Letters and Sounds: Phase 5 & 6 and Support for Spelling Summer 2009
Aims of the Course To examine the principles and practice of high quality phonics teaching and learning Phase 5 To become familiar with the new Support For Spelling materials Phase 6 To explore quality opportunities for children to use phonics to support their reading and writing
AGENDA Session One: Phase 5 COFFEE Session Two: Phase 6 Support for Spelling
The English Alphabet The English alphabetic system is efficient - 26 letters creating 44 phonemes in 144 combinations to form about half a million words in current use. The English alphabet includes 21 consonants; spoken English uses 24 consonant sounds, so the match between how we say a consonant and how we write it is generally predictable. The rich array of vowels poses particular problems: there are 20 spoken vowel sounds but only five vowel letters, for example, the long a sound is represented in a range of ways: e.g. ai, a-e, ea, ay, eigh. Learning the large number of grapheme-phoneme correspondences for the vowel sounds is the focus for Phase 5 and 6 of Letters and Sounds
History There are three main historical sources for English spelling patterns: Germanic from the Anglo Saxons, over half of our words fall into this category Romance Latin, French and, in the 16 th century, Spanish and Portuguese Greek the language of areas of knowledge (e.g. physics, philosophy) 85% of the English spelling system is predictable. The keys to supporting our pupils to become confident spellers lie in teaching the strategies, rules and conventions systematically and explicitly, and helping pupils recognise which strategies they can use to improve their own spelling.
Phonemic knowledge This is the correspondence between letters (graphemes) and sounds (phonemes). It includes knowledge about: phonics (e.g. knowledge about letter and sound correspondence, differences between long and short vowels, the identification, segmentation and blending of phonemes in speech and how these influence spelling); spelling patterns and conventions (e.g. how the consonant doubles after a short vowel, words with common letter strings but different pronunciations); homophones (e.g. words with common pronunciations but different spelling: to, two, too). Phonological knowledge. This relates to syllables, rhymes and analogy.
Children entering phase 5 are able to read and spell words containing adjacent consonants and some polysyllabic words See assessment Phase 4 p125 and 198
Aim of Phase 5 Broad knowledge of graphemes and phonemes for use in reading and spelling Learn new graphemes and alternative pronunciations for the graphemes they already know Children become quicker at recognising graphemes of more than one letter and blending the phonemes they represent When spelling words they will learn to choose the appropriate graphemes to represent phonemes Begin to build word-specific knowledge of the spellings of words
Ultimate goal!
Ultimate goal! Automatic reading of all words decodable and tricky
Where do we want children to get to? National expectation for 85% of children to be secure at Phase 5 by the end of year 1 Is this possible?
Many more children are now secure at Phase 3 than ever before
Teaching sequence INTRODUCTION Learning Objective REVISIT AND REVIEW Practise previously learned graphemes Practise blending and segmentation TEACH Teach new graphemes Teach tricky words PRACTISE Practise blending and reading words with the new GPC Practise segmenting and spelling words with the new GPC APPLY Read or write a sentence using one or more high frequency words and words containing the new graphemes ASSESS AGAINST CRITERIA
Actions http://www.jollylearning.co.uk/jp. htm
Reading skills Phase 5 Teaching further graphemes for reading (p134) Reading alternative pronunciations for graphemes (p136) Practising recognition of graphemes in reading words (p137) Teaching and practising reading HFW (p140) Learning to read tricky words Practising reading 2 and 3 syllable words (p142) Practising reading sentences (p142) Spelling and writing skills Teaching alternative spellings for phonemes (p144) Learning to spell and practising HFW (p143) Practising spelling 2 and 3 syllable words (p149) Practising writing sentences (p149)
Activities to support reading Activities to support spelling Quick copy Countdown Sentence substitution Choosing three right answers Yes/No questions Homographs Phoneme Frames Phoneme spotter Rhyming word generation Best Bet Clap and count Dictation
Vowel digraphs followed by a consonant or in a final position followed by a consonant final position ai (rain) a-e (date) ay (day) ee (street) ea (meat) [e-e (these)] ie (tried: past tense) igh (light) i-e (wide) i (find) oa (road) o-e (home) o (most, cold) oo (moon) u-e (cute) ua (laud) augh (caught) ough (bought) ee (see) ea (sea) ie (tie) y (try) igh (high) ow (throw) o (so) o-e (toe) ew (new) ue (blue) [oo (too)] aw (raw)
Vowel digraphs (cont.) followed by a consonant final position or (fork) ar (park ur (turn) ir (first) er (fern) ou (loud) ow (crown, down, drown, oi (join) oo (look) u (put) oul (could) or (for) ore (more) oor (floor) ar (far) ur (fur) ir (fir) rer (her) ear (learn) ow (how) oy (boy) ear (bear) are (bare) air (stair) ear (hear) ere (here)
Letters and Sounds DVD -Phase 5 Spelling option Word sort How could these parts fit into the discrete phonic session?
Teaching Sequence Planning Grid Revisit and review (ICT) Teach (ICT) Practise Apply (ICT) Phoneme cards Bingo boards Flashcards Fans Phoneme frame Quick write Quick copy Best Bet Word Sort Clap and count Add race Phoneme frame Countdown Word bingo Phoneme Spotter Sentence substitution Rhyming word generation Silly questions Sentence caption games Dictation Apply in other reading and writing activities
Can I fit it all in?
2009 /2010 Autumn 1 8 weeks Quick revisit phase 3 Complete phase 4 Spring 1 6 weeks Phase 5 Weeks 8-13 Autumn 2 7.1 weeks Phase 5 Weeks 1-7 Spring 2 5.4 weeks Phase 5 Weeks 14-19 Summer 1 6 weeks Phase 5 Weeks 20-25 Summer 2 6 weeks Phase 5 Weeks 26-30 Revision and Consolidation
Phase 5 Weeks 1 4 new graphemes for reading Phase 5 New graphemes to be taught over a week ( 4 per week ) Irregular/highfrequency words Wk 1 ai ay ee ea igh ie oa oe o Read: Mr, Mrs, people Write: some, have, come Wk 2 igh oa ai ee Read: oh, their i-e o-e a e e-e Write: said Wk 3 oo oi ur ow Read: looked, called ue oy ir ou Write: like, so ew Wk 4 ue zh or w wh Read: asked u-e aw au f ph Write: there, were ew (y)
Phase 5 Weeks 5-7 Alternative pronunciations of graphemes for reading Phase 5 Alternative pronunciations to be taught over a week (approximately 4 per week ) Irregular/highfrequency words Wk 5 hot cold fin find hat what cat cent Read: where thought any many eyes once Write: one do Wk 6 got giant cow blow tie field eat bread Read: again laughed different friends please Write: when what Wk 7 chin farmer yes out Read: water who school chef her by very shoulder could you through work mouse because Write: little out
Phase 5 Weeks 8-30 Teach alternative spellings of phonemes (p.144 & 154-157) Phase 5 Wks 8-13 Alternative spellings for these phonemes /c/ /f/ /w/ /n/ /i/ /r/ /v/ /j/ /ai/ /oi/ Irregular/highfrequency words Write: people looked called asked Wks 14-19 /S/ /m/ /e/ /o/ /ch/ /ee/ /igh/ /oa/ Write: oh their Mr Mrs Wks 20-25 /Sh/ /oo/ /oo/ /or/ /ur/ /ow/ /ear/ /air/ /ure/ /er/ /zh/ Write: revisit 100 high frequency word list Wks 26-30 REVISION and CONSOLIDATION Write: revisit 100 high frequency word list
Short Term Planning for phonics sessions in Key Stage One and Key Stage Two Weekly plans should show the phonic phase being taught and the relevant phonemes /activities to be taught that week for each group 20 minutes per day should be dedicated to the direct teaching of phonics and high frequency words There should be a logical teaching sequence throughout a session and across the week which includes application of phonics in both reading and writing Each session should cover a range of objectives and a range of learning styles (auditory, visual and kinaesthetic) Teaching phonics as a whole class is impossible if a wide range of phonic ability exists. Activities should be differentiated according to the phonic phase. Ideally children should be taught in ability groups using additional adults and teaching assistants.
Planning a Phase 5 week: Week 1-4 Week 5-7 Week 8-30
Web pages http://www.deseducation.org/default.asp?home=1 http://www.communication4all.co.uk/homepage.htm http://nationalstrategies.standards.dcsf.gov.uk/primary/literacysubjectarea http://www.teachingandlearningtameside.net
By the end of Phase 5 children should be able to (p161) give the sound when shown any grapheme that has been taught for any given sound, write the common graphemes apply phonic knowledge and skill as the prime approach to reading and spelling unfamiliar words that are not completely decodable read and spell phonically decodable two-syllable and three-syllable words read automatically all the words in the list of 100 HFW automatically spell most of the words in the list of 100 HFW form each letter correctly
DISCUSSION: How do you organise children working in Phase 3 in your school? How do you decide that children are ready to move from Phase 3 to Phase 4? What do you do? What do you want to see children doing where and when? What resources do you use? What informs your judgements? How do you support children who have made the move? So do you use the same decision making systems to move children from Phase 5 to 6?
Phase 6 Increasing fluency and accuracy Throughout Year Two and Key Stage Two Phase 6 is now expanded into a new resource Support for Spelling
Support for Spelling is about learning about words, how they are built and how they fit into our language. It is not about learning words. Carol Archer, Co-Author of Support for Spelling
Spelling Tests The Arguments For and Against
In Phase 6, children need to acquire more word-specific knowledge. They learn that good spelling involves segmenting words into phonemes but also choosing the right grapheme from among several possibilities In some cases, word-specific spellings (e.g.. sea/see, goal/pole/soul) simply have to be learned. Time is devoted to learning common words with rare or irregular spellings (e.g. they, there, said) as the quantity children write increases and without correction they may practise incorrect spellings that are later difficult to put right. There are spelling conventions or guidelines that generalise across many words and that children need to understand. These guidelines are identified in Appendix 1 of Support for Spelling
Morphological knowledge This is the spelling of grammatical units within words (e.g. horse = 1 morpheme, horses = 2 morphemes). It includes knowledge about: root words contain one morpheme and cannot be broken down into smaller grammatical units (e.g. elephant, table, girl, day) and are sometimes referred to as the stem or base form; compound words two root words combined to make a word (e.g. playground, football); suffixes added after root words, and change the spelling and meaning of a word (e.g. hope hoping, walk walked, happy happiness); prefixes added before a root word, and change the meaning but rarely affect the spelling of a word (e.g. replace, mistake); etymology (word derivations) words in the English language come from a range of sources; understanding the origin of words helps pupils spelling (e.g. audi relates to hearing audible, audience, audition).
The main components of a balanced spelling programme are: 1. To understand how words are constructed - phonemic i.e. sounds - morphemic i.e. meaning - etymological i.e. origin or root 2. To recognise how (and how far) these principles apply to each word 3. To use this knowledge in the learning of a word (identifying tricky bits ) 4. To practise spelling these words, preferably in appropriate sentences 5. To assess the correct spellings of these words in shared, guided and independent writing including writing opportunities across the curriculum 6. To proof-read work using all of the above knowledge 7. Building pupils self images as spellers
A good spelling programme will provide opportunities for children to learn spellings according to their learning style and preferences. Appendix 2 in the Support for Spelling materials provides a range of strategies for learning and practising spellings. The introduction of Spelling Logs/Journals is a key element in the Support for Spelling resource. It is strongly advised that each child has a spelling journal, not only for the spelling activities but also for the assessment dictation, so that the teacher and the children have a clear record of progress.
A good spelling programme gradually builds pupils spelling vocabulary by introducing patterns or conventions and continually practicing those already introduced. Experience has confirmed that short, lively, focused sessions are more enjoyable and effective than an occasional skills session. Spelling strategies need to be taught explicitly and applied to highfrequency words, cross-curricular words and individual pupils words. Proofreading should be taught during shared and guided writing sessions and links should be made to the teaching of handwriting. A good spelling programme will provide opportunities for children to learn spellings according to their learning style and preferences. Appendix 2 in the Support for Spelling materials provides a range of strategies for learning and practising spellings. The introduction of Spelling Logs/Journals is a key element in the Support for Spelling resource. It is strongly advised that each child has a spelling journal, not only for the spelling activities but also for the assessment dictation, so that the teacher and the children have a clear record of progress.
The Teaching Sequence Revisit, Explain Use What do we already know? (Previously learnt letter/sound correspondence, prefix, suffix..) Oral activities to confirm prior knowledge Explain the purpose of new learning, use vocabulary orally in context Teach, Model, Define How the pattern/rule/structure works Model spelling examples Define the rules, pattern and conventions Whole class/individual whiteboard spelling practice
The Teaching Sequence (continued) Practise, Explore, Investigate A range of interactive activities for children to practise the new learning Whole class activities Group work Extension activities Independent work Homework Apply, Assess, Reflect Revise new learning Apply in writing Reflect on learning
In Support for Spelling Children start to learn spelling conventions for adding common endings (suffixes) to words. Children will have met suffixes in reading, but for spelling purposes they need more systematic teaching of the suffixes themselves and of how the spelling of base words may have to change slightly when suffixes are added. Some grammatical awareness is also helpful here: just knowing that the regular past tense ending is spelt -ed is not enough children also need to be aware that the word they are trying to spell is a past tense word.
Planning Spelling Sessions using the Teaching Sequence Therefore, over a six-week half-term, there will be approximately ten sessions devoted to the specific spelling focus and five sessions devoted to the broader spelling activities. The suggested sequence is the same for every age group and every term. The sequence presumes five short starter sessions (approximately 15 minutes) over a two-week period. The sequence is designed to be used flexibly; the number of sessions spent on each part of the sequence will vary according to the needs and ability of the children, as related to the specific spelling focus. During each half-term, ten sessions should be used for teaching the specific spelling objective and five sessions should be used for the direct teaching of spelling strategies, proofreading, high-frequency words, specific cross-curricular words and personal spelling targets.
Spelling Logs Spelling logs can be used in two main ways: As part of the spelling programme: a regular part of the spelling activities involves children identifying specific words from the unit that they need to work on. These could follow a particular pattern or convention or could be high frequency words. These are put into logs with tips on how to remember spellings To record spellings arising from independent writing: these will be specific to individual child and will be the ones they regularly get wrong. Children are encouraged to devise strategies for learning them.
Teaching Sequence for Proof-Reading Preparation: Teacher selects an example of one child s work that has already had its structure, content, sentence construction and punctuation revised. Teacher writes it out and makes a few changes so it is not immediately recognisable. Shared Writing: Read through the work, explain that you are looking for a particular type of spelling error which is related to a recent teaching focus. Go through the following routine: - underline the part of the word you think is wrong and explain why you think is wrong - try an alternative spelling does it look right? - check from another source e.g. word banks, another child, spelling log, dictionary - write in the correct spelling Repeat this until the target words have been corrected. Are there any patterns in these errors? Is there a strategy that would help us avoid errors in the future? Independent and guided writing: Children repeat the same process for their own writing. Less confident writers can be supported in guided writing sessions
Marking Children s Writing Set clear expectations when children start to write Remind children of strategies, rules and conventions using posters, table prompts etc. Analyse children s errors Look closely at strategies they are using. What does this tell you about understanding Provide feedback and time to respond Focus on limited number of spelling errors that relate to particular letter string or spelling convention. Setting targets Write group targets that will apply to all the writing the children do. Individual targets tailored to include specific problem words can be included when necessary. Self-assessment statements Page 79 These are based on the spelling programme for each term and the Target Statements for Writing.