ABSTRACT
Synthetic phonics is a method which teaches letter sounds and their associations in print. It then teaches blending the sounds together to form whole words. When practising for fluency, it is a good idea to go through a set piece first for decoding. This is where children get the opportunity to merge their code-knowledge and sight word vocabulary with fluency practice. Children whose literacy is developing in a typical manner form habits that help them continue to progress and become increasingly proficient. Habitual writing has a ‘multiplier effect’ on children’s skills. The act of writing or copying is something they do with frequency and those rich in those habits get richer, while the poor get poorer. Children who struggle with literacy form habits to avoid practice or miss out on opportunities to form habits that help them progress. This happens because they are stuck at the lower levels of literacy acquisition.
