Jolly Phonics Teacher's Guide

• Letter Sound Box - Each pupil should have their own Letter Sound Box. The box contains letter cards for the pupil to go through. It can be used in school as well as being sent home. It should contain the letter sounds that are known by the child. Going through these helps develop automaticity, fluency and puts it into long-term memory. Letter sounds can be added to this box at a rate that is suitable for the pupil. The pupil needs to feel confident and not that they are continually getting things wrong. Gradually build up the letter sounds in their boxes, as quickly as possible, allows the pupils to feel successful.
• Letter Sound Race - The letter sounds are held up, one at a time. The first pupil to say the sound gets the card. At the end the pupils see who has the most cards. Ensure the pupils are of similar ability.
• Letter Sound Places - Deal out 5 letter sound cards to each pupil. They put them on the table in front of them, with the letters face up. Go round the group and each pupil points to and says the sounds they have as quickly as they can. They can then move to a different place and the activity is repeated with a different set of letters. After they have said the sounds they can us the letters sounds in front of them for word building. (See segmenting section)
• Turn and Say the Sound - Lay the letter cards face down in the middle of the table. The pupils take it in turns to turn over a card. If they say the correct letter sound they keep the card. If not they have to turn it back facedown and leave it on the table. When all the cards are gone they count up and see who has the most cards.

Words that have been blended a few times become known, and then blending is not needed for those words. In the early stages most words are not known. Take care to only use words that have letter sounds that are known to the pupils.

• Auditory blending - Auditory blending is only needed if a pupil cannot hear the word when they say the letter sounds. In this activity the adult says the letter sounds for a word and asks the pupil(s) to blend it and encourage them to say the word. A few quick examples in each session gradually develops this essential skill.
• Auditory blending with pictures - Put out two pictures, sound out the word for one of them, and ask the pupil to blend the word and point to the correct picture. This activity is the easiest way to help a struggling child. When appropriate increase the number of pictures.
• Blending for reading - Deal out 3 - 5 word cards to each pupil. The pupils have to blend and say the words as quickly as possible. The other pupils watch and check the word is read correctly and can offer help if necessary. Alternatively, the adult could call out one of the words and the pupil indicates if they have that word. It could then be turned over. The activity is finished when all the words are faced down.
• Silent blending - Deal out 3-5 word cards to each pupil and, if appropriate, ask them to say the words straightaway. If they do not know a word encourage them to blend silently in their head and say the word.
• Who can read it first? - Show a word card to the group. Whoever gives the answer first keeps the card. Continue with some more words. At the end each pupil counts their cards and the winner is declared.

Some children initially are unable to hear the sounds in words. Fortunately they can be successfully taught this essential skill, which enables them to understand how the English alphabetic code works for writing words.

• Holding up a finger for each sound - Say a short regular word and ask the pupils to say the sounds in the word, holding up a finger for each sound. Repeat with a few words. If they are finding this difficult then model it for them, using ‘I do it, we do it, you do it’.
• Word building - Put some plastic letters or letter cards on the table in front of each pupil. Then say a word and ask the pupils to make the word from the letters. Whoever has the letter for the first sound puts it into the middle of the table. This continues until the word has been built. The pupils then blend it to check if it is correct.

• Letter Sound Dictation - This activity is important and is often overlooked. Being able to write the correct letter/s when hearing a sound is the first step towards writing words. Until the pupils have automaticity in this it should be done in most sessions. Call out a few letter sounds for the pupils to write the associated letters, on paper, on lines or on boards. Check their pencil hold and formation while they write. It also re-enforces their knowledge of the letter-sound correspondences.
• Word Dictation - Call out a few words for the pupils to write on paper, on lines or on boards. Check their pencil hold and formation while they write. Using joined letters for digraphs re-enforces their knowledge of these letter-sound correspondences and means they are less likely to only write one of the letters needed. It also prepares them for joined up writing later on. When the pupils know how to spell the first group of tricky words, then a sentence that uses one of those tricky words and regular words made from known letter sounds can be dictated.

Tricky words are frequently used words that have an unusual letter-sound correspondence that has not been taught yet or are irregular e.g. ‘was’ has an /a/ sound that is pronounced as /o/. This is the ‘tricky’ bit of the word. Identifying it helps the pupils to memorise it.

• Quick flashcard revision - As fast as possible hold up tricky-word flashcards that you have been working on. Give the card to whoever is first to say the sound. If there is a tie put the card back in the pile. Each pupil counts the card they have won and the winner is declared.

• Say it as it sounds - Saying a tricky word as it sounds is a great way of helping pupils remember the tricky bit and how to spell it. For example, you say the word was /woz/ and the pupils call out /was/.

• Tricky word dictation - A quick dictation of a few words, that you have been working on with the pupils, provides practice for the pupils and gives the adult helper a check on what is known by each pupil.

• Tricky words at home - As soon as a pupil is fairly confident with a tricky word it could be added to their Letter Sound Box for practice at home. This extra support develops fluency and puts the words into long-term memory.