What is Jolly Phonics?
Jolly Phonics is a fun and child-centred approach to teaching literacy through synthetic phonics. With actions for each of the 42 letter sounds, the multi-sensory method is very motivating for children and teachers, who can see their students achieve. The letter sounds are split into seven groups as shown below.
Letter Sound Order
The sounds are taught in a specific order (not alphabetically). This enables children to begin building words as early as possible.
How does Jolly Phonics work?
Using a synthetic phonics approach, Jolly Phonics teaches children the five key skills for reading and writing. The programme continues through school enabling the teaching of essential grammar, spelling and punctuation skills.
The five skills taught in Jolly Phonics
1.Learning the letter sounds
Children are taught the 42 main letter sounds. This includes alphabet sounds as well as digraphs such as sh, th, ai and ue.
2.Learning letter formation
Using different multi-sensory methods, children learn how to form and write the letters.
3.Blending
Children are taught how to blend the sounds together to read and write new words.
4.Identifying the sounds in words (Segmenting)
Listening for the sounds in words gives children the best start for improving spelling.
5.Tricky words
Tricky words have irregular spellings and children learn these separately.
Learning The Letter Sounds
In Jolly Phonics the 42 main sounds of English are taught, not just the alphabet. The sounds are in seven groups. In synthetic phonics some sounds are written with two letters, such as ee and or. These are called digraphs. Note that oo and th can make two different sounds, as in book and moon, that and three. To distinguish between the two sounds, these digraphs are represented in two forms. This is shown below.
Each sound has an action which helps children remember the letter(s) that represent it. As a child progresses you can point to the letters and see how quickly they can do the action and say the sound. One letter sound can be taught each day. As a child becomes more confident, the actions are no longer necessary.
Children should learn each letter by its sound, not its name. For instance, the letter a should be called a (as in ant) not ai (as in aim). Similarly, the letter n should be nn (as in net), not en. This will help in blending. The names of each letter can follow later.
The letters have not been introduced in alphabetical order. The first group (s,a,t,i,p,n) has been chosen because they make more simple three-letter words than any other six letters. The letters b and d are introduced in different groups to avoid confusion.
Sounds that have more than one way of being written are initially taught in one form only. For example, the sound ai (train) is taught first, and then the alternative ae (gate) and ay (day) follow later.
Learning The Letter Formation
It is very important that a child holds their pencil in the correct way.
The pencil should be held in the “tripod” grip between the thumb and the first two fingers. The grip is the same for both left and right handed children. If a child´s hold starts incorrectly, it is very difficult to correct later on.
A child needs to form each letter the correct way. The letter c is introduced in the early stages as this forms the basic shape of some other letters, such as d. Particular problems to look for are:
- the o (the pencil stroke must be anti-clockwise, not clockwise)
- d (the pencil starts in the middle, not the top)
- m and n (there must be an initial downstroke, or the letter m looks like the McDonald´s arches)
The Jolly Phonics DVD and Finger Phonics books show the correct formation of each letter. A good guide is to remember that no letters start on the line.
In time a child will need to learn joined-up (cursive) writing. It helps the fluency of writing and improves spelling. When words are written in one movement it is easier to remember the spelling correctly. Jolly Phonics uses the Sassoon Infant typeface which is designed for children learning to read and write. Many of the letters (such as d and n) have a joining tail at the end (an ‘exit’ stroke) to make it easier to transfer into joined-up writing. (You should check your school´s policy as some schools do not teach joined-up writing to young children).
Blending
Blending is the process of saying the individual sounds in a word the running them together to make the word. For instance sounding out d-o-g and making dog. It is a technique every child will need to learn, and it improves with practice. To start with you should sound out the word and see if a child can hear it, giving the answer if necessary. Some children take longer than others to hear this. The sounds must be said quickly to hear the word. It is easier if the first sound is said slightly louder. Try little and often with words like b-u-s, t-o-p, c-a-t and h-e-n. There are lists of suitable words in The Phonics Handbook and the Jolly Phonics Word Book.
Remember that some sounds (digraphs) are represented by two letters, such as sh. Children should sound out the digraph (sh), not the individual letters (s-h). With practice they will be able to blend the digraph as one sound in a word. So, a word like rain should be sounded as r-ai-n, and feet as f-e-e-t. This is difficult to begin with and takes practice. The Jolly Phonics Regular Word Blending Cards can be used in class to improve this skill.
You will find it helpful to be able to distinguish between a blend (such as st) and a digraph (such as sh). In a blend the two sounds, s and t can each be heard. In a digraph this is not so. Compare mishap (where both the s and h are sounded) and midship (which has the quite separate sh sound). When sounding out a blend, encourage children to say the two sounds as one unit, so fl-a-g not f-l-a-g. This will lead to greater fluency when reading.
Some words in English have an irregular spelling and cannot be read by blending, such as said, was and one. Unfortunately, many of these are common words. The irregular parts have to be remembered. These are called the “tricky words”.
Identifying The Sounds In Words
The easiest way to know how to spell a word is to listen for the sounds in that word. Even with the tricky words an understanding of letter sounds can help.
Start by having your child listen for the first sound in a word. Games like I-Spy are ideal for this. Next try listening for the end sounds, as the middle sound of the word is the hardest to hear.
Begin with simple three letter words such as cat or hot. A good idea is to say a word and tap out the sounds. Three taps means three sounds. Say each sound as you tap. Take care with digraphs. The word fish, for instance, has four letters but only three sounds, f-i-sh. Rhyming games, poems and the Jolly Jingles also help tune the ears to the sounds in words. Other games to play are:
Add a sound: what do i get if i add to p to the beginning of ink? Answer: pink. Other examples are m-ice, b-us, etc.
Take away a sound: what do I get if i take away p from pink? Answer: ink Other examples as above, and f-lap, s-lip, c-rib, d-rag, p-ant, m-end, s-top, b-end, s-t-rip, etc.
Jolly Phonics Actions
Group 1
s Weave hand in an s shape, like a snake, and say ssssss.
a Wiggle fingers above elbow as if ants crawling on you and say a, a, a.
t Turn head from side to side as if watching tennis and say t, t, t.
i Pretend to be a mouse by wriggling fingers at end of nose and squeak i, i, i.
p Pretend to puff out candles and say p, p, p.
n Make a noise, as if you are a plane – hold arms out and say nnnnnn.
Group 2
c k Raise hands and snap fingers as if playing castanets and say ck, ck, ck.
e Pretend to tap an egg on the side of a pan and crack it into the pan, saying eh, eh, eh.
h Hold hand in front of mouth panting as if you are shaking out of breath and say h, h, h
r Pretend to be a puppy holding a piece of rag, shaking head from side to side, and say rrrrrr.
m Rub tummy as if seeing tasty food and say mmmmmm.
d Beat hands up and down as if playing a drum and say d, d, d.
Group 3
g Spiral hand down, as if water going down the drain, and say g, g, g.
o Pretend to turn light switch on and off and say o, o, o, o.
u Pretend to be putting up an umbrella and say u, u, u.
l Pretend to lick a lollipop and say l, l, l, l, l, l.
f Let hands gently come together as if toy fish deflating, and say f, f, f, f, f, f.
b Pretend to hit a ball with a bat and say b, b, b.
Group 4
ai Cup hand over ear and say ai, ai, ai
j Pretend to wobble on a plate and say j, j, j.
oa Bring hand over mouth as if you have done something wrong and say oh!
ie Stand to attention and salute, saying ie ie.
ee or Put hands on head as if ears on a donkey and say eeyore, eeyore.
Group 5
z Put arms out at sides and pretend to be a bee, saying zzzzzz.
w Blow on to open hand, as if you are the wind, and say wh, wh, wh.
ng Imagine you are a weightlifter, and pretend to lift a heavy weight above your head, saying ng…
v Pretend to be holding the steering wheel of a van and say vvvvvv.
oo OO Move head back and forth as if it is the cuckoo in a cuckoo clock, saying u, oo; u, oo (Little and long oo)
Group 6
y Pretend to be eating a yoghurt and say y, y, y.
x Pretend to take an x-ray of someone with an x-ray gun and say ks, ks, ks.
ch Move arms at sides as if you are a train and say ch, ch, ch.
sh Place index finger of lips and say sh sh sh.
th th Pretend to be naughty clowns and stick out tongue a little for the th, and further for the th sounds (this and thumb).
Group 7
qu Make a duck´s beak with your hands and say qu, qu, qu.
ou Pretend your finger is a needle and prick thumb saying ou, ou, ou.
oi Cup hands around mouth and shout to another boat saying oi! Ship ahoy!
ue Point to people around you and say you, you, you.
er Roll hands over each other like a mixer and say er er er.
ar Open mouth wide and say ah. (UK English). Flap hands as if a seal, and say ar, ar, ar. (US English).
Learn the letter sounds
Click below to hear and download the letter sounds
| In Jolly Phonics the 42 main sounds of English are taught, not just the alphabet. |
| Click the group below to hear British English |
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| Download all British English audio files – 8mb |
| If you have problems hearing the sounds you can download the software below to help play the sounds |
| Real player | Windows media player |