Reading and
Phonics
How to help at
home
Reading with your child is vital. Research
shows that it‛s the
‘single most important thing you can do to
help your child‛s education.’
You are the child‛s first and most important
teacher. You open the door to a world of
books and learning. Model reading as the
norm in your home – let your child see their
parents / siblings etc. reading for enjoyment
as well as purpose.
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• Think of ways to make reading fun –
you want your child to learn how
pleasurable books can be. If you‛re
both enjoying talking about the content
of a particular page, linger over it for as
long as you like.
• Books are not just about reading the
words on the page, they can also
present new ideas and topics for you
and your child to discuss.
• 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 action rhymes and movement
games
All these things will help to build up
connections in the brain, an enjoyment of
language and confidence to try things out.
My Child is a Reluctant Reader
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Parents and carers play a vital role, as their attitude is often the
strongest influence on a child.
• Enthusiasm is catching so never imply that reading is a chore.
• Read aloud to child as often as you can. This is important as it will
introduce your child to a much wider and more literary vocabulary than
the limited number of words used in every day speech.
• Put on voices to demonstrate the storytelling quality of reading.
• Visit bookshops and libraries with your child. Find the sorts of books that
are of particular interest.
• Read in new places, in the bath, in a den…
• When you child starts reading independently, you‛re still needed. Most
reluctant readers like a companion when reading. So why not sit beside
them and read your own book?
School Reading Books
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Phonics flashcards
Topic books to read to your children
Captions, sentence strips, ditties
Books with simple words and
sentences
• Reading Record Book – Please write a
comment or tick to indicate that your
child has read the book at home
Phase 1 - The 7 Aspects
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Aspect 1 - General sound discrimination - environmental
The aim of this aspect is to raise children's awareness of the sounds
around them and to develop their listening skills. Activities suggested
in the guidance include going on a listening walk, drumming on
different items outside and comparing the sounds, playing a sounds
lotto game and making shakers.
Aspect 2 - General sound discrimination - instrumental sounds
This aspect aims to develop children's awareness of sounds made by
various instruments and noise makers. Activities include comparing
and matching sound makers, playing instruments alongside a story and
making loud and quiet sounds.
Aspect 3 - General sound discrimination - body percussion
The aim of this aspect is to develop children's awareness of sounds
and rhythms. Activities include singing songs and action rhymes,
listening to music and developing a sounds vocabulary.
Aspect 4 - Rhythm and rhyme
This aspect aims to develop children's appreciation and experiences
of rhythm and rhyme in speech. Activities include rhyming stories,
rhyming bingo, clapping out the syllables in words and odd one out.
• Aspect 5 - Alliteration
• The focus is on initial sounds of words, with activities including I-Spy
type games and matching objects which begin with the same sound.
• Aspect 6 - Voice sounds
• The aim is to distinguish between different vocal sounds and to begin oral
blending and segmenting. Activities include Metal Mike, where children
feed pictures of objects into a toy robot's mouth and the teacher sounds
out the name of the object in a robot voice - /c/-/u/-/p/ cup, with the
children joining in.
• Aspect 7 - Oral blending and segmenting
• In this aspect, the main aim is to develop oral blending and segmenting
skills.
• To practise oral blending, the teacher could say some sounds, such as /c//u/-/p/ and see whether the children can pick out a cup from a group of
objects. For segmenting practise, the teacher could hold up an object such
as a sock and ask the children which sounds they can hear in the word sock.
• The activities introduced in Phase 1 are intended to continue throughout
the following phases, as lots of practice is needed before children will
become confident in their phonic knowledge and skills.
Phase 1 – Learning how to
Sound Talk ‘Fred Talk’
• The teacher shows children how to do this – c-a-t = cat. The
separate sounds (phonemes) are spoken aloud, in order, all
through the word, and are then merged together into the whole
word. The merging together is called blending – it is a vital skill for
reading.
• Children will also learn to do this the other way around –
cat = c-a-t. The whole word is spoken aloud, and then broken up into
its sounds (phonemes) in order, all through the word. This is called
segmenting – it is a vital skill for spelling.
• This is all oral (spoken). Your child will not be expected to match
the letter to the sound at this stage. The emphasis is on helping
children to hear the separate sounds in words and to create spoken
sounds.
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Phase 2 - Letters and Sounds
• Correct pronunciation
• Correct vocabulary
• We all need to use the same
language at home and at school.
• Little and often is the key. Does
not have to be formal.
• Link it to your child’s interests.
At Stannington First School
we use the Read Write Inc
synthetic phonics
programme.
A Guide to understanding Read Write
Inc Phonics
http://www.ruthmiskin.com/en/resources/parent-tutorial-1-understanding-readwrite-inc-phonics/
Segmenting Activity
• Use your ‘robot arms’ to say how
many phonemes in each word.
• shelf
• dress
• sprint
• string
Did you get it right?
• shelf =
sh – e – l – f
• dress = d - r - e – ss
= 4 phonemes
= 4 phonemes
• sprint = s – p – r – i – n – t = 6 phonemes
• string = s – t – r – i – ng
= 5 phonemes
There are 44 Phonemes and we have to
make sure that we are pronouncing
them the same way at home and at
school.
http://www.ruthmiskin.com/en/resourc
es/sound-pronunciation-guide/
The 44 Phonemes
Introducing your child to the
Read Write Inc picture and
sound cards.
http://www.ruthmiskin.com/en/resources/parent-tutorial-3preparing-teach-your-child-reading/
TRICKY WORDS
• Words that are not phonetically decode
able ‘Tricky words’ or ‘Red words’
e.g. I, to, no, go, into …
• Some are ‘tricky’ to start with but will
become decodeable once we have learned
the harder phonemes
• e.g. out
Now you have the
knowledge….
• Play lots of sound and listening games with
your child.
• Read as much as possible to and with your
child.
• Encourage and praise – get them to have a
‘good guess’.
• Ask your child’s teacher if you want to
know more.
Useful websites
www.ruthmiskintraining.com/parents
Helpful tutorials and video clips
www.phonicsplay.co.uk
Fun interactive games for you and your
child to play