Are you looking for information on how to explicitly teach and consolidate phonics knowledge across K-6? This comprehensive phonics document will help you to implement a synthetic phonics approach that is aligned with the evidence-based science of reading. The Phonics & Beeyond handbook is FREE for all teachers.
It contains over 250 pages of content knowledge, teaching tips, activity ideas, templates, displays, lesson plans & more!
Phonics (and spelling) is hands down one of my favourite subjects to teach. There is something so magical about witnessing the 'ah ha' moments that kids have as they unlock the mystery of the English language.
In the early years, phonics enables kids to learn how to read- perhaps this is partly why I am so passionate about it, because I wish I'd had a better grasp of synthetic phonics when I began that first scary year on Kindergarten!! In the older years, poor decoding (reading) and encoding (spelling) skills significantly impact reading comprehension, writing and vocabulary choice. Spelling and phonics is far more than just a subject. It is one of the most powerful tools that we can give our students to equip them in unlocking so many other areas of their learning!
The free Phonics & Beeyond handbook started out as a tiny seed of an idea. I was in the midst of training up our K-6 staff in using a synthetic phonics approach to teach spelling. Explicit systematic synthetic phonics has consistently been found by research to be the most effective approach for teaching kids how to read and write. The Australian National Inquiry into the Teaching of Literacy found that systematic phonics instruction (rather than unsystematic or whole language phonics instruction) led to the greatest improvements in reading, writing, spelling and comprehension.
The research is clear- a systematic synthetic phonics approach works. And so, I was tasked with overhauling our existing school practices and training up our staff. This involved running professional development days, teaching demonstration lessons across K-6 classes, developing a school-wide scope and sequence and lesson resources, and teachers coming into my own classroom to observe how my students were consolidating their phonics skills. I shared an Instagram Story poll asking whether it would be helpful for me to share some of the activities that I was sharing with our staff. The response was overwhelming, and so I began to create what I THOUGHT would be a small handout with some top tips. It snowballed into a 280-page handbook, full of content knowledge, effective pedagogies, teaching tips, hundreds of lesson and activity ideas, displays, resource recommendations and more!
The handbook is essentially a comprehensive guide of how to effectively and systematically teach spelling and phonics in K-6 classrooms. I have received such lovely feedback from teachers all around the world and I am really proud that it has become such a support to so many teachers. I feel very passionate about ensuring that all teachers can have access to the best research-based practices and training, even if they or their schools can't afford expensive professional development. That's why this handbook is, and will always remain, free. I'm so glad that it has helped teachers to feel more equipped to confidently approach such an important part of the curriculum- and I LOVE seeing hearing stories from teachers who have seen such improvements in their students' learning as a result!
The Phonics & Beeyond handbook contains over 280 pages of content knowledge, research-based pedagogy, teaching tips, strategies, lesson ideas and displays. There are fantastic ideas from teachers all around the world.
