Jolly+Phonics

Jolly phonics is a fun and child centred approach to teaching literacy. The program aims to help children with reading and writing in an enjoyable, multisensory way, which enables children to use them to read and write words. Jolly Phonics uses a synthetic phonics approach and teaches children the five key skills for reading and writing. These include:

In //Jolly Phonics// the 42 main sounds of English are taught, not just the alphabet. The sounds are in seven groups. Some sounds are written with two letters, such as //ee// and //or//. These are called digraphs. This is illustrated below:
 * 1. Learning the letter sounds**

Teaches students how to hold the pencil and form letters using a pencil.
 * 2. Learning letter formation**

Blending is the process of saying the individual sounds in a word and then running them together to make the word.
 * 3. Blending**

Jolly Phonics teaches students to identify sounds, such as the letter P to the begining of ink. Which is Pink.
 * 4. Identifying sounds in words**

There are several ways of learning tricky spellings: > 1) Look, Cover, Write and Check. Look at the word to see which bit is tricky. Ask the child to try writing the word in the air saying the letters. Cover the word over and see if the child can write it correctly. Check to make sure. > 2) Say it as it sounds. Say the word so each sound is heard. For instance, the word //was// is said as 'wass', to rhyme with //mass//, the word //Monday//is said as 'Mon-day'. > 3) Mnemonics. The initial letter of each word in a saying gives the correct spelling of a word. For instance, //laugh//- Laugh At Ugly Goat's Hair. > 4) Using joined-up writing also improves spelling.
 * 5. Spelling the tricky words**

This resource is is for school aged children who are over three years old. This resource can be used for children who have learning difficulties in reading and writing so they can practice independently in the classroom or at home.

This website demonstates how Jolly Phonics works in detail http://www.jollylearning.co.uk/jp.htm

Reference: http://www.jollylearning.co.uk/jp.htm (retrieved 6/7/11) http://jollylearning.co.uk/overview-about-jolly-phonics/ (retrieved 6/7/11)

__**Jolly Phonics jingles**__

Both of my children took part in the Jolly Phonics program in Kindergarten. The children really seem to love it, and it caters to many different learning styles. Whenever a new sound is introduced, an associated jingle is introduced. When my first daughter was in kindergarten I borrowed a hard copy of the jingles from the teacher and typed it up so that the whole family could be involved.

As you will see from the attachment (word document), the sounds are introduced in a particular sequence and to a particular tune and jingle. To top it off each sound and jingle is accompanied by a relevant action.

Lots of fun! And isn't that what learning should be about?

Teachers could use this as a resource to assist students who are struggling with phonics, regardless of whether this is the primary program used within the given school setting.

[|Phonics jingles.doc]