Monster Phonics

At Lydden, Monster Phonics is the systematic synthetic phonics programme used to support phonics teaching. The programme is based on the statutory requirements of The National Curriculum, Appendix 1 and includes all grapheme-phoneme correspondences and spelling rules, as shown in the programme overviews.

Sounds are categorised into 10 colour groups and each colour has a corresponding monster character. Each monster has a back story and are used throughout the programme. The visual representations of this programme support the children in learning grapheme – phoneme correspondence, whilst also engaging the children in the learning.

A – represented by Angry A

E  - represented by Green Froggy

I -  represented by Yellow I

O - represented by Miss Oh No

U -  represented by Purple U Hoo

OO -  represented by Cool Blue

OW - represented by Brown Owl

The silent letters represented by white silent ghosts

The tricky letters that have changed their sound or grapheme, and that do not fit into any other group are represented by Tricky Witch.

The early graphemes, or initial sounds are represented by Black Cats.

Monster Phonics is the SSP which has been used by the school for a number of years, after the introduction of the new National Curriculum in 2014. The programme offers resources such as colour coded flashcards, rhymes, songs and visual representations to support teaching.  The colour coded ‘monsters’ help children to learn and retain their sound knowledge, acting as a ‘memory hook’, whilst also engaging children’s interest. In following the programme of study in National Curriculum Appendix 1, the SSP provides a structure which, we recognise, supports children in developing their decoding skills and also their encoding skills. This has supported our learners in building on their phonics knowledge to move into understanding spelling rules, particularly when beginning to learn the prefixes and suffixes in Year 1 and building on this knowledge in Year 2. In this way we are following the statutory programme of study.