A simple, child-friendly, worksheet that can be put on a clipboard and sent with a group to encourage some child-initiated writing or done with an adult as part of an adult-led activity.

This document outlines the introduction of silly friends from Spring 1 (Reception) through to Spring 1 (Year 1) in preparation for the phonics screening check. It provides some ideas about how to use the resources. Take a look, see if it might help some of your children.

Child often decode consonant clusters accurately but blend inaccurately. We found that our phonics scheme didn’t incorporate the teaching of consonant clusters sufficiently for our children. I created ‘silly friends’ as a way of introducing the teaching of consonant clusters in a manner that the children would understand. They already knew about ‘special friends’ and would later be introduced to ‘best friends’. Each set has 3 sections. Each set is a single A4 sheet of paper that can be laminated. The first e.g. Set 1, Set 2, Set 3 allows children to practice playing games e.g. fastest finger and pronouncing the consonant cluster (silly friends) correctly. The second e.g. Set 1A, Set 2A, Set 3A introduces some decodable real and pseudo (have alien pictures next to them) words where children can practice decoding and accurately blending words with the silly friends they have covered in the first set e.g Set 1. The ‘A’ set has the sound buttons on for some support. The third e.g Set 1B, Set 2B, Set 3B is again in the same format. This time the words do not have the sound buttons on, there is a mixture of real and pseudo words and some words contain more complex sounds. This set aims to build children’s fluency in reading words with the ‘silly friends’ in. An example Set 1 - bl, fl Set 1A - blap (alien image), flap - sound buttons present Set 1B - black, flant (no sound buttons)

Child often decode consonant clusters accurately but blend inaccurately. We found that our phonics scheme didn’t incorporate the teaching of consonant clusters sufficiently for our children. I created ‘silly friends’ as a way of introducing the teaching of consonant clusters in a manner that the children would understand. They already knew about ‘special friends’ and would later be introduced to ‘best friends’. Each set has 3 sections. Each set is a single A4 sheet of paper that can be laminated. The first e.g. Set 1, Set 2, Set 3 allows children to practice playing games e.g. fastest finger and pronouncing the consonant cluster (silly friends) correctly. The second e.g. Set 1A, Set 2A, Set 3A introduces some decodable real and pseudo (have alien pictures next to them) words where children can practice decoding and accurately blending words with the silly friends they have covered in the first set e.g Set 1. The ‘A’ set has the sound buttons on for some support. The third e.g Set 1B, Set 2B, Set 3B is again in the same format. This time the words do not have the sound buttons on, there is a mixture of real and pseudo words and some words contain more complex sounds. This set aims to build children’s fluency in reading words with the ‘silly friends’ in. An example Set 1 - bl, fl Set 1A - blap (alien image), flap - sound buttons present Set 1B - black, flant (no sound buttons)

Child often decode consonant clusters accurately but blend inaccurately. We found that our phonics scheme didn’t incorporate the teaching of consonant clusters sufficiently for our children. I created ‘silly friends’ as a way of introducing the teaching of consonant clusters in a manner that the children would understand. They already knew about ‘special friends’ and would later be introduced to ‘best friends’. Each set has 3 sections. Each set is a single A4 sheet of paper that can be laminated. The first e.g. Set 1, Set 2, Set 3 allows children to practice playing games e.g. fastest finger and pronouncing the consonant cluster (silly friends) correctly. The second e.g. Set 1A, Set 2A, Set 3A introduces some decodable real and pseudo (have alien pictures next to them) words where children can practice decoding and accurately blending words with the silly friends they have covered in the first set e.g Set 1. The ‘A’ set has the sound buttons on for some support. The third e.g Set 1B, Set 2B, Set 3B is again in the same format. This time the words do not have the sound buttons on, there is a mixture of real and pseudo words and some words contain more complex sounds. This set aims to build children’s fluency in reading words with the ‘silly friends’ in. An example Set 1 - bl, fl Set 1A - blap (alien image), flap - sound buttons present Set 1B - black, flant (no sound buttons)

This document was created as a handout for Reception parents as part of an introduction to phonics parents presentation. It can be edited in any way that you’d like e.g. include your school logo, change the font, add or remove sections, change the colours. Section Overview: An overview of the phonics programme (what it teaches) Order that the sounds are taught in Terminology definitions 2 pages of how to pronounce each sound correctly Mnemonics Red/Tricky Words explanation and list of some examples Images of resources that can be purchased to support at home There is some school specific terminology/approaches which can be removed if you wish. If you like the sound of any of it, please message me to ask for further information I’d be happy to share. I hope this saves you some time and a lot of effort.