Phonics Shed is designed to run from the Early Years Foundation Stage to Year 2; but can extend into Key Stage 2 for those children who need further support in phonics. It connects with the existing Spelling Shed scheme to ensure all curriculum objectives are met, while preparing the children for their Phonics Screening assessment using fast-paced progression through all common GPCs.
Why Phonics Shed?
- A full systematic synthetic phonics (SSP) scheme validated by the DfE.
- The scheme is a narrative driven programme, creating a meaningful and interactive experience for pupils, as they get to know our characters from the Phonics Shed garden, as they progress through the scheme.
- The multi-sensory element of the scheme includes: reading, writing, stories, songs and actions and therefore appeals to different types of learners. This means there is a greater retention of learning, as it is continuously repeated and revisited through auditory, action, application and speech.
- A mix of in-class teaching and digital games to keep pupils engaged and learning phonics fun!
Overview of the Scheme
- Split into Four Chapters – A similar progression to Letters and Sounds (DfE, 2007)
- Chapter 1 – Pre reading / Phase 1
- Chapter 2 – Phase 2
- Chapter 3 – Phase 3 and 4
- Chapter 4 – Phase 5
- Colour coded to ensure ease of access
- Lesson and format sequencing
- Knowledge of Grapheme-Phoneme correspondence (GPC)
- Unique character and action for every GPC
- Skills of Blending and Segmenting
- Time built in for Assessment and Consolidation
- Full small group intervention programme
- Phonics Shed online hub packed with games and downloadable resources
- Wide range of printed materials
Blending
Children are taught to say the sounds that make up a word and then merge the sounds together until they can hear what the word is. The method used to teach this in Phonics Shed is Sound it, Squash it, Say it:
- Sound the word out, e.g. c-a-t. Be sure to use pure sounds here rather than letter names or ‘cuh’ etc – pure sounds.
- Squash the sounds together by saying them in order faster than before.
- Say the word that is made by squashing the sounds together.
Segmenting
- Say the word
- Split it up into its individual phonemes. Again, use pure sounds here. Saying it slowly will help.
- Say the sounds that make up the word.
Digital Learning
Use the online assignment tool to assign decodable ebooks to pupils, so they can access them on their logins to read at home. Assign particular games for pupils to practise specific GPCs after the lesson. There are a range of games to choose from.
Interventions
For each GPC we have essentially three lesson plans: a daily phonics session, a consolidation plan and an intervention plan. The intervention plans are short 10 minutes sessions, needing minimal resources. They are designed for 1:1 or small groups of children, who need extra focussed input on a particular GPC. The structure of every intervention lesson stays the same for consistency, making them fast paced and easy to deliver.
Books
Our scheme includes 140 teaching books, which are used to introduce new GPC characters in the daily lessons, as well as 120 decodable books for the pupils. Each book, lists key vocabulary, high frequency and common exception words used within the text, as well as comprehension questions.
Assessment
We have a mix of summative and formative assessment on the Phonics Shed platform. Our main summative assessment system, launches a tool for you to assess a set of GPCs, high frequency words or a past phonics screening word list. This will then feed into the assessment grid for you to see patterns within your cohort. Formative assessment will be made by teachers throughout lessons, as well as feedback from activities the pupils have undertaken on the digital platform.
Subscription
The price of physical resource packs are shown below. We also have a separate digital only subscription which is £150 per class. To purchase, create an EdShed account and go to our store.
