Research shows that systematic, synthetic phonics gives children the strongest reading and spelling foundations. Phonics Hero has this at its core. Our education experts have created over 850 fun, varied and motivating games to take your class step by step through the synthetic phonics process.
Step 1 – Knowing the soundsChildren learn a group of 4-8 sounds and match the sound with a letter. Some examples:
Lots of practise at a single sound.
Practise identifying different sounds.
Identify the sounds in amongst a larger group.
Step 2 – Read with these soundsChildren use the 4-8 sounds they’ve learned, to blend them together and read words. Every word a child reads will be 100% decodable; giving them success from the outset. Some examples:
Match the word to the picture.
Read nonsense words.
Fast reading to build fluency.
Step 3 – Spell with these soundsThe beauty of synthetic phonics is it is a reversible process; if you can read something, you can also spell it. Children listen for the sounds in a word, and must identify the letter(s) associated with it. Some examples:
Sound substitution.
Spell independently.
Proof reading.
Step 4 – Read camera/tricky wordsIrregular, high-frequency words, or camera/tricky words, such as ‘the’ and ‘was’ are tricky to read but are essential because they occur so often in children‘s books and writing. Some examples:
Getting familiar with the camera/tricky words.
Identifying the heard camera/tricky words.
Fast reading to develop fluency.
Step 5 – Spell camera/tricky wordsChildren also need to learn to spell these irregular, high frequency words so they can move onto writing sentences. Some examples:
Spell camera/tricky words with support.
Unscramble the words.
Spell the words unsupported with no hint.
Step 6 – Read sentencesWe put all these skills together to read sentences and short passages of text, cementing those foundations for a love for reading! Some examples:
Decide if the sentence matches the image.
Match the sentence with the correct image.
Complete the sentence.
Our games cover all 44 sounds in an English, Australian and American accent. The games are mapped to multiple sequences: Playing with Sounds, Letters and Sounds and the NSW Syllabus – Australia. Compare the orders.
So many phonics games are practising children’s ability to play computer games, rather than their reading and spelling skills. We pride ourselves on games which don’t require advanced hand-eye coordination but get children reading and spelling with just the right level of interactivity. Watch some examples: