Debbie Hepplewhite talks about integrating explicit synthetic phonics teaching with the use of cumulative, decodable reading books and wider reading,

and introduces a brand new and complete, rigorous, systematic, synthetic phonics teaching programme:

OXFORD READING TREE

FLOPPY'S PHONICS SOUNDS AND LETTERS PROGRAMME

Venue: Sciennes Primary School, Edinburgh

Date: Thursday 26 August, 2010

This news is massively exciting for me having been invited by Oxford University Press to help the UK 'Oxford Reading Tree' team design a full synthetic phonics programme to underpin a complete re-launch of the well-known Oxford Reading Tree books. Even the ORT tree logo has been re-designed!

I have worked with some fabulous people who have all contributed to produce a great new phonics programme. The new Sounds and Letters teaching books (and the corresponding CD-ROM) embrace the wealth of characters, story themes and illustrations for which Roderick Hunt and Alex Brychta are so renowned! Thus, we have linked explicit phonics teaching directly with vocabulary enrichment and speaking and listening opportunities in a wonderful way to address both the 'word decoding' and 'oral comprehension' features of the Simple View of Reading model promoted by Jim Rose in his Final Report (March 2006).

The wider ORT reading material addresses further language enrichment and also the 'learning about books and literature' which is a missing element of the Simple View of Reading for those who actually TEACH reading in our schools.

As the phonics consultant for the Oxford Reading Tree Sounds and Letters programme, I was able to point to the massive advantages of the notion of a visual 'Alphabetic Code Chart'. Thus, the heart of the new Sounds and Letters teaching programme is the Floppy's Phonics 'The Alphabetic Code' chart as you can see above.

Not only is this a visual representation of the rationale of the English alphabetic code -linking the sounds of speech to the alternative spellings which are code for the sounds, the version above features mnemonic pictures to support learning the sounds. There are mnemonic key words for the alternative spellings of the sounds. In the Activity Sheets of the programme, these key words have accompanying key pictures.

'The Alphabetic Code' chart provides a permanent reference chart to support teacher-training, informing children and their parents, and it organises the resources themselves within the phonics programme. When people start to use an alphabetic code chart, they will wonder how they ever managed without one!

You cannot imagine how gratified I feel for a huge publisher to use the straplines above for their reading programme of 'Teach phonics, practise phonics, richer reading'. It isn't so long ago that I was virtually imploring publishers to produce cumulative, decodable reading books to support teachers with their systematic, synthetic phonics teaching. Oxford University Press is clearly fully committed to promoting synthetic phonics teaching having already bought up Ruth Miskin's pioneering Read Write Inc programme, launched new phonics early books for their Project X reading programme, and now totally re-vamping their Oxford Reading Tree programme to include specific materials to teach explicit phonics for reading, spelling and handwriting at the outset of the programme!

Not only have I been involved with the design and writing of the Sounds and Letters programme, I am also able to provide teacher-training on behalf of Oxford University Press. I am still independent and my training includes rigorous and generic ideas and practices - not dependent on the ORT resources, nor indeed dependent on my Phonics International resources.

I have always said that it is very simple to teach the synthetic phonics teaching principles and that people don't need lots of expensive materials to teach with. Equally, there are parents, tutors and teachers who appreciate the option of day-in and day-out supportive teaching and learning resources which they wish to use, or may need to use, to provide the details of the alphabetic code for a child, or children, or students, who will benefit from fit-for-purpose teaching and learning resources and reading books.

The training event at Sciennes Primary School was an extremely convivial event and very well hosted - thank you to all concerned. There were representative staff members from 40 schools in and around Edinburgh.

The overarching theme of the presentation was how to integrate explicit phonics teaching with wider reading. This is an issue for many teachers as their children have a wide range of capacities to learn, and maturities, and individual needs, so how do schools address not only the elements of the phonics teaching itself, but also the opportunities for applying decoding skills to wider material? What type of reading material should schools provide and how should they manage this with such large numbers of children?

My classroom management approach differs from suggestions in Read Write Inc where the emphasis is on homogenous grouping which can include cross-class arrangements. I describe how teachers can differentiate through various means, professional understanding and class management using the same resources for whole classes and then how to personalise these and provide extension and consolidation opportunities. Neither approach is 'wrong' or 'better' - simply different. It is really great, and important, that teachers have choices in programmes and resources to suit their contexts and preferences.

I describe a two-pronged approach to phonics teaching: 1) providing the explicit, rigorous, step-by-step, planned synthetic phonics teaching; 2) providing incidental phonics teaching as required.

It is very important to inform and guide parents in how to support the school's teaching method and how to support their own children when learning the alphabetic code knowledge and three core skills, and when reading books at home. People who know something about my wider work will know that I have always promoted working in partnership with parents, informing parents fully, and sharing alphabetic code information amongst everyone!

Above you can see a selection of new ORT books - some are designed to teach about story themes and comprehension, enriching vocabulary and providing opportunities for speaking and listening; others are part of the specific Sounds and Letters phonics teaching programme - books which are designed to support the teaching and which can be used over and again if necessary.

This is such a tiny selection and they are literally hot off the press! They are part of a selection of samples available for early acquisition to give a flavour of what's to come in January 2011!

Here we are discussing how 'different' the Sounds and Letters teaching books are from a general reading book. The contents of each book are introduced over a period of time supported with CD-ROM spreads with audio, visual and kinaesthetic teaching and learning options - and to be used alternatively with the focus letter/s-sound correspondence 'Activity Sheets' and 'Cumulative Texts'. You know how passionate I am about the effectiveness and importance of core learning and skills practice. It makes a huge difference for every child to get a full opportunity to practise what the teacher is teaching! My opinion, and my experience, is that these are very powerful and essential resources to get the great results.

They also provide students with permanent and personal material of a significant cumulative word and sentence bank, they inform parents and can be revised at home, and they serve to teach all three core skills of blending, segmenting and handwriting very specifically, along with developing phonemic awareness - and along with wider reading practice from both cumulative, decodable reading books and from wider reading.

In case people are wondering about the alphabetic code as introduced through the Floppy's Phonics programme, this is based at first on the basic code of the UK government's 'Letters and Sounds' publication. This means teachers are supported in schools where teachers wish to keep in line with the 'Letters and Sounds' introduction of the alphabetic code.

[In reality, though, the new Floppy's Phonics programme goes far above and beyond what is described in the 'Letters and Sounds' publication!]

Evidence-based methodology, resource design and ample explicit and rigorous teaching and learning resources, ease of classroom management, and smooth integration with wider reading materials are all issues with which the teaching profession must fully engage.

Debbie Hepplewhite

19th Sept 2010

Click HERE to visit the 'Sounds and Letters' website.