1. An information evening for
Phonics in KS1
An information evening for
parents and carers
Key Stage One – Year 1 & 2
Wednesday 4th November 2015

2. What is phonics?
Identifying, classifying and differentiating different sounds.
Identifying letters and sounds within words.
Blending phonemes into words for reading (decoding).
Segmenting words into phonemes for spelling/writing (encoding).
Building up key spelling strategies to improve writing and language skills.

3. Importance and impact of phonics
reading
writing
spelling
spoken language
Importance and impact of phonics
spelling

4. Key phonics terminology
Phoneme: smallest unit of sound made by one or more letters. (you hear)
Grapheme: the written form of a phoneme (you see)
Segment: the breaking up of phonemes in words to read or write (s-n-a-p)
Blending: the drawing of phonemes together to make a word (snap)
Digraph – phoneme made by two letters
(ai, ow, ee)
Split digraph – a diagraph split by a consonant (ee – complete)

5. Key phonics terminology
Trigraph – phoneme made by three letters
(air, igh)
Tricky words – words that can’t be segmented and blended (you, was)
Alternative graphemes – graphemes with alternative pronunciations (yes, by, very)
Suffix – common ending to words
(ed, ing hopped, hopping)
Prefix – common beginning to words (finished becomes unfinished)

6. What is Grammar?
Grammar is the study of the way words are used to make sentences.
It is the correct choice and consistent use of present tense and past tense throughout writing.
Singular and plural subject verb agreements.
Prefixes and suffixes to change the meaning of a word.
pick - picked
look - looked
want-wanted
need – needed
The dog chases the cat.
The dogs chase the cats
teach- teacher
care-careful

7. Grammar and phonics Year 1 – Phase 5
Alternative pronunciation and spelling.
Year 2 – Phase 6
Spelling development, verb tenses, prefixes, suffixes and plurals.

8. Phase 5 (Year 1)
Reading phonetically decodable 2-syllable and 3-syllable words.
Using alternative ways of pronouncing and spelling the graphemes corresponding to the long vowel phonemes.
Spelling complex words using phonetically plausible attempts.
Building knowledge of sight vocabulary (read simple words without the need to segment and blend them together)
ginger
turkey
envelope
animal ea ee e ey
e_e
Beach
keep be
turkey
complete
teecher
cud
wurd
harf
teacher
could
word
half

9. Phase 5 (Year 1) ae ee ie oe ue a_e e_e i_e o_e u_e snake even slide
Split Digraphs (‘magic e’) are a vowel sound that has been split. We no longer use the term ‘magic e’ as it is confusing – the ‘e’ isn’t magic, it’s actually doing a job.
A digraph is two letters which together make one sound (as in the words tail, boat, feet).
When a digraph is split by a consonant it becomes a split digraph. ae ee ie oe ue
a_e
e_e
i_e
o_e
u_e
snake
even
slide
bone
flute
cube

10. Year 1 Phonics Screening
Children in Year 1 have to have a compulsory phonics check in June.
This consists of -
20 real and 20 nonsense (‘alien’) words.
Nonsense words marked with an alien so that the children understand they are not real.
Words get progressively more challenging.
Completed with a teacher on a 1:1 basis.
Last approximately 5 minutes per child.
Aim is to asses their knowledge of phonics in Reception and Year 1 taught so far

11. Examples words from 2014 screen
voisk
sklard
cheek
quigh
snarl
fuel
spoilt
It is important to practise reading ‘alien’ words at home and encourage children not to guess what they might be but to ‘read’ the words. We say it is ‘alien language’ –
What is the alien saying?

12. Supporting phonics at home
Revise and apply the sounds sent home.
Practise making up and reading ‘alien’ words.
Play simple word games such as ‘I spy, word-snap, phoneme – snap’.
Practise spotting spelling patterns (such as split-diagraphs) when reading a range of books and poems.
Look for language within the environment (signs, labels, posters and magazines).
Play online phonics games (
Play word sorting games.
ow words
ow (cow)
ow (snow)
cow
snow
grow
down
towel
window

13. Phase 6 (Year 2) Read with increasing fluency
Read with increasing expression
Focus shifts from teaching phonemes to spelling and spelling patterns.
Teaching Spelling:
Introducing and teaching past, present, future tense
Investigating and learning how to add suffixes to words
(ing, er, est, ful, ly, y, ed)
Spelling with more accuracy.
Spelling longer and increasingly difficult words more accurately.
Pluralisation (cat-cats, dog-dogs, dish-dishes, kiss-kisses, leaf – leaves)
spite - spiteful
rude - rudely
white - whiter
lucky - luckiest
carry -carried

14. Phase 6 (Year 2)
Much higher emphasis on the independent application of phonics skills taught in previous and current phonic phases.
Higher emphasis on accurate spelling in all writing and especially ensuring the children are applying their knowledge and skills in their cross-curricular writing/work.
Building knowledge of high frequency (sight vocabulary) and a wider range of tricky words for reading and writing.
Build up of the understanding and use of different spelling strategies for spelling words (such as the use of ‘mnemonics’).

15. Supporting phonics at home
Regular reading is vital. Developing the ‘love of reading’.
(books, magazines, websites, bug club, menus, newspapers etc.).
Encouraging reading in the environment.
Use key phonics vocabulary such as ‘segment’ and ‘blend’.
Encourage recognition and spelling of tricky words.
Comprehension questions to check understanding of what they have read.
Encourage a purpose for writing – lists, diaries, letters, postcards.
Correct accurate use of verb tenses when speaking.
Encourage correct pronunciation of words
(water, twenty, because)
Encourage correct grammar in speech and in writing.

16. Questions to ask your child whilst reading
Building Oral Comprehension Skills
Phonics/Spelling
Comprehension
Can you find any words with your spelling rule in for this week?
Can you find any words with the ………… sound in it?
Are there any other ways that you could spell this word?
Can you find alternative phonemes?
Can you find a word with a digraph/trigraph/split-digraph?
Could you change the tense of that word?
Can you make that word a plural?
Can you find the key word _____ ?
Can you find the opposite word to _______?
Could we use a different/alternative word to ______?
Could we improve this sentence by adding adjectives?
What do you think this book is about?
What clues can you spot that tell us more about the book.
Is it real or imaginary? Fact or fiction?
What clues do the pictures give us about the story/text?
What has happened?
Can you change/add expression to the characters voice?
What do you think that word means?
Can you find the word that is opposite to the word ?
Can you predict what will happen next?
How do you think … would say this? (angrily, happily, softly)
Is there anything that puzzles you?
What makes you think that…?
What do you think…?
What words give you that impression…?
How do you feel about…?
Can you explain why…?
Do you like the part where…?
What have I learnt from this book?
Can you retell the story?
Can you change the setting of the story?
Can you think of another ending for the story?
What facts have I learnt from the text?