Letters, Sounds
and Reading
Phonics , Reading and Comprehension
This Open Morning aims to…
To provide information about how your child is
learning phonics and reading.
To learn how you can help your child to further
develop their reading skills.
To ask any questions about phonics, reading,
comprehension and assessment.
What is phonics ?
Phonics teaching involves teaching children the
sounds of letters ( not just the names) and how to
segment and blend them together to make words ,
e.g. c - a - t can be blended to make cat.
Phonics consists of :
Identifying sounds in spoken words, e.g. sat, pin.
Recognising the common spelling of each
phoneme, e.g. sh, ay.
Blending words into phonemes for reading, e.g.
ship.
Segmenting words into phonemes for spelling,
e.g. sh-i-p.
How it works ..
At Grazeley, the Letters and Sounds Scheme is
implemented in Foundation and Key Stage One.
TRACKS and Support for Spelling are used in
Key Stage Two.
Children are grouped according to individual
needs and work in different areas of the school
with Teachers and Teacher Assistants.
Letters and Sounds
Phases
Phonics and reading skills are taught in six
distinct phases.
These phases are set out in the Letters and
Sounds Scheme.
Phases are taught sequentially.
Useful definitions
PHONEME - smallest unit of sound.
GRAPHEME - written representation of the sound.
DIGRAPH - two letters making one sound, e.g. ee.
TRIGRAPH - three letters making one sound, e.g. igh.
QUADGRAPH - four letters making one sound, e.g. eigh.
SPLIT DIGRAPH - where two letters are not adjacent, e.g.
a-e as in have.
Overview of Phases
Phase 1 : Rhyming , keeping rhythms and start to relate letter sounds to
words, e.g. b is for bag.
Phase 2 : Learn initial letters sounds and build 3 letters words.
Phase 3 : Learn all 44 phonemes and blend sounds together to read
words.
Phase 4 : Blend consonants together to read difficult words, e.g. blue,
grab.
Phase 5 : Learn how to spell letter sounds in more than one way, e.g. rain,
day, make.
Phase 6 : Learn how to spell word specific spelling, e.g. turned , beautiful.
Sequence of each
session
1. RECALL - Revisit and review previous sound
and word building.
2. TEACH - A new phonic skill.
3. PRACTISE - the new skill.
4. APPLY - in a new situation, e.g. reading or
writing in a sentence.
How you can help at
home
Encourage and model correct pronunciation of
sounds.
Reading daily to your child OR with your child
OR listen to them read.
Encourage sounding out as one strategy when
they are having trouble reading a word.
PRAISE all attempts!
Things that you could notice
as you read together
Synonyms-words with the same or similar
meanings, e.g. synonyms for said are yelled,
screeched, whispered, replied.
Antonyms-a word which has the opposite
meaning to a given word, e.g. antonyms for cold
are hot, warm, humid, fiery and balmy.
Reading Progress
When we assess reading we look at seven different areas;
AF1: I can blend sounds to read and understand words. I know my high frequency words.
I know how to help myself when I get stuck.
AF2:
I can find information and ideas in the text and quote them in my answer.
AF3: I can find author’s clues about what is happening or how characters are feeling.
AF4: I can explain why the writer has organised the text in the way he or she has.
AF5: I can explain the meaning of words and phrases and the intended effect of the
language chosen by the author.
AF6: I can explain how the author feels about the text and how he wants the reader to
feel or think.
AF7: I can explain how this text relates to others I have read or to the place or time in
which it was written.
Questions you can ask
Types of questions you could ask for each AF:
AF1 How can you work out a word if you
get stuck?
AF2: What does _______ mean?
AF3: How is _____ feeling, what word
gives you clues?
What does _____ think about ____?
AF4: Why are subheadings / bullet points /
labels used on this page? Why is this word
in bold / italics? Why is this word in
capitals?
AF5: Why did the author compare these
two things? What effect does saying that
_______ was like a ______ have?
AF6: Does the author like ______? How
can you tell? How is the author trying to
make you feel about _____? What words or
phrases make you think this?
What happened after _____?
AF7: Is the main character like you? If so how?
What kind of story is this? How can you tell?
What your children think about
their reading…
I feel alone and isolated when I read. Molly
It feels like you are submerged in a book. Ben
It is a quiet time to listen and build pictures in
my head. Charlie
What your children think about
their reading…
Some books you can’t wait to get to the end but
some books you don’t want to get to the end. Emily
It is discouraging at the bottom and I need to be
brave – it seems too big. Milly
There are sometimes scary parts, but it works out
in the end. Charlotte T.
What your children think about
their reading…
When I finish I feel like I am out of breath and
amazing. Daniel B.
Every chapter is like a mile. Isaac
When I read a tricky book, I am getting better
and better at reading. Jude
What your children think about
their reading…
You don’t know what’s going to happen next.
Aiden, Maddie and Archie W.
It can be mysterious and exhilarating. Archie A.
Sometimes you find tricky words. Olivia D.
How reading can be used
to help writing
Notice a favourite author’s style.
What does the author do to grab your attention.
Begin to ‘borrow’ great ideas from books read, it
is what all good authors do.
Notice VCOP: Vocabulary, connectives, openings
and punctuation.
The cat went along
the wall.
Let’s get the VCOP superheroes to
work on saving us from the boredom
of boring sentences!
The cat went along
the wall.
Violet vocab adds adjectives
to describe and changes dull
words for interesting
alternatives!
The fluffy ginger cat prowled
along the red brick wall.
The fluffy ginger cat prowled
along the red brick wall.
Captain Connective
adds more detail
or action to the
sentence.
The fluffy ginger cat prowled
along the red brick wall because
he was spying on a juicy bird.
The fluffy ginger cat prowled along the
red brick wall because he was spying on a
juicy bird.
The Incredible Opener
changes the beginning of the
sentence to grab your
reader’s attention!
Whilst licking his lips, the fluffy ginger
cat prowled along the red brick wall
because he was spying on a juicy bird.
Whilst licking his lips, the fluffy ginger
cat prowled along the red brick wall
because he was spying on a juicy bird.
Dr Punctuation makes an impact
using different punctuation.
Whilst licking his lips, the fluffy
ginger cat (who had sharp teeth)
prowled along the red brick wall
because he was spying on a juicy bird!
We went from:
The cat went along the wall.
To:
Whilst licking his lips, the fluffy
ginger cat (who had sharp teeth)
prowled along the red brick wall
because he was spying on a juicy bird!