How to help at
home
What is Phonics?
• Words are made up from small units
of sound called phonemes.
• Phonics teaches children to be able
to listen carefully and identify the
phonemes that make up each word.
• This helps children to learn to read
words and to spell words.
Phonics= breaking words
down into sounds
Learning Phonics
• Phoneme = sound
• Grapheme = how the sound is written.
i.e.-
the letter p = p
• We practise the sounds on their own and in whole
words.
• We use sound buttons to help children to identify
sounds in written words. A dot for one letter that
makes one sound, and a line for 2 or more letters that
make one sound.
i.e.- feet
•
•If you get stuck-Think about a simple word i.e. dogSay is slowly- how is each letter pronounced?
Initial sounds
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
j
k
l
m
n
o
p
q
r
s
t
u
v
w
x
y
z
The children will be familiar with
the jolly phonics actions.
Simple example words
Once children are good with
single phonemes…
• DIGRAPHS – 2 letters that make 1
sound
ll ss zz oa ai
• TRIGRAPHS – 3 letters that make 1
sound
igh dge
+You can practise these with your child using your orange word
book.
Digraphs/Trigraphs
ff
ll
ss
zz
wh
qu
ar
ck
sh
ch
th
ph
ng
ow*
ee
oi
oo*
or
ai
ur
au*
aw
ay
ea*
ew
ie*
ue
oa
oy
igh
air
ir
er
ou*
ear
dge
Split Digraph
•
•
•
•
•
a-e
e-e
i-e
o-e
u-e
make / sale
these/theme
time/like
stone/pole
rule/huge
Grapheme phoneme
correspondences
• This simply means that they are taught all the
sounds in the English language and ways of
writing them down.
• These sounds are taught in a particular order.
The first sounds to be taught are:
s, a, t, p.
Phonics is taught in phases from 1 to 5. Children progress at different rates,
however in year one they should be working on phase 5 and in year two there
is a focus on grammar and spelling.
Blending
• Children are taught to be able to
blend. This is when children say the
sounds that make up a word and are
able to merge the sounds together
until they can hear what the word is.
This skill is vital in learning to read.
c-a-t = cat
Segmenting
• Children are also taught to segment.
This is the opposite of blending.
Children are able to say a word and
then break it up into the phonemes
that make it up. This skill is vital in
being able to spell words.
cat= c-a-t
TRICKY WORDS• Words that are not easy to decode
need to be learnt separately• e.g. was, the, I, want.
• Some are ‘tricky’ to start with but
will become easier to decode once
we have learned the harder
phonemes
• e.g. out, there,
• Most important thing – From a very
early age…
• Talking and Listening.
• Reading with and to your child
• Playing listening games
• Singing songs and rhymes
• Simple movement games
All these things will help to build up
connections in the brain, and enjoyment of
language and confidence to try things out.
www.phonicsplay.co.uk
Useful websites
• www.phonicsplay.co.uk
• www.bbc.co.uk/schools/parents
• www.jollylearning.co.uk/
• www.focusonphonics.co.uk/
• www.syntheticphonics.com
• http://www.nessy.com/
What is the Year 1 Phonics
Screening check?
• It is a government test designed to assess
whether children have learnt phonic
decoding to an appropriate standard.
• All Year 1 pupils will take the phonics
screening in June.
• Any children absent will still need to take
it upon their return to school.
Is it compulsory?
• Yes
• It is a statutory requirement for all
schools to carry out the screening check
• Any child that does not reach the
specified pass mark will need to re-take
the screening check in Year 2.
What will the check
look like?
• It will consist of 20 real words and 20
pseudo words
• It will be assessing children up to
Phase 5 in Letters and Sounds
• The children will do this on a one-to-one
basis with a teacher
• It should take about 10 minutes but each
child is different so may need longer
Results
• The pass mark has not been set yet, but in
previous years it has been 32 out of 4080%
• Parents will be informed of their child’s
results at the end of the term.
Further Information about
the Phonics Screening
Check
• This can be found on the Department
for Education Website
• http://www.education.gov.uk
• Sample materials can be downloaded
from this website and on you tube
there are example videos of how the
•
tests are undertaken.