Letters and Sounds -Working with Parents
Phase 3
This is week 1 of Phase 3 Letters and Sounds.
In this phase we teach more phonemes and introduce digraphs -which are made of two
letters, for example, ‘oa’ as in goat.
digraph — two letters making one sound, e.g. sh, ch, th, ph.
vowel digraphs comprise of two vowels which, together, make one sound, e.g. ai, oo, ow ee
We also

practise blending and segmenting a wider set of words for example, fizz, chip,
sheep, light

learn all letter names and begin to form them correctly

read more tricky words and begin to spell some of them

read and write words in phrases and sentences.
These are all the rest of the sounds we learn in the Foundation Stage.
Week
1
j
v
w
2
y
z and zz
q and qu
3
x
ng as in
ring
4
ch as in chick
ai
as in aim
sh as in ship
ee
as in eel
th as in thumb
igh as in knight
and ie as in pie
5
oo as in spoon
ar as in arm
or as in fork
oa as in goat
ur as in
purse
6
ow as in owl
er as in
builder
oi as in oil
ure as in
picture
ear as in hear
air as in hair
7
Please note that some sounds now have 2 or three letters but they still make one
sound.
For example:When you identify the sounds in tree the ‘ee’ sound is made by ee.
When you write it there are only 3 sounds t –r-ee but 4 letters.
When you sound out boat the ‘oa’ sound is oa - when you write it there are 3 sounds
b-oa-t but 4 letters.
If you write hair there are 2 sounds h-air . The letters ‘air’ make the air sound in
the word.
Your child will learn more double sounds in year 1. Your child needs constant
repetition to learn the sounds and letter formation.
Ways you can support your child at home
Please continue to revise sounds and letter formation from phase 2.
Please help your child by reinforcing new sounds learnt each week in school.
Tricky words
Children will now need to learn how to spell the tricky words from phase 2 and read some
new words
The number of tricky words is growing. These are so important for reading and spelling:
he, she, we, me, be, was, my, you, her, they, all.
They now need to learn the names of the alphabet as well as the sounds the letters make
Try to

Sing an alphabet song together.

Play ‘I spy’, using letter names as well as sounds.

Continue to play with magnetic letters, using some of the two grapheme (letter)
combinations:
r-ai-n = rain blending for reading
rain = r-ai-n – segmenting for spelling
b-oa-t = boat blending for reading boat = b-oa-t – segmenting for spelling
h-ur-t = hurt blending for reading hurt = h-ur-t – segmenting for spelling

Praise your child for trying out words.

Set a timer. Call out one word at a time and get your child to spell it on a magic board
or a small whiteboard, against the timer – remember, they can use magnetic letters.

Play ‘Pairs’, turning over two words at a time trying to find a matching pair. This is
especially helpful with the tricky words: the the, to to, no no, go go, I I

Don’t worry if they get some wrong! These are hard to remember – they need plenty of
practice.

You could try phonic games on the computer. We use for example
www.phonicsplay.co.uk
or www.letters-and-sounds.com

Use some of the ideas from phase 2 e.g. make a fishing game with digraphs.

Please continue to read words in word boxes ask your child to try and spell the
words if they find reading easy.

Make lists of words which have a particular digraph look out for them in books,
comics, or a newspaper. Children might like to highlight words for example
beginning with sh in an old newspaper or look for the tricky word ‘the’ in the
paper and highlight that each time it occurs.

Look out for these new sounds when your child reads their book.