Introduction to Jolly phonics

Jolly Phonics was founded in 1987 by Chris Jolly but was

developed by Sue Lloyd in England and published by Jolly
learning Ltd. United Kingdom. Sue Lloyd has been given the
highest National award of the United Kingdom for her
contributions to the teaching and learning of literacy through
Jolly Phonics.
Jolly Phonics is a research based synthetic phonics
programme that is simple, multi-sensory and fun. It is unique
in the way it allows the teacher to enter the world of the
children through story -telling and actions.
In view of this, children learn the sounds easily and the
symbols representing these sounds are comfortably retained
in their memories.
Phonics on the other hand represents the manner in which
we use the letters to represent speech sounds. There are 44
sounds in the English Language with only 26 letters to use to
represent these sounds in over 70 different ways;.
Phonics therefore is a body of knowledge that shows how
this is done.
Types of Phonics
1. Synthetic Phonics
2. Analytic Phonics

The aim of Jolly Phonics is to teach children how to read and

write through an early, systematic, synthetic phonics
programme. The word ‘synthetic’ refers in this case, to the

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synthesising as in the blending or combining of sounds to

make spoken words. This means that the children are taught
the main sounds of English not just the alphabet sounds.
With this knowledge, they are taken through stages of
blending sounds to turn words and then to reading.

JOLLY PHONICS TEACHING METHOD

Any programme no matter how wonderful it is, is only as
good as the person who delivers or teaches it.
 The sounds are taught in a specific order (not
alphabetically except for preparatory classes). This
enables children to begin building words as early as
possible.
 We teach two sounds on Monday, reinforce on Tuesday,
introduce two on Wednesday reinforce on Thursday,
assess on Friday.
 This means that we teach four new sounds every week.
 The whole programme takes 10 and half weeks only
which is like a school term.
 Story-telling is the vehicle we use in teaching the
sounds.
 Every sound has an action to make the children’s
learning concrete and less abstract.
 The teaching is fun. The children and the teachers
experience no stress at all.

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POINTS TO CONSIDER TODAY

 Learning the letter sound.
 Learning the letter formation.
 Blending
 Identifying sounds in words.

LETTER SOUND ORDER

1. s a t i p n
2. ck e h r m d
3. g o u l f b
4. ai j oa ie ee or
5. z w ng x oo oo
6. y x ch sh th th
7. qu ou oi ue er ar

These letters are arranged in this form for easy reading and
blending, this is because 26 letters are used to represent 40
sounds, which is why digraphs are sometimes used to
represent a new sound. Two letters like qu ou oi ae are
called digraphs, the single letters are called consonants.
Note: A digraph is different from blends. A digraph has just
one sound (such as sh/as/in) whereas a blend has two or
more sounds (like /s-t/ in ‘stop’).
It is important to use the letter sound, instead of the letter
names so the children don’t get confused, the letter names
can be introduced when the children are used to the sounds

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1st letter to parents

Dear Parents,
This week we are starting to learn the 42 letter sounds by
listening to little stories that are supported by actions as well
as the letter sounds.
This programme is great fun and the more you practice at
home with your child the better they will read and write.
Each week the children will learn four new letter sounds and
these will be collected together in a little sound book.
Please encourage your child to go through their book which
will be kept in their reading bag.
It is important that you encourage your child to whisper the
sound gently as they do the action along side.
This work is very important and the children will do
something fun with their reading bags every day.
Many thanks for your support with this programme.

Yours Sincerely.

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 Introduction to Jolly phonics

LETTER FORMATION
It is paramount for children to learn fluent and neat
handwriting; they need to be taught how to hold pencil and
how to form their letters correctly.
The pencil rests between the thumb and the first finger, the
next finger prevents the pencil from falling down. The pencil
hold applies to both left and right handed children.
Preparatory writing skills
 Air strikes
 Tracing
 Magic board
 Spooning
 Beading
 Soothing
 Tracing at the back of the child.

The above are multi sensory approach to teaching children

how to write and form letters.
It is important to revise the formation of each letter
regularly, when the children are writing, it is a good idea to
check their pencil hold and make sure the letter formation is
correct. Constant practice, colouring pictures and tracing
letters facilitates neat and fluent writing skills.

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2nd letter to parents

Dear Parents,
I hope you are enjoying our wonderful sounds programme. I
am really pleased at the progress that the class is making. It is
time to start using these sounds to either make words or to
find the sounds inside words. I am sending home word box
lists, which are specially designed to help your child to start
blending these sounds into words.
The secret behind blending is to whisper and to slightly ‘sing’
the sounds together, often making the first sound loudest. If
the children can blend and read the words on the lists
completely unaided, then they will get a tick next to each
word and then a new list to work with.
Please practice as much as possible at home and have some
fun finding the words. If your child finds it difficult, please be
patient as it will happen and all that’s needed is gentle
coaxing and lots of positive engagement. Every child blends
words at a different pace but having fun rather than feeling
stressed about it, encourage the children to try harder.
Please feel free to come around if you would love some more
help.

Yours Sincerely.

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 Introduction to Jolly phonics

BLENDING
The phonics skill to look at the letters, say the sounds and
hear the word is called blending.
Once the children can hear the word when an adult says the
letter sounds, they are ready to try saying the sounds for
themselves and listening to the word.
Working out written words can begin after the first three
sound is taught /s,a,t/ making the word ‘sat and at’. As each
letter sound is taught, more words become available for
blending.

BLENDING TEACHNIQUES
 Whisper the sounds (say softly)
 Make the first sound loudest
 Sort of string the sounds together
 For a consonant blend, say the sounds together as if
they are one E.g s-p-i-t should be blended as sp-i-t
CONSONANT BLENDS
Consonant blends (also called consonant cluster) are groups
of two or three consonants in words that makes a
harmonious consonant sound as bi or spt. There is starting,
ending and triple blend.
Consonant blend are mostly found in the first and last
syllables e.g. bi, gr, sm, tw, nd, str.
A consonant blend containing three or more letters may
include a consonant digraph, for example, the word thrill has
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 Introduction to Jolly phonics

both a consonant blend thr and a consonant digraph ‘th’. The

two or three letters sound is heard in the word.

NOTE
It is important to note that the 42 sounds comprises of
vowels, consonants, diphthongs and digraphs. The vowels are
a, e, i, o, u. when these vowels are standing alone they are
short vowels but when they are standing together like ee, ue,
ie etc, they are long vowels and in the case of the long
vowels, they take the letter name and not the sound.
When two vowels are placed together, the first letter does
the talking, the second letter is silent.
Consonants are sounds or letters of the alphabet that is not a
vowel, they are 21 in number.
a, b c d f g h j k l m n p q r s t v w x y z.
When these consonants are placed together, they are called
Consonant cluster or consonant blend.
Diphthong is a sound made by combining two vowels in a
single syllable, the sounds begins as one vowel sound and
moves towards another. The two most common diphthongs
in the English language are the letter combination ‘oy’ ‘oi’ as
in boy or coin and ‘ow’ ‘ou’ as in cloud or cow.
Digraph is the term used to describe two consecutive letters
that work together to make one sound different from their
individual sounds like sh, ch, th, ng.
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General revision of the 42 sounds

Revision
s. a t i
sun ant ten ink
snail arrow tennis it
spider apple table igloo

Revision
p. n ck e
pat nap cat egg
pit nest kin elephant
pan net kit earth

Revision
h. r m d
hat rat mat dad
heart ran man did
had rest map dog

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 Introduction to Jolly phonics

Revision
g. o u l
get odd up leg
gap off under let
glass on umbrella tip

Revision
f. b ai j
fat bat aid jet
fit bad aim jab
fun bag pain jug

Revision
ou. ie ee or
oats tie see or
boat die bee for
coal pie seed lord

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Revision
z. w ng v
zip web sang van
zigzag wig king vat
zebra win long vet

Revision
oo. oo y x
look moon yet fox
book zoo yes box
foot spoon yell ox

Revision
ch. Sh th th
chat shop than thing
chest sheep them thank
check sheet that thin

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Revision
qu. ou oi ue
quick loud oil due
quiz cloud boil value
quit out coin rescue

Revision
er. ar
her ark
verb art
herb arm

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