Developing an Understanding of Phonics
and Reading in the Foundation Stage
Parent Workshop
October 8th, 2014
Aims of today’s session
• To give you a clear understanding of what
phonics means in the Foundation Stage
• Understand how and why we teach phonics in
the Foundation Stage
• Understand how children learn to read
• Understand the purpose of a reading scheme
• Ideas for how you can be active in your child’s
learning journey
What is Phonics and what terminology
do we need to understand?
• It is an approach to teaching reading and writing
• It is the linking of sounds and letters
• The sound is called a phoneme – s, a, t
• The written letter symbol is a grapheme – s, a, t
• A diagraph is 2 graphemes that make one phoneme
‘sh’ in ship, ‘ea’ in seat
Letters and Sounds at BIS
 Letters and Sounds is a published Phonic resource
(DfES, 2007)
 It sets out a detailed and systematic programme for
teaching phonic skills to young children, with the aim
of them becoming fluent readers by age seven
 6 phases - each phase must be completed before
moving on to the next one
 Regular assessments to ensure clear tracking and
progression
 Used by all UK schools in some form and in many
other English speaking schools worldwide
Phase 1- Foundation Stage 1
 Develops speaking and listening skills through songs,
stories and rhyme based activities
 Teaches children to distinguish between spoken
sounds and to blend and segment words orally for
example z i p / h a t / t a p /
 Teaches children to recognise spoken words that
rhyme
 The inability to do any of this does not prevent
moving on to Phase 2 as these speaking and listening
activities should continue
Phase 2-Foundation Stage 2
Begins the introduction of grapheme – phoneme
correspondences
 blend and segment CVC words orally
 blend and segment in order to read and spell
(using magnetic letter VC words such as: if, am,
on, up and ‘silly words’ such as ip, ug and ock.
Phase 3- Foundation Stage 2
 Learn the rest of the alphabet and progress to
sounds represented by more than 1 grapheme e.g. ai,
oo
 Can say the sound when shown all or most Phase 2/3
graphemes
 Can find all or most Phase 2/3 letters, from a display,
when given the sound
 Can blend and read CVC words
 Can segment and make phonetically plausible
attempts at spelling CVC words
Tricky Words
Tricky words in Foundation Stage 2 include the, to, go, no,
I, be, she, he, we, was, my, you, her, they, all, are
The child as ‘Reader’
So how do children become good
readers?
 Develop a love of books from an early age, read text
anywhere, be a good role model, buy books, visit the
library
 Talkers often become good readers
 Look at the pictures, share books, make up your own
stories to share
 By understanding the text to find the context
 Concentration and memory skills
 Using phonics
 Learning tricky words by sight
Reading is not just about books
 Play at reading and use memory games
 A text rich environment
 Relating stories to experiences
 Role modelling
Why do we use schemed reading
books?
 Interesting and fun
 Range of genre
 Carefully structured to introduce and reinforce key
words
 Challenge increases
 Familiarity and continuity
 Encourage talk
When do we introduce schemed
readers for children?
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They know some letters and sounds
They are interested in books
They love stories
They understand how books work
They respect books
They notice environmental text
They are confident, happy and settled at school
How do I help my child when reading
at home?
 Make it an enjoyable experience and sit somewhere
comfortable
 Talk about the whole book
 Predict what the book might be about
 Read the book together or read part of it
 Relate it to own real life experiences
 Use funny voices, toys and actions to make the
characters come alive
Questions to ask your child
 What do you think the book is about?
 Can you find any letters or words you know?
 What do you think will happen next?
 What is happening in the picture?
 Did you like the book?
 What happened in the end?
 Have you ever…?
Home/School Communication
 Short comment
 It is important you sign the book
 Please read with your child every day