Intended for teachers in primary education, this book draws together the most helpful contemporary thinking and research evidence about the learning and teaching of reading, especially in relation to graphophonics, and shows how these findings can be translated into effective classroom practices. The book summarizes evidence on how children learn about letter-sound relationships and their use. The book states that, by drawing on children's wider experience of reading and on their preferred modes of learning, whole-to-part phonics offers an exciting alternative where students focus on the construction of meaning rather than the decoding of text. Following an introduction, part one contains three sections: "How Phonics Works in English" (Henrietta Dombey); "Whole-to-Parts Phonics Instruction" (Margaret Moustafa); and "Learning to Spell" (Olivia O'Sullivan). Part two contains sections labeled "Ages 4-6" (with subsections on Classroom Contexts, Whole Words in Context, From Whole to Part, and From Part to Whole); and "Ages 6-8" (with subsections on Classroom Contexts, From Whole to Part, From Part to Whole, Children with Literacy Difficulties, and Summary of Classroom Activities). (Contains 17 references.) (CR)