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 sounds are taught in a specific order (not alphabetically). This enables children to begin building words as early as possible.
They are split into seven groups:
The five skills taught in Jolly Phonics:
- 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.
- Learning letter formation
Using different multi-sensory methods, children learn how to form and write the letters.
- Blending
Children are taught how to blend the sounds together to read and write new words.
- Identifying the sounds in words (Segmenting)
Listening for the sounds in words gives children the best start for improving spelling.
- Tricky words
Tricky words have irregular spellings and children learn these separately