Phonics Shed at Danesfield Primary School
Find out how Danesfield Primary School are using Phonics Shed to improve results in their school.
Phonics Shed
The Ultimate Guide to Preparing for the Year 1 Phonics Screening Check
The Phonics Screening Check takes place in June each year. All eligible Year 1 pupils will participate and some Year 2 pupils will resit it if they did not pass it when they were in Year 1. If children are absent during this week, then they will complete the check during variation week (the week …
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SATs Spelling Paper: Top Tips
With the SATs season around the corner, we share some of our top tips for preparing your class for the spelling paper as part of grammar, punctuation and spelling tests. When? This year, the two papers for spelling, punctuation and grammar are on May 13th. Paper 1 covers grammar and punctuation and Paper 2 covers …
The Importance of Nursery Rhymes
Nursery rhymes may seem like catchy tunes we sing with young children; however, the origins and importance of the nursery rhyme should not be overlooked. Phonics Shed are a proud sponsor of World Nursery Rhyme Week 2023. This fantastic week runs from the 13th to 17th November. Our nursery rhyme planning and resources are based …
How to Teach Phonics
Phonics is a body of skills and knowledge that we need to be able to use in order to master the language. It is used to teach how the 44 sounds (phonemes) of spoken English are linked to the individual or groups of written letters (graphemes). Malcolm Gladwell famously stated that it takes 10,000 hours …
Using Spelling Shed alongside your phonics scheme
Does your Systematic Synthetic Phonics scheme meet the National Curriculum statutory requirements for KS1? Does it prepare your children for the more complex code they will encounter in their reading and writing in Year 3 and beyond? The simple answer is that almost all Government Validated Phonics Schemes do not adequately cover the National Curriculum …
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How to Teach Spelling
Why is spelling such a complex skill to master and how can we teach students to be effective spellers? A common misconception is that if you can read a word then you can spell it. However, there are many ways a phoneme (sound) can be represented in written form. Take the phoneme /k/. It can …
Emily Weston’s June Reading Round-Up
And just like that, we are halfway through the year! June has brought with it (some!) sun, busy weeks at school and some amazing books! Here, I’ve rounded up the best 5 new releases of the last month for you to choose from, as well as a sneaky preview of one that is coming soon… …
Using Actions to Support Your Phonics Teaching
Why use actions in phonics sessions? •Promotes active engagement and participation – research suggests that the longer a child is actively participating in a lesson, the higher their academic success. •Targets kinaesthetic types of learners – movement •Helps to distinguish between similar sounds •Visual prompt – if a child is unsure of the GPC they …
Using Songs to Supercharge Your Phonics Teaching
Why use songs for learning phonics? It has been proven that songs have a positive intellectual impact on pupils, as well as helping linguistic development that later aids learning to read. The power of music: its impact on the intellectual, social and personal development of children and young people (Susan Hallam, 2010) Using songs in …
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Choosing and Using Flashcards to Accelerate Learning in Phonics
Why flashcards? The scientifically proven best way to learn is practicing recall by spaced repetition. You repeat the process of recall in certain time intervals (every day, every weekend etc.), and that’s how information gets stored in your long-term memory. Spaced repetition indicates that it’s better to learn every day for one hour, than one …
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How to Get the Most out of Decodable Reading Books
The importance of stories Schools who score highly in the Phonics Screening Check note that building a love of stories and reading plays a big part in their success (DfE, 2021). 2019 survey by the Literacy Trust found that children who enjoy reading were up to three times more likely to have higher than expected …
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Using GPC Characters for Engaging Phonics Teaching and Learning
Why use GPC Characters? Associating the characters with GPCs lends itself to story telling and putting these characters in meaningful contexts, which the pupils can relate to. These characters underpin the whole of the scheme and are referenced in the flashcards, decodable books, lesson plans, interventions, teaching books and formation rhymes. The characters are used …
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The best ways to run and prepare your class for the Phonics Screening Check
About the Phonics Screening Check What is it? A statutory phonic knowledge screening for Year 1 pupils was introduced in 2011/12 in England. It is conducted orally and 1:1 with teacher, usually lasts 5-10 minutes (although there is no set time limit). The test should be done with a teacher that the child knows to …
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How to Plan and Run Impactful Phonics Interventions
What are the essentials of an evidence-based intervention? Prior Knowledge By activating prior knowledge, teachers help students become ready to assimilate new information. This cueing helps the learner associate new information with previously learned knowledge. Wendling, B.J. and Mather, N. (2008) ‘Donald Hebb who was influential in the area of neuropsychology famously said that “Cells …
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An Introduction to Phonics Shed
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 …