Synthetic Phonics and Reading schemes

Whether or not you are using the Phonics International Programme, feel free to visit this informal 'Chat' forum!
Here you will find all sorts of interesting articles, links to research and developments - and various interesting topics! Do join in!
Post Reply
pdwroe
Posts: 30
Joined: Tue Aug 05, 2008 8:54 am

Synthetic Phonics and Reading schemes

Post by pdwroe »

Have just been reading a thread on the TES Early Years forum, about whether Letters and Sounds is Statutory and a question was raised about what reading schemes schools are using these days.
I would be interested to know what other people are experiencing in this area. To me the Government guidance is very clear, that children should only be given texts to read that they can decode with the GPCs they have been taught so far. I agree with this wholeheartedly, and have been using decodable texts for years with my children. However, what about schools where there are budget issues and who simply haven't got decodable texts? Is anyone teaching in a school where this is the case at the moment? What are you doing (if anything!) to try and solve the problem?
Is there any need for reading books if they aren't decodable? I would argue that there isn't. Giving children books that they can't read forces them to guess and this undermines all the fantastic SP teaching.

Phonics International has lots of word level sheets and games that are ideal for starting off. Once children are blending cvcc and ccvcc words securely I usually move them onto simple sentences - in the past I have used silly sentences which I made up from some of the first 100 words that children can decode using the first 42 GPCs. For example, "Can a red man run up a pink hill?"
Simple sentence level texts that can be used to bridge the gap between word reading and book reading. This, in conjunction with sharing books with children for pleasure, should set all children off to a flying start.

If you are struggling with this reading book issue and want more advice then visit my website www.phonicsintheuk.com or click on the link on the training section on the PI homepage. I have lots of resources and a suggested progression of activities that I can share if you e-mail me through my website. :)
Post Reply