Questions about the Fun with Phonics programme

Does Fun with Phonics offer resources for Year 2?
Fun with Phonics doesn't offer specific materials for Year 2, although there are further resources planned for 2009. However, it offers resources for reinforcement and review, especially through the E Big Books.

How can we teach phonemes ll, ss and zz?
Schools can teach these double letters when they cover the single ones - so when they teach 's', they can also point out that by adding an extra 's', it changes the sound to 'ss', and do some games to show this (Sam the snake says hiss…!).

Do you use 'action words' for tricky words?
We don't use 'action words' for tricky words. However, tricky words are incorporated into the E Big Books, so children can see them in context and learn them that way.

What does the programme offer to support the teaching of initial letter sounds?
Within Whiteboard Active CD-ROMs, there are a number of activities that support the teaching and learning of the sounds, before they move to blending and segmenting: children can watch the video, return to the bookmarks and talk about the words containing the focus sound, think of more words containing that sound, do the activities on the notepad, and then do the 'which phoneme?' activity.

The resource doesn't include more than that because Letters and Sounds recommends moving fairly quickly to blending and segmenting once initial sounds have been introduced. However, if your school feels its children need more time on the initial sounds, there's plenty in the E Big Books. They can read the stories and ask children to listen out for the focus phonemes, and do the same with the reading activities.

Then the other activities in the E Big Books are to do with identifying and distinguishing sounds, and are supported by video clips from the programmes.

Does the programme contain every spelling pattern for every phoneme?
Fun with Phonics doesn't cover every spelling pattern for every phoneme. However, the second and third E Big Books contain alternate graphemes for a range of phonemes, and these can be highlighted using a button that is clearly labelled. That way, teachers can teach alternate graphemes in context, which makes them particularly memorable for children.

My school doesn't have an interactive whiteboard in reception. Is there anything we can buy?
Schools can buy the three DVD Plus Packs which are good value and can be used to introduce each phoneme and teach the skills of blending and segmenting.

Are there any decodable books to accompany the series?
Yes! There are 44 books, one for each of the phonemes and fully in line with Letters and Sounds.For full details, click here.