Phonics
My aims for this session
• To help you understand what phonics is.
• To help you understand how to use phonics to support your
child’s literacy skills.
• To show you how phonics is taught in our school
abc ...........as easy as 123?
For some people it is, for others it isn’t. As adults, it’s surprising what you can’t remember from your
school days, such as, how did I learn to read and write? Something is only easy if you know how to
do it – We would like to make phonics easier for you, so you are able to support your child.
Terminology
• A phoneme is a sound
• A grapheme is the letter/s that
represent that sound
Blending is one of the techniques used in reading. It
is being able to say the sounds in a word and blend
them together to say what the word is.
Segmenting is the opposite. We use this when we
want to spell a word. The word is said slowly so it
is split up into its sounds (segments).
Let’s begin with abc and the
rest of the alphabet.
Facts for you and your child to know
•There are 26 letters in the alphabet
•There are 5 vowels – a e i o u
•There are 21 consonants
•In spoken English there are 44
phonemes (sounds) –
20 of these are vowels and 24 are consonants
•Your child will learn all of these sounds plus the
graphemes used to represent them.
Pronunciation
• letter sounds
• How you pronounce letter sounds is what I would consider the
most important part of phonics.
• The reason for this is because it’s essential in the development of
being able to blend and segment words.
• Use the Oxford Owl website for guidance (regional accent)
Who is speaking?
• Letters don’t say sounds.........we do!
• Letters represent sounds that we say
ai
The 44 Phonemes of the English Speaking Language
Consonants - 24
b d f g h j k (c) l m n p r s t v w y z
ch th th ng sh zh
Vowels - 20
a e i o u (short vowels)
ai ee igh oa oo oo air ear ar er er oi ure or ow (long vowels)
These letters are a combination of two sounds, be sure that your child
writes them in the correct way:
q (kw) x (ks)
Progression
• When children first begin to blend words together they start off
with simple VC words such as: on, up, at, it, in
• They then move on to CVC words such as: cat, pin, hit, pan
• Children can use rhyming patterns at this stage to help them
with their reading and writing: hat, cat, sat, pat
• Children are then introduced to the long
vowel sounds such as: ai (rain), ee (been), igh
(light), oa (road), oo (moon)
• Following on from this they learn how to
blend consonants together at the beginning
and end of words such as: fr (from), nk (sink)
• The next stage is where the children learn
alternate graphemes for the phonemes they
have learnt such as: igh (light) – ie (pie)
• After this children learn more about how
words are put together and the strategies
needed to support their independent spelling
Magnetic Letters
These are great to use at home when children are just learning
the letters of the alphabet.
At school we use a certain type of magnetic letter as they show
the correct formation and have letters linked together for
sounds containing more than one letter.
Magnetic letters are used to identify sounds and for
word building. They are good for children who need
touch, sight and hearing to learn. Children should
say the sound for the letters they are moving and
blend them together to say words.
Sound Buttons
These are placed underneath each sound in a word so they can be
identified.
A sound can be represented in two ways. By a single dot or by a line
(stitch).
b i g f i sh
sh ou t
When two consonants are blended together at the beginning or end of a
word we draw a smile to join the dots.
t r ai n
Have a go at putting some sound buttons underneath some words to practice using them.
Phoneme frames
These are used in a similar way as before, instead of putting
a button under each sound you place the sounds in the
frame.
b
i
g
sh ou
f
i
t
sh
Be aware!
• When your child is learning a particular sound please make sure
they are writing words with that sound in.
ie - pie
not
pier or field
This is okay.......
• When your child is writing they will always use sounds they know.
• As they develop their knowledge of graphemes and phonemes they will try
different ones in their writing. This is okay! – light – lIt – liet – lit
• If children are writing in a phonetically plausible way this is okay! – The
trayn caim into the stashun
• If they don’t use the correct grapheme in a word, ask your child if they
can think of another one they could use. This supports their
understanding of phonics.
Alien Words
• Alien words are words which are made up using the sounds that
the children are learning.
• It is important to teach alien words in the correct way so that
the children can read them with confidence.
This is not an alien word
ighegogstr
These are alien words
chark kighn maim
How to make an alien word
Always begin with a word that your child knows. Put the
sound buttons underneath the word. Then ask your child to
change one sound which will then create an alien word
f i sh
z i sh
Alien words have been introduced as part of the
Phonics Test that the children now take in Year
One. I will be running a session on this test nearer
the time (last term).
Always teach alien words as a separate thing, not as
part of their daily reading and writing.
At home
•
•
•
•
Check your child’s pencil grip
Check their letter formation and encourage correction
Make phonics available in your house
Enjoy it!
Thank you
and please do pop in and see
us if you have any questions