2. Aims To inform parents of how we teach phonics in Key Stage 1. To enable parents to try out some of the activities we use. To suggest ways parents may help their children at home. To inform parents about the Year 1 Phonics Screening Test.

3. Phonics is used in Literacy and throughout the curriculum Speaking and Listening Shared, guided, paired and independent reading and writing Range of Fiction/ Non-Fiction/ Poetry Phonics underpins all this work

4. What do we do? Follow ‘Letters and Sounds’ 5 x 20 minutes discrete phonics learning weekly Ability grouped Phonic Readers Learning is reinforced throughout the curriculum. Progress closely monitored/ tracked

5. What do we do in a Phonics Lesson? Review (something the children have already learnt) Teach (something new) Practise (reading/writing new sound/word) Apply (use new sound knowledge in context e.g. read/ write a sentence containing that sound)

6. Phonics in the Foundation Stage Phase 1 – tuning into sounds (ongoing) Phase 2 – Initial phonemes and tricky words Blending: c-a-t = cat Segmenting: pet = p-e-t

7. Phase 3 – digraphs/ trigraphs Started in Foundation Stage. Focus on CVC words. Learn one way to represent every sound. Digraph = 2 letters that make one sound e.g. ‘oa’ in boat. Trigraph = 3 letters that make one sound e.g. ‘igh’ in night. Tricky words (Activities – pronunciation of phonemes + phoneme frame + buried treasure)

9. Phase 4 Adjacent consonants (e.g. help, went, sport, green. Tricky words e.g. said, like, some, come.

10. Phase 5 Alternative representations of phonemes e.g. ai/ ay/ a_e, or/ aw/ au, ee/ea/e_e Alternative pronunciations for vowels and consonants e.g. i – fin/ find, g – got/ giant, ow – cow/ blow (Activities =Split Digraphs + Phoneme Spotter)

11. Year 1 Phonics Check W.C. 18 th June 2012 1:1 with teacher Approx 10 mins each 40 words (at least 50% ‘non’ words) Decoding – not a ‘reading’ check. High expectations NB - We already monitor progress systematically.

12. How can you help at home? Frequent reading with your child – school book + wider Pink Sounds/ Words book Environmental print Oral blending/ segmenting Talk with your child about the things that interest them! www.mrthorne.com www.phonicsplay.co.uk