Here is some further information about phonics, what phonics is,
how it is taught and some useful strategies and terminology to
use with your children at home. Please come and ask our
experienced team if there is anything you are unsure of.
What is phonics?
Phonics is a way of teaching children to read quickly and skilfully. The children are taught
how to:
o recognise the sounds that each individual letter makes;
o identify the sounds that different combinations of letters make - such as
‘sh’ or ‘oo’;
o blend these sounds together from left to right to make a word.
Children can then use this knowledge to ‘de-code’ new words that they hear or see. This is
the first very important step in learning to read.
Why phonics?
Research shows that when phonics is taught in a structured way as we
do at St. Johns, starting with the easiest sounds and progressing
through to the most complex, it is the most effective way of teaching
young children to read. Children who are taught in this progressive way
will be able to move on to attempt new and complex words, leading
them to read any kind of text fluently and confidently, and to read for
enjoyment which is very important for now and in the future.
Children who have been taught phonics also tend to read more accurately than those taught
using other methods, such as ‘look and say’. This includes children who find learning to read
difficult, for example those who have dyslexia.
Letters and Sounds
At St. Johns, we follow Letters and Sounds when teaching phonics. This is a programme
which is divided into six phases. Below are the year groups which link to each phase.
However, we ensure we meet the needs of each individual pupil and so variations in the phase
your child is currently working in may occur.
Phase One
Phase Two
Phase Three
Phase Four
Phase Five
Phase Six
Support For Spelling
Nursery
Reception
Reception
Reception/ Year One
Throughout Year One
Throughout Year Two and beyond
Through Year 3 to Year 6
Grouping
Children in EYFS to Year 3 take part in a 20 to 25 minute phonics
lesson four to five times a week. These are groups which are often
organised depending on the needs and ability of each individual child,
therefore catering for their specific needs and pace of learning.
Children in year 2 and year 3 work alongside each other in ability
groups to ensure those who have experienced difficulties in grasping
some elements of the phonics programme, have an opportunity to
clarify their understanding.
Those who have successfully completed the Letters and Sounds Programme move on to
‘Support for Spelling’ which progresses their skills learnt previously during Letters and
Sounds (e.g. a continuation of adding pre fixes and suffixes to root words or regular and
irregular tense changes. For example carry and carries.) Children who are in years 4 to 6 also
work in identified groups, taking part in spelling lessons three times a week. This is also a
programme of study taken from ‘Support for Spelling’, created by the Primary National
Strategies to ensure consistency of spelling across the school.
Teaching and Training
All our staff at St. Johns have received training in teaching phonics at regular intervals. This
includes our highly skilled TA staff who work alongside individuals or small groups meeting
their individual needs. They have a clear understanding of the terminology used in phonics
teaching and along with teaching staff use this through their daily lessons.
Examples of this terminology is set out below for your reference and use.
Phonics glossary
Meaning
(Vb)
Verbal
blend (vb)
to draw individual sounds together to pronounce a word, e.g. s-n-a-p,
blended together, reads snap.
cluster
two (or three) letters making two (or three) sounds, e.g. the first three
letters of 'straight' are a consonant cluster.
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.
split digraph
two letters, split, making one sound, e.g. a-e as in make or i-e in site.
trigraph
three letters that make one sound, e.g. igh as in light.
grapheme
a letter or a group of letters representing one sound, e.g. sh, ch, igh,
ough (as in 'though').
grapheme
phoneme
correspondence
(GPC)
the relationship between sounds and the letters which represent those
sounds; also known as 'letter-sound correspondences'.
mnemonic
a device for memorising and recalling something, such as a snake shaped
like the letter 'S'.
phoneme
the smallest single identifiable sound, e.g. the letters 'sh' represent
just one sound, but 'sp' represents two (/s/ and /p/).
segment (vb)
to split up a word into its individual phonemes in order to spell it, e.g.
the word 'cat' has three phonemes: /c/, /a/, /t/.
VC, CVC, CCVC
the abbreviations for vowel-consonant, consonant-vowel-consonant,
consonant-consonant-vowel-consonant, which are used to describe the
order of letters in words, e.g. am, ham, slam.
There are also various strategies we use to help the children to hear and recall the
phonemes or sounds they hear in a word, in order to blend for reading and segment for
spelling. These are:Terminology
Sound
Buttons
Strategy
Using a dot to represent one letter that
makes on sound or a line which
represents two or more letters that
make one sound. These are placed
underneath each phoneme in a word to
identify the number of phonemes heard.
Phonics
Fingers or
phoneme
fingers
Using fingers to count the number of
sounds or phonemes heard in a word
when it is sounded out.
E.g. ch/ur/ch = 3 phonic fingers
_ /_ /_ = sound buttons for church
Example
Phoneme
Frames
Using a frame which contains the
correct number of boxes for the word
being spelt. Each phoneme is written into
a separate box to show any diagraphs or
trigraphs etc. in the word.
Year One Phonics Checklist
What is the phonics screening check?
The phonics screening check is a check which the
Government brought in in 2012 to help gauge children’s
phonic knowledge. It helps us, as a school, to confirm
whether your child has made the expected progress.
In the past the Phonics Screening Check has taken
place approximately two weeks into June, (the 17th
June in 2013) for all children currently in year one. We
anticipate that the checklist will be carried out at a
similar time in 2014. The Government also state that
all pupils who did not meet the expected level in year
one, should retake the checklist in year two. This
therefore means, that if your child did not ‘pass’ the
phonics checklist in year one, they will be re-checked in the following academic
year in June. Any pupils who are absent during the Phonics Checklist in year one
will also have to retake when they are in year two, so it is very important to try
to ensure your child is in school during the time of the check in year one.
How does the check work?
Your child will sit with their class teacher whom they know well and be asked to read 40
words aloud. Some of the words will be familiar to them, whilst others will be completely new.
The check normally takes just a few minutes to complete and
there is no time limit. If your child is struggling, we will stop
the check to ensure it is not unduly stressful.
What are ‘non-words’?
The check contains a mix of real words and ‘non-words’ (or
‘nonsense words’). Children will be told before the check that
there will be non-words that he or she will not have seen
before. Our children are familiar with this because we already
use ‘non-words’ when we teach phonics as it forms part of the
teaching through Letters and Sounds. They have played many
games to aid their ability to read nonsense words accurately.
Non-words are important to include because words such as ‘vap’ or ‘jound’ are new to all
children. Children cannot read the non-words by using their memory or vocabulary; they have
to use their decoding skills. This is a fair way to assess their ability to decode. It is
important to remember that this checklist only assesses the children’s ability to decode and
not their other key reading skills, which are so vital to becoming a competent reader, who
has a love of reading. At St. Johns we greatly value the other skills which are integral to
becoming a confident reader and so these skills are taught as part of the guided reading
sessions taking place each week.
After the check
We will tell you about your child’s progress in phonics and how he or she has done in the
screening check in their end of year report. You will find a section dedicated to phonics,
beneath the section on CLL. This will give you information as to the total score they achieved
in the phonics checklist, whether they have met the required standard and then some useful
general information about their progress and ability.
It is important to remember that all children are individuals and develop at different rates.
The screening check ensures that we, as teachers, are aware of which children need extra
help with phonic decoding.
Helping your child with phonics
Phonics works best when children are given plenty of encouragement and learn to enjoy
reading and books. Parents play a very important part in helping with this.
Some simple steps to help your child learn to read
through phonics:
● Spellings are linked to the sounds covered each
week in phonics. Use these to help you to reinforce
this at home.
● You can then highlight these sounds when you read
with your child. Teaching how sounds match with
letters is likely to start with individual letters such as
‘s’, ‘a’ and ‘t’ and then will move on to two-letter sounds
(called digraphs) such as ‘ee’, ‘ch’ and ‘ck’.
● With all books, encourage your child to ‘sound out’ unfamiliar words and then blend the
sounds together from left to right rather than looking at the pictures to guess. Once your
child has read an unfamiliar word you can talk about what it means and help him or her to
follow the story.
● We also send home reading books with the right level of phonics for your child. These
books are often called ‘decodable readers’ because the story is written with words made up
of the letters your child has learnt. Your child will be able to work out new words from their
letters and sounds, rather than just guessing.
● Try to make time to read with your child every day. Grandparents and older brothers or
sisters can help, too. Encourage your child to blend the
sounds all the way through a word.
● Word games like ‘I-spy’ can also be an enjoyable way of
teaching children about sounds and letters. You can also
encourage your child to read words from your shopping list,
menus or road signs to practise phonics.
At St. John’s we use ‘book bags’ and a reading record, which
is a great way for us as teachers and you as parents to
communicate about what children have read. The reading record can
tell you whether your child has enjoyed a particular book and shows
problems or successes he or she has had, either at home or at school.
There are many activities and games available on the internet
too. Below are some very good websites which offer a range
of games your child can play either on their own with some
support. These will allow practise of decoding, including
decoding nonsense words. (Websites have been checked for
content. However, please use these at your own digression.
We accept no responsibility for their content.)
http://www.phonicsplay.co.uk/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/ks1/literacy/phonics/play/
http://www.familylearning.org.uk/phonics_games.html
http://www.hairyphonics.com
http://www.northwood.org.uk/phonics.htm
http://www.kenttrustweb.org.uk/kentict/content/games/literacy_menu.html
If you would like to find out more about phonics please come and ask any of our Foundation
Stage or Key Stage One staff, or by visiting
www.education.gov.uk/schools/teachingandlearning/pedagogy/phonics or search for ‘phonics’
on the Department for Education website at www.education.gov.uk.
Appendices
Here are some useful resources for your reference.
the
and
a
to
said
in
he
I
of
it
was
you
they
on
she
is
for
at
his
but
that
with
all
we
can
are
up
had
my
her
what
there
out
this
have
went
be
like
some
100 high-frequency words in order
so
not
then
were
go
little
as
no
mum
one
them
do
me
down
dad
big
when
it’s
see
looked
very
look
don’t
come
will
into
back
from
children
him
Mr
get
just
now
came
oh
about
got
their
people
your
put
could
house
old
too
by
day
made
time
I’m
if
help
Mrs
called
here
off
asked
saw
make
an
100 high-frequency words
help
were
in phases
Tricky words
there
Phase Four
said
little
Decodable words
have
one
went
like
when
it’s
so
out
from
do
what
children
some
just
come
day
100 high-frequency words
Decodable words
made
in phases
don’t
came
Phase Five
old
make
Note that some of the
I’m
here
words that were tricky in
by
saw
earlier phases become
time
very
fully decodable in Phase
house
put (south)
Five
about
your
Tricky words
Mr
asked
oh
Mrs
could
their
looked
people
called
Next 200 common words in order of frequency
This list is read down columns (i.e in the list, water is the most frequently used and
grow is the least frequently used)
water
find
live
fun
better
away
more
say
place
hot
good
I’ll
soon
mother
sun
want
round
night
sat
across
over
tree
narrator
boat
gone
how
magic
small
window
hard
did
shouted
car
sleep
floppy
man
us
couldn’t
feet
really
going
other
three
morning
wind
where
food
head
queen
wish
would
fox
king
each
eggs
or
through
town
book
once
took
way
I’ve
its
please
school
been
around
green
thing
think
stop
every
different
stopped
home
must
garden
let
ever
who
red
fast
girl
miss
didn’t
door
only
which
most
ran
right
many
inside
cold
know
sea
laughed
run
park
bear
these
let’s
any
lived
can’t
began
much
under
birds
again
boy
suddenly
hat
duck
cat
animals
told
snow
horse
long
never
another
air
rabbit
things
next
great
trees
white
new
first
why
bad
coming
after
work
cried
tea
he’s
wanted
lots
keep
top
river
eat
need
room
eyes
liked
everyone
that’s
last
fell
giant
our
baby
jumped
friends
looks
two
fish
because
box
use
has
gave
even
dark
along
yes
mouse
am
grandad
plants
play
something
before
there’s
dragon
take
bed
gran
looking
pulled
thought
may
clothes
end
we’re
dog
still
tell
than
fly
well
found
key
best
grow
Here is the recommended letter formation used at St. Johns. It is very important that
children use the correct letter formation as soon as they begin writing as this will help
them when they begin to join their letters as they get older.
At St. Johns we use the Nelson Handwriting font when teaching handwriting skills. Here
are a couple of examples for your reference. Please ask for more resources in school to
support handwriting at home.
Acknowledgements:Some information has been extracted from the ‘Learning to read through phonics,
Information for parents’ leaflet by the Department for Education. © Crown copyright 2013
High frequency words have been taken from the Letters and Sounds Document from the
webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk