Some keys to a successful synthetic phonics program are start with the simple and progress to the more complex, teach the sounds before expecting a child to read words, lots of practice, make it fun.
“We always use ‘ck’ on the end of a short word that only has one (short) vowel.” Rules like this will be very useful to children as they continue to refine their skills in learning to spell. At the moment just get them to read the words, make up some of them with their set of letters or write a few of them – back, block, brick, tick, lick, lock, luck, rock, track, trick, truck, stuck, sack, sick, sock, suck.
The initial consonant blend “tr” is one that some children find very difficult. They sometimes need a lot of help and practice to hear the individual sounds in it. Ask your child to make up these words with his set of letters – tram, trim, trip, trod, track, trick, truck and any other words that you can think of that only use the letters that he knows. Write “ck” on one card.
Practise reading words that only use the letter/sound combinations that children have learned so far. Concentrate particularly on the newest letters – u, l, j. E.g pup, pug, rub, rug, run, sun, tub, tug, lap, pal, lip, lit, jam, jet, jig, jog, jug, pit.
Pause the video so that you can check that your child remembers all of the letter/sound combinations from this level. It is also helpful to write the words from the Phonic Comic books on cards, to make sure he is not just “reading” the words from the pictures.
The high frequency words to practise for Level 3 are – but, cut, duck, help, jump, just, left, leg, let, mum, must, run, sun, up, upon, us.
These include three of the new letters learned in Level 3 – u, l, j and other letters that have already been learned.
Some ideas to practise these words are
- Read and write them.
- Make them up with letter cards.
- Write them on cards and play matching games or bingo with them.
- Choose three cards at random, read them, then make up a one-sentence story about them. E.g just, upon, run – “He just came upon a monster and must run home.” Who can make up the silliest story?
- Choose a word, make it up with letter cards, then change one letter at a time. E.g. but, bat, bit, sit, hit, hip, hop, hot … How far can you go?
Click on the bottom right hand corner of each video to see it full screen. If you have trouble seeing the videos try ck, tr, Phonic Comic 1/26, practice words, review, common words
All illustrations for Phonic Comic books © A. H. M. Wherrett, 2004.
To see the other videos go to Videos for Children
Print the book easy 1-26 back-to-back on A4 paper, cut it across the centre on the line, assemble, fold and staple.
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