Phonics
Communication, Language and
Literacy
What is Phonics?
Phonics is a systematic and synthetic approach that
supports children to read and write quickly and skilfully.
They are taught how to:
• recognise the sounds that each individual letter
makes
• identify the sounds that different combinations of
letters make - such as ‘sh’ or ‘oo’
• blend these sounds together from left to right to
make a word
• segment the sounds in a word e.g dog d-o-g
Why do we use ‘Phonics’ to teach
reading and writing?
Research shows that when phonics is taught in a
structured way – starting with the easiest sounds and
progressing through to the most complex – it is the
most effective way of teaching young children to read
and write.
Phonics vocab!
• Phoneme - the smallest unit of sound in a
word
• Grapheme – the letter that represents the
phoneme
• Blending - putting individual sounds together
so that we can read a word
• Segmenting - breaking up words into their
individual sounds so that we can spell a word
Phonics vocab!
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Digraph – two letters that make one sound
Trigraph – three letters that make one sound
Tricky words
Sound buttons
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How many phonemes are in the word cat?
How many phonemes in the word sock?
How many graphemes in the word sock?
Can you write a word with one digraph in?
Can you write a word with a trigraph in?
• Showing an awareness of rhyme and
alliteration.
• Distinguishing between sounds in the
environment
• Exploring and experimenting with sounds and
words
• Beginning to orally blend and segment
phonemes
Phase 2
Set 1: s, a, t, p
Set 2: i, n, m ,d
Set 3: g, o, c, k
Set 4: ck, e, u, r
Set 5: h, b, f, l
Set 6: ff, ll, ss
Phase 2 tricky words: I, no, go, to, the
Phase 3
Set 7: j, v, w, x
Set 8: y, z, zz, qu
Consonant digraphs: ch, sh, th, ng
Vowel digraphs: ai, ee, oa, oo, ar, or, ur, ow, oi, er
Trigraph: igh, ear, air, ure
Phase 3 tricky words: he, she, we, be, was, you , they, all,
are, my, her
Phase 4
In Phase 4, no new graphemes are introduced.
The main aim of this phase is to consolidate the
children's knowledge and to help them learn to
read and spell words which have adjacent
consonants, such as trap, string and milk and
two syllable words.
Phase 4 tricky words: have, like, so, do, some,
come, were, there, little, one, when, out, what.
Phonics in School!
Revisit
Teach
Apply
Practise
Revisit…
The children will play a quick fire game to
practise something they have learned before
and help build their confidence.
http://www.phonicsplay.co.uk/memberonly/Flashcards.html
Teach…
The children will be taught a new phoneme/grapheme or
a new skill - this will be taught in a fun multisensory way
and may well involve: songs, actions, pictures, puppets,
writing giant letters in the air.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Djz82FBYiug
a
Practise…
The children play fast, fun games to practise the
new thing they have just learned.
http://www.phonicsplay.co.uk/memberonly/BuriedTreasure2.html
Apply…
The children will have a quick go at reading or
writing sentences that involve the new thing
they have just learned.
Phonics is everywhere!
Outside of the phonics session children are
given lots of opportunities to apply the new
skills that they have learned in all of their
lessons. The more opportunities they are given
the sooner they will become confident with
these skills.
Pronouncing
Phonemes
Saying the phonemes using the shortest possible
sound helps children to understand phonics
more quickly.
You need to be careful not to add an ‘u’ sound
to the end of the other letter sounds.
Pronouncing Phonemes
 f l m n r s sh v th z (continuous phonemes)
 e p t ch h (unvoiced)
 b d g w qu y j (voiced)
Mr Thorne
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYCR2RZ4Z
YY
Sound Buttons
sit
fish
hair
think
Tricky Words!
Tricky words are those words which cannot be
sounded out correctly using our phonic
knowledge. The only way these words can be
read and spelt correctly is by learning them and
having plenty of practise.
Using phonic knowledge to read…
Blending is a vital skill for reading. The separate
sounds (phonemes) of the word are spoken
aloud, in order, all through the word and are
then merged together into the whole word. This
merging is called blending.
For example, the adult would say
F-r-e-d and the child would blend
It to say Fred.
How can I support blending skills?
Try breaking down simple words when you are giving instructions or
asking questions, such as
“Can you find your h-a-t (hat)?”
“Where is the c-a-t (cat)?”
“Sit on the s-ea-t (seat).”
Find real objects around your home and practise ‘sound talk’. First, just
let them listen, then see if they will join in, for example, saying:
• “I spy a p-e-g – peg.”
• “I spy a c-u-p – cup.”
When reading, encourage children to say each phoneme and begin to
say them more quickly. If they are finding it tricky, model blending the
word.
Using phonic knowledge to write…
Children will use their segmenting skills to break
a word down into the phonemes they can hear
e.g c-a-t, s-o-ck
Robot arms can be useful!
But it’s not spelt right!
Children use their phonic knowledge to spell
unfamiliar words. Therefore it may not be spelt
correctly but it will be phonetically correct!
pretty
pritee
Activities to try at home!
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Splat the letter!
Box of sounds
Sound sorting
Bucket of sounds
What’s in the box?
Tricky word bingo
Run to the word
Silly sentences
Quickwrite
Countdown
Useful Websites
• www.phonicsplay.co.uk
• www.coxhoe.durham.sch.uk/Curriculum/Literacy.
html
• www.bbc.co.uk/schools/websites/4_11/site/liter
acy.shtml
• http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/wordsandpictures
• www.ictgames.com/literacy.html literacy based
games
• http://www.letters-and-sounds.com/