1. Parent’s Phonics Workshop
5th October 2015 1

2. What is phonics?

3. What does phonics look like in school?
Daily minute session
Letters and sounds
Jolly phonics

4. Letters and sounds 6 phases intended to cover nursery to year 2;4
Letters and sounds
6 phases intended to cover nursery to year 2;
Phase 1 – sound discrimination and initial sounds.
Phase 2 – single letter sounds and some common double letters eg ll, ss
Phase 3 – digraphs are introduced – one way of writing every spoken sound.
Phase 5 – alternative ways of reading/writing sounds
Phase 4 & 6 – focus on reading and spelling techniques.

5. Jolly phonics Used to support Letters and Sounds
Sounds, actions & songs

6. Phonic terminology: some definitions
Correct terminology should be introduced from YR onwards.
Children do not have a problem using phonic terminology (in fact they are often very proud of their ability to do so).
However, you are likely to meet resistance from some teachers who consider it ‘over the top’ and unnecessary to teach this vocabulary to children. It is sometimes worth using a numeracy analogy with these staff: we wouldn’t dream of teaching 3-D shapes to children and using the word ‘ball’ instead of ‘sphere’ or ‘box’ instead of cube/cuboid.
The principle with phonic vocabulary is exactly the same – it’s just that we haven’t been used to using these words with children until relatively recently.
Using phonic terminology from the outset ensures accuracy and promotes shared understanding between practitioners and practitioners and children. 6

7. Phoneme A phoneme is the smallest unit of sound in a word.
C-u-p c-a-t d-o-g
Correct terminology should be introduced from YR onwards.
Children do not have a problem using phonic terminology (in fact they are often very proud of their ability to do so).
However, you are likely to meet resistance from some teachers who consider it ‘over the top’ and unnecessary to teach this vocabulary to children. It is sometimes worth using a numeracy analogy with these staff: we wouldn’t dream of teaching 3-D shapes to children and using the word ‘ball’ instead of ‘sphere’ or ‘box’ instead of cube/cuboid.
The principle with phonic vocabulary is exactly the same – it’s just that we haven’t been used to using these words with children until relatively recently.
The following eight slides illustrate the phonic vocabulary that should be used by practitioners in their teaching sessions. 7

8. Pronouncing letter sounds
Sounds should be pure eg 'c' not 'cuh'
Oxford owl site gives examples of how sounds should be pronounced if you need to check link
Regional variations

9. 44 phonemes /s/ /a/ /t/ /p/ /i/ /n/ /m/ /d/ /g/ /o/ /k/ /e/ /u/ /r/
/b/
/f/
/l/
/j/
/v/
/w/
/ch/
/sh/
/th/
/ng/
/ai/
/ee/
/igh/
/oa/
/oo/
/ar/
/or/
/ur/
/ow/
/oi/
/ear/
/air/
/ure/
/er/
/zh/
/qu/
/x/

10. Count the phonemes
How many phonemes can you count in the following words?
Mask
Car
Jumper 10

11. Grapheme Graphemes are the letter(s) representing a phoneme t ai igh
Grapheme Phoneme Correspondences – GPCs 11

12. sh ch ee oi ai Digraph Two letters, which make one sound Eg. 12
The following two definitions are key – digraph and trigraph.
Adjacent consonants are often incorrectly classified as digraphs and trigraphs e.g.
tr as in trap
sp as in spin
str as in string
spl as in splash 12

13. Trigraph
Three letters, which make one sound
igh dge 13

14. Quadgraph
Four letters, which make one sound
Can you think of any? 14

15. Quadgraph
ough – though, through
eigh – eight, weigh 15

16. Split digraph
A digraph in which the two letters are not adjacent (e.g. make).
ACTIVITY
How can you deliver this message about using correct terminology to less experienced practitioners who may find this challenging? 16

17. CVC Words
C consonant phoneme
V vowel phoneme
C consonant phoneme 17

18. Blending & Segmenting Blend to read Segment to spell
A reversible process
Blending is a phonics skill and as such this needs to be explicitly taught.
Blending and segmenting (on slide 12) are reversible skills and this should feature highly in phonic teaching. 18

19. Blending Recognising the letter sounds in a written word, for example
c-u-p, and merging or synthesising
them in the order in which they
are written to pronounce the
word ‘cup’.
Blending is a phonics skill and as such this needs to be explicitly taught.
Blending and segmenting (on slide 12) are reversible skills and this should feature highly in phonic teaching. 19

20. Oral blending
Hearing a series of spoken sounds and merging them together to make a spoken word – no text is used.
Let's play Mrs Kendall says...
This skill is usually taught before blending and reading printed words.
This could be a shift of emphasis for some practitioners. Note the reference to ‘no text used’ and ‘before printed words’.
Opportunities for oral blending prior to reference to graphemes breaks down the skill of blending further. Many children find this helpful and it prepares them for grapheme-phoneme correspondence.
ACTIVITY
How could opportunities for oral blending activities be exemplified within the broad and rich Foundation Stage curriculum? 20

21. Blending techniques Say it quicker Sound buttons Robot arms
Snowballing
This could be a shift of emphasis for some practitioners. Note the reference to ‘no text used’ and ‘before printed words’.
Opportunities for oral blending prior to reference to graphemes breaks down the skill of blending further. Many children find this helpful and it prepares them for grapheme-phoneme correspondence.
ACTIVITY
How could opportunities for oral blending activities be exemplified within the broad and rich Foundation Stage curriculum? 21

22. Segmenting Identifying the individual sounds in a spoken word
(e.g. h-i-m) and writing down or manipulating letters for each sound to form the word ‘him’. 22

23. Segmenting techniques
Stretch the sounds
Write them as you hear them
Read it back to check
This could be a shift of emphasis for some practitioners. Note the reference to ‘no text used’ and ‘before printed words’.
Opportunities for oral blending prior to reference to graphemes breaks down the skill of blending further. Many children find this helpful and it prepares them for grapheme-phoneme correspondence.
ACTIVITY
How could opportunities for oral blending activities be exemplified within the broad and rich Foundation Stage curriculum? 23

24. A segmenting activity - using a phoneme frame 24
This series of five slides demonstrates a segmenting activity.
You may wish to expand on this type of activity in your training back in your own LA. 24

25. A segmenting activity s s 25

26. A segmenting activity s l s l 26

27. A segmenting activity s l i i s l 27

28. A segmenting activity s p l i p i s l 28

29. A segmenting activity
Segment these words into their constituent phonemes:
shelf
dress
think
string
sprint
flick 29

30. Segmenting shelf dress think string sprint flick WORD PHONEMES 30
Hand out blanks for TAs to complete. Next slide shows answers.
Why is there a single ‘f’, ‘k’ ?
Letters only double after a short vowel. In this case the ‘f’ and ‘k’ are preceded by a consonant.
Misunderstandings around segmenting can lead to incorrect teaching. 30

31. Segmenting shelf sh e l f dress d r ss think th i n k string s t ng
WORD
PHONEMES
shelf sh e l f
dress d r ss
think th i n k
string s t ng
sprint p
flick ck
The grid shows the constituent phonemes.
Why is there a single ‘f’, ‘k’ ?
Letters only double after a short vowel. In this case the ‘f’ and ‘k’ are preceded by a consonant.
Misunderstandings around segmenting can lead to incorrect teaching. 31

32. Alternative graphemes
The same phoneme can be represented in more than one way i.e. by an alternative grapheme:
burn
first
term
heard
work
The vowel phoneme /ur/ is represented by five different graphemes. 32

33. Alternative phonemes meat bread he bed bear hear cow low
Some graphemes can make more than one sound i.e. alternative phonemes;
meat bread
he bed
bear hear
cow low
This is the principle of one grapheme representing more than one phoneme. This is particularly relevant in reading. Children need to recognise the vowel digraph as a unit when reading and not as individual phonemes. 33

34. High frequency and tricky words
The majority of high frequency words are phonically regular.
Some exceptions – for example the and was – these are tricky words and should be directly taught but can still be sounded out!!
Emphasise that it is only the exceptions which should be directly taught – some teachers are wasting time teaching as sight words phonically decodable words such as ‘went’ ‘am’ etc.
Morag Stuart’s research studies show that ‘children who can identify phonemes in spoken words and who know how those phonemes are represented by letters learn ‘sight vocabulary’ faster than children without this knowledge and skill’. 34

35. Games and activities www.phonicsplay.co.uk
hablocks
y/phonics/play/

36. What is the screening check?
Year 1 phonics check
What is the screening check?
Short, light-touch assessment.
Up to 10 minutes to complete.
Compulsory for all year 1 children.
To identify those who need extra help.
The National phonics screening check is a statutory assessment that was introduced in 2012 to all Year 1 pupils and is a quick and easy check of your child’s phonics knowledge.  
The Phonics Screening Check is meant to show how well your child can use the phonics skills they’ve learned up to the end of Year 1, and to identify students who need extra phonics help. The Department for Education defines the checks as “short, light-touch assessments” that take about four to nine minutes to complete.

37. 40 real and nonsense words:
What does it involve?
40 real and nonsense words:
The checks consist of 40 words and non-words that your child will be asked to read. Non-words (or nonsense words, or pseudo words) are a collection of letters that will follow phonics rules your child has been taught, but don’t mean anything – your child will need to read these with the correct sounds to show that they understand the phonics rules behind them. Each of the non-words is presented with a picture of a monster / alien, as if the word were their name (and so your child doesn't think the word is a mistake because it doesn't make sense!).

38. 2 sections: simple word structures and complex word structures.
1:1 with a familiar adult.
2 sections: simple word structures and complex word structures.
Practice words.
Assesses phonics skills and knowledge learnt through foundation and year 1.
The 40 words and non-words are divided into two sections – one with simple word structures of three or four letters, and one with more complex word structures of five or six letters. The teacher administering the check with your child will give them a few practice words to read first – including some non-words – so they understand more about what they have to do.

39. Week commencing 13th June
The 2016 screening check
Week commencing 13th June

40. FAQ’s: Is it stressful to test such young children
FAQ’s: Is it stressful to test such young children? What will my child’s score mean?
The assessment will be age appropriate and the adults involved will all be familiar. The children should be familiar with the set up as we are constantly reviewing children’s progress in a similar way. It should be an enjoyable activity for children which takes no more than 10/15 minutes. There will be a few practise words at the beginning to make sure your child understands the activity.  
Your child will be scored against a national standard, and the main result will be whether or not they fall below, within or above this standard.
In 2013, 2014 and 2015 the "pass threshold" was 32, which means children had to read at least 32 words out of 40 correctly. The threshold mark is communicated to schools at the end of June, after the test has been taken, so that teachers can mark the Check.
You will be told how your child did, but schools’ results will not be published. If your child’s score falls below the standard, they will be given extra phonics help and can re-take the Phonics screening check in Year 2.
You will be informed of your childs progress in phonics and how he or she has done in the screening check, towards the end of the summer term.   All of the children are individuals and develop at different stages. The screening check ensures that teachers understand which children need support with decoding.  
The screening check will identify children who have phonic decoding skills below the level expected for the end of year 1 and who therefore need help. Schools are expected to provide extra help and children will then be able to re‐take the assessment in year 2.  

41. How can you help your child prepare?
Let your child see you enjoy reading.
Listen to your child read.
With all books, encourage your child to sound out unfamiliar words and then blend from left to right rather than looking at the pictures to guess.

42. How can you help your child prepare?
There are many phonics games to access on the computer: Phonics based apps are great too! If in doubt, ASK!