At Bow Primary School children learn phonics using the Letters and Sounds document from the Department of Education. In Key Stage 1, that is reception, year 1 and year 2 they have a daily phonics lesson with the class teacher and supported by teaching assistants where they learn to recognise the 44 phonemes (the speech sound) and the grapheme (how we write it). Hopefully the information below will explain a little about phonics and the way we teach it.
Reading and writing is like a code: phonics is teaching children how to crack the code. Phonics gives children the skills to blend words for reading and segment words for spelling.
Pronunciation is very important - not ‘uh’ on the end – use soft voice!
This video on YouTube should help.
At the end of year 1, the children will take part in the Year 1 Phonics Screening which is set by the government.
A screening check for year one to encourage schools to pursue a rigourous phonics programme.
Aimed at identifying the children who need extra help are given the support.
Assesses decoding skills using phonics
40 items to be read (20 real words, 20 words that are not real, called alien words).
If children do not pass in Year 1 they have to retake the test at the end of Year 2.
- How can I help at home?
Try to find time to read with your child every day.
Talk about the book, the character, what is happening in the story, predict what may happen next. Encourage a love of reading – not a chore!
Ask your child to find items around the house that represent particular sounds, i.e. ‘oo’ - ‘spoon’ ‘bedroom’
Play matching pairs – with key words or individual sounds/pictures.
Flashcard letters and words – how quickly can they read them?
Notice words/letters in the environment.
Go on a listening walk around the house/when out and about.
Lots of activities online for children to practice their phonic knowledge.
Here are some useful websites and sound mats.
A phoneme is the smallest unit of sound in a word. A phoneme may be represented by 1, 2, or 3 letters. Eg. t ai igh
A syllable is a word or part of a word that contains one vowel sound. E.g. hap/pen bas/ket let/ter
A grapheme is the letter(s) representing a phoneme. Written representation of a sound which may consist of 1 or more letters eg. The phoneme ‘s’ can be represented by the grapheme s (sun), se (mouse), c (city), sc or ce (science)
A digraph is two letters, which make one sound.
◦ A consonant digraph contains two consonants
sh th ck ll
◦ A vowel digraph contains at least one vowel
ai ee ar oy
A split digraph is a digraph in which the two letters are not adjacent (e.g. make)
A trigraph is three letters, which make one sound. E.g. igh
Oral Blending – hearing a series of spoken sounds and merging them together to make a spoken word (no text is used) for example, when a teacher calls out ‘b-u-s’, the children say bus.
Blending – recognising the letter sounds in a written word, for example c-u-p, and merging in the order in which they are written to pronounce the word ‘cup’.
Segmenting – identifying the individual sounds in a spoken word (e.g. h-i-m) and writing down letters for each sound to form the word ‘him’.
Phonics is taught by progressing through the phases.
Phase 1 (on-going)
To distinguish between sounds and become familiar with rhyme, rhythm and alliteration.
Phase 2 (6 weeks)
To introduce 19 grapheme-phoneme correspondences.
Phase 3 (12 weeks)
To teach one grapheme for each of the 44 phonemes in order to spell simple regular words.
Phase 4 (4-6 weeks)
To read and spell words containing adjacent consonants.
Phase 5 (in Yr1)
To teach alternative pronunciations for graphemes and alternative spellings for phonemes.
Year 2 spelling pathway (in Yr2)
To develop their skill and automaticity in reading and writing.