Phonics

[DreamQ]

Hi, would someone be able to recommend a phonics app/ website that can be used for a 4 year old?

We are watching Alphablocks but, he sees that more as a tv programme ans he doesn't repeat after it.

TIA

Nooooooo, not magic e please!

You just teach and together, as they make the same sound. Nothing magical about it.

@Feenie

Nooooooo, not magic e please!

I know they don't teach it that way, but we resorted to it with Dd when we were home schooling during lock down and she actually understood.

It can cause confusion because it's not magic and it doesn't make the vowel say it's name in give or have or love etc so better to be factual rather than have to explain it doesn't work later.

Well I'm sure school will do a better job teaching ds than I did teaching Dd at home for however long it was in the end.
I'm not a teacher.

Synthetic Phonics

What is synthetic phonics?

Synthetic phonics is a method of teaching where words are broken up into the smallest units of sound (phonemes). Children learn to make connections between the letters of written texts (graphemes, or letter symbols) and the sounds of spoken language. Synthetic phonics also teaches children how to identify all the phonemes in a word and match them to a letter in order to be able to spell correctly.

Children are taught how to break up words, or decode them, into individual sounds, and then blend all the way through the word.

Example: In the word bat, children learn to identify three individual phonemes using the synthetic phonics method: /b/ /a/ /t/ that can be blended back together to produce a word. The ‘synthetic’ part of this particular phonics instruction derives from the process of synthesising or blending sounds to create words.

New sounds are not introduced in alphabetical order, and they are introduced quickly. Synthetic phonics means that children are able to read a range of easily decodable words sooner.

This means that if a child is introduced to the sounds /m/ /s/ /a/ /t/ they can quickly read the words at, mat, sat, am, Sam etc.

synthetic phonics and reading
ABC Reading Eggs uses a synthetic phonics method to teach children how to read. Learning is made fun, easy and highly intuitive for young kids. Free trial

Synthetic phonics vs analytic phonics

There are two main types of phonics: synthetic phonics and analytic phonics. The difference between them is substantial enough to affect the gains in literacy that young readers make.

Synthetic phonics is a more accelerated form of phonics. Children are taught letter sounds upon starting school, before they learn to read, and even before they are introduced to books.

With analytic phonics, children are taught to recognise whole words by sight, and later to break down the word into the smaller units of sound. Letter sounds are taught after reading has begun. The uncertainty is how much later this knowledge of letter sounds will follow. It does not always follow that children will be able to pick up these skills using analytic phonics. With analytic phonics, children differ widely in their ability to pick up all the implicit rules of the English alphabet.

Of course, the use of synthetic phonics does not exclude the use of analytic phonics. There are some words that cannot be learned by breaking them into smaller parts and children must learn them by sight. These are often referred to as ‘sight words’.

How ABC Reading Eggs teaches synthetic phonics

The ABC Reading Eggs program focuses on a core reading curriculum of synthetic phonics and sight words. Additionally, it builds vocabulary, fluency and comprehension.

The program comprises highly structured, systematic and sequential skills-based lessons and activities that match an individual letter, or letter combination, with its appropriate sound. Children are taught to blend sounds all the way through a word in order to read it, as well as how to spell. They learn this through a variety of fun and interactive games and activities.

ABC Reading Eggs introduces the technique of reading words from left to right and blending all the way through the word from the very first lesson. ‘Sound Buttons’ are introduced in the early stages of the program to encourage children to make letter-sound correspondences and to teach them how to blend individual phonemes to read words.

phonics games for kids
ABC Reading Eggs teaches children how to hear individual phonemes and blend them all the way through to create a word.

Early lessons and activities help children to identify how many phonemes they can hear within a word. Other activities prompt them to listen to individual phonemes and to identify the initial, middle and final sound within the word.

Building on from initial phonemic awareness and simple letter-sound recognition, children learn how one phoneme can sometimes be represented by two or more letters, such as /sh/ or /igh/. It also shows children how a single phoneme can be represented in several ways, such as /ee/ as in see, /ea/ as in sea, and /ie/ as in field. Children also learn how a single letter can represent more than one phoneme, such as /o/ in go, and /o/ in top.

readingeggs.com.au/articles/2012/06/22/synthetic-phonics/

@Newnamemsz and @Feenie Please stop spreading misinformation.

The ABC Reading Eggs program focuses on a core reading curriculum of synthetic phonics and sight words.

Sight words. So immediately that makes it mixed methods, not exclusively synthetic phonics and therefore does not match the NC; which states that children must not be asked to decode using any other method.

There are some words that cannot be learned by breaking them into smaller parts and children must learn them by sight. These are often referred to as ‘sight words’.

That’s a huge deviation from the NC and absolutely goes against everything an exclusive synthetic phonics programme stands for.

Again, these are just facts - taken from your quotes from the Reading Eggs website. It’s a fact that those quotes mean it can’t ever be an exclusive synthetic phonics programme and it’s a fact that those quotes mean it teaches mixed methods.

Unless you mean that Reading Eggs themselves are ‘misinforming’ their users?!

Thanks for the fire chat. DS is keen to sound out all sorts of words but sometimes they don't work (as he's in reception not y1). I'll hold off on the technical explanation for now and pronounce the word properly and tell him he will learn those sorts of words later on.

Unfortunately ImustLearn2Cook it's your reliance on ReadingEggs as a source that is spreading misinformation. I'm afraid an Australian TV broadcaster isn't the best place to look for a correct definition.

Let's look at the Onset +Rime element of Reading Eggs

Onset-Rime Phonics is really a subset of analogy phonics. Here’s how it works. Suppose TEACH is a sight word for Johnny. EACH is called the rime, T the onset. Now Johnny runs into the unknown (for him) word BEACH. To identify it, he needs to recall TEACH, not by sound (he doesn’t know that yet), but by the fact that visually, both TEACH and BEACH have the same 4 letters (E, A, C, and H) in the same configuration. Now he simply(?) subtracts the T sound from TEACH and, in its place, substitutes a B sound (buh?) and he’s got it: BEACH. The hope is that he'll “read” PEACH, BREACH, LEACH, BLEACH, PREACH, and REACH in the same manner.

Okay, so that's the EACH rime family. But what about the ACK, OOP, and UNK families? You might find yourself wondering at this point, just how many rime families are out there? Most teachers who use onset-rime don’t realize there are over 300 rime families in English. One sight word, acting as the pronunciation key, must be memorized for each rime family. It gets worse. This covers only single-syllable words. Many more rimes exist only in multi-syllable words (e.g. ULT in ADULT, RESULT, and CONSULT; ECT in DEFECT, RESPECT, and SELECT). Rote-memorization of rimes and onsets, including the sounds of all the beginning blends (BL, SP, TR, and so on), quickly tops 400 items. 400 things to be memorised plus hundreds of words!

Analytic Phonics requires that the child first build up a large cache of sight words (Whole Language strategy). These words can then be "analyzed," allowing the child to "discover" the letter/sound relationships in our alphabetic code. Here are two examples. Once BOAT, BOY, and BED are sight words, the child can be led to discover that B symbolizes the sound /b/. Once BOAT, LOAF, and SOAP are memorized, the child can be led to discover that OA symbolizes /oe/ To systematically cover the alphabetic code in this manner takes 5 - 6 years, due to the required sight word memorisation and to the "discovery" mode of teaching.

Analogy Phonics also requires a large cache of sight words to get started - words from which to "analogize." (More Whole Language nonsense)

Synthetic Phonics can't be balanced with Whole Language. It stands in utter opposition to both Whole Language and Balanced Literacy. It’s not a strategy for “word-solving” (as are analogy phonics and onset-rime phonics). It’s a logical and powerful method for teaching reading and spelling – and it contradicts Balanced Literacy in every way. It sets up a stark choice for anyone wishing to teach a child to read: Balanced Literacy or Synthetic Phonics. Synthetic phonics is not compatible with Analytic or Analogy Phonics!

Synthetic phonics

Synthetic Phonics is a bottom-upp approach to reading and spelling. "Bottom-up" because instruction starts, not with whole words, but with the most basic sound unit there is: the phoneme. The word Sit for instance, has 3 sounds or phonemes: /s/ /i/ /t/ represented by the letters s- i-t respectively). To use Synthetic Phonics is to teach phonemic awareness, with letters_, throughout the entire program.

2. From Day 1, the major letter/sound correspondences of the alphabetic code are taught in an explicit and systematic manner, using a clearly-defined sequence, with each new topic building on what has already been learned.

3. As soon as "some" letter/sound correspondences are mastered (say 4 - 8), children can start reading simple words, that is, they blend (sound-out, synthesize) phonemes, left to right, all through a written word in order to pronounce it. This is decoding and will allow the child to become an independent reader.

4. Children are taught to listen carefully, and to segment a spoken word into its constituent phonemes in order to spell it. Initially, best practice is to do this only with words the children have just decoded, thereby making the segmenting and spelling task easier for them.

5. Children are explicitly shown how blending and segmenting are reversible processes.

6. Children are asked to read for themselves only words and sentences for which they already have the skills to succeed. Such text is called decodable for them.

Synthetic phonics is NOT compatible with Analytic phonics in a mix up!

@Hercisback

Thanks for the fire chat. DS is keen to sound out all sorts of words but sometimes they don't work (as he's in reception not y1). I'll hold off on the technical explanation for now and pronounce the word properly and tell him he will learn those sorts of words later on.

I'd simply tell him that "you haven't learnt this yet but these letters are the sound /ie/" even though he he's in reception.

Just to make it clear synthetic phonics does not use top-down teaching methods that start with whole words (sight words) rather than with phonemes and letters. Any program that uses analytic phonics, analogy phonics, or onset-rime phonics must, by its very nature, be top-down and NOT compatible.

Thanks mrsZ. Really is a minefield!

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