word with a red fish and a blue fish and children read their word to their friends. Then they make as many words as they can with a two blue fish and a red fish. This can also be done for four letter words with two blue fish a red fish and then a blue fish.
Phonics Workshop 25.10.10 Parents’ Handout
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Jolly Phonics Aims: For children identify different phonemes (sounds) and link them to a movement. Suitable Age Range: 2 – 4 only with sounds 4 – 6 with sounds and letters.
Description: Children learn different sounds and associate a given action with the sound. So for the sound “m” children say “m” and rub their tummies. For the sounds “s” they say the sound “s” and make a snake shape with their hands. Children see the letter and say the sound and do the action. This is a great way for children to learn and remember as they are looking, speaking and doing. This engages a wide range of learning styles. Children then look at a range of pictures of short words, i.e. cat. They say the first sound and do the action.
Phonics Workshop 25.10.10 Parents’ Handout
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Miss Esra had a Box Aims: For children to practise listening to everyday sounds and begin to name sounds and to try to replicate a range of environmental sounds. Suitable Age Range: 2 - 6
Description: The teacher chooses some familiar “noisy items such as a set of keys a crisp packet. First the teacher names them and asks the children to name them and demonstrates the sound that each item makes. Next the teacher sings the following to the tune of Old McDonald. “Miss Esra has a box ee
i ee i o and in that box she has a.” ..(makes a sound with the item hidden) the children take it in turns to guess the item and continue the song, imitating the sound. With a zzz here and a zzz there. Children take it in turns to imitate the sound as they sing the song. This is a wonderful activity for children to really listen to everyday sounds and to use their mouths in different ways to try to replicate them.
Phonics Workshop 25.10.10 Parents’ Handout
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Noisy Names Aims: For children begin listening to words and hearing how many syllables are in the words. To develop children’s sense of rhythm and phonetic knowledge of words. Suitable Age Range: 2 - 6
Description: Children sit in a circle; they all say their own names. Next they say their names and tap part of their body to show the different consonants in their names. They can represent their names with a range of body percussion movements whilst saying their names. So Miss Tomris could be a tap on the head for Miss, a clap for Tom and a stamp for ris. All of the children join in with this. Next children can choose instruments to use to make noisy names! They say their name and play the instrument to show the syllables. This is a great way for children to begin to develop their knowledge of words; starting with the word they hear the most often.... their own name.
Phonics Workshop 25.10.10 Parents’ Handout
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Noisy Neighbours Aims: For children to listen to and remember different sounds and attempt to make different sounds that they hear. Suitable Age Range: 2 – 6.
Description: One teacher plays the role of the story teller; she tells children that they are going to go to sleep. Children pretend to go to sleep; one teacher is hidden behind a screen. As the children are “sleeping” the teacher makes a noise from behind the screen. The story Children take it in turns to guess what the noise is. They then try to replicate the sound. The process is repeated. When children have played this game several times they can then be the person behind the screen making the sounds. This is a great way for children to focus on listening to a range of sounds and to try to replicate them.
Phonics Workshop 25.10.10 Parents’ Handout
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Silly Soup Aims: To develop children’s awareness of alliteration and ability to identify the first sound that they hear in words. Suitable Age Range: 3 – 6 Description: The teacher prepares a selection of items with names that begin with the same sounds. Show how you can make silly soup, by putting together ingredients (e.g. a banana, a bee, and a box) into a pan in the role play area. The children play and make their own recipes. The teacher emphasises the initial sounds and observes the mouth movements of children and draws attention to the way we start words and forms sounds. For older year groups or to differentiate, children are asked to make soup with ingredients only of one sound from a range of objects.
Silly soup is a great game which really prepares children for the initial stages of writing.
Phonics Workshop 25.10.10 Parents’ Handout
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Sound Puppets Aims: For children to practise recalling the phonemes that they have learnt. To recognise letters and also to link the letters with sounds that they hear. Suitable Age Range: 4 – 6.
Description: The teacher takes a puppet and explains that the puppet isn’t very good at phonics and keeps getting phonemes wrong. She asks the children to help the puppet with their phonics. First the teacher displays some of the phonemes that the children have learnt recently, she points to one and says the wrong phoneme. The children help the puppet by saying the correct phoneme. Next the teacher says a phoneme and the puppet points to the wrong letter; one of the children comes to point to the correct letter.
Phonics Workshop 25.10.10 Parents’ Handout
JOY
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Sound Stories Aims: For children to practise making different sounds, using their mouth in different ways and listening to a story and responding with given sounds. Suitable Age Range: 2 – 4.
Description: The teacher explains to the children that she is going to tell a story. She explains that at certain points in the story that the children are going to respond with different sounds, for example when there is a cow the children will moo, if the snake comes the children have to hiss sss, if there is a bee they have to buzz zzzz. The teacher tells the story and the children listen making sounds at the correct times. The children also decide on different sounds for different things.
Phonics Workshop 25.10.10 Parents’ Handout
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Tricky Word Bingo Aims: To teach children to read and write words with some elements that are not phonetically decodable
Suitable Age Range: 4 – 6
Description: The teacher shows some “tricky word” cards. Together the children and teacher talk about why it is tricky, for example of..The tricky part is the f because it makes a v sound, it is trying to trick us. Then children are given bingo cards with some tricky words on it. The teacher reads the words and the children put counters over their words as they are called. To differentiate higher ability children can be the teacher and read the words.
Phonics Workshop 25.10.10 Parents’ Handout
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What’s in the Box? Aims: To develop children’s ability to blend separate letters to read words.
Suitable Age Range: 4 – 6
Description: The teacher prepares a set of word cards for example, boat, cup, doll, pen and an object for each word which she puts in a box.
The teacher tells the
children that they have hidden some objects in the box and that they need to help to find them. The teacher shows a word and the children blend the letters and say what is in the box. One child comes and tries to find the object in the box. This can be by feeling the objects or by looking into the box. This is also a great game to develop children’s vocabulary it can be used to practise knowledge of different words.
Phonics Workshop 25.10.10 Parents’ Handout
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5. Over to You... Parents messages: Thank you all the teachers once again for this great presentation
and
the
enthusiastic lessons that they have shared with us. Hope to see the results soon. With love. It was really fun! It will help a lot while doing homework with my son. Thanks
Phonics Workshop 25.10.10 Parents’ Handout
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It was really amazing to have this experience. I now understand better why “learning is joy” Thanks a lot
Phonics Workshop 25.10.10 Parents’ Handout
JOY
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6. Useful Websites and What you Can do at Home Phonics Websites Information: http://www.jollylearning.co.uk/2008%20UK%20%20Guide.pdf http://nationalstrategies.standards.dcsf.gov.uk/node/84969 Games: http://www.letters-and-sounds.com http://www.ictgames.co.uk/ http://www.starfall.com/ http://www.phonicsplay.co.uk/
What You Can Do at Home Enjoy reading with your child at home. Show your child that you enjoy reading. If you write your child’s name with them please use a capital letter followed by lower case letters, not only capitals. Involve your child in writing at home, show them when you need to write.
orkshop 25.10.10 Parents’ Handout
JOY