1. Reading in the EYFS
Thursday 28th January 2016

2. Introduction Terminology Letters and Sounds – overview of phases
Working with Foundation Stage children

3. Terminology Phonics Segmenting and blending See booklet
Phonics - skill of segmenting and blending, knowledge of the alphabetic code
Phoneme – smallest unit of sound in a word - dog (3 phonemes)
approx 44 phonemes in spoken English
Grapheme – letter or letters that represent a phoneme e.g igh, er
Segmenting and blending - reversible key phonic skills

4. Segmenting and Blending
d o g
  
Robot arms
Sound buttons

5. Segmenting and Blending
t r ee
  −

6. Letters and Sounds Phase One – identifying sounds (preschool)
Oral segmenting and blending
Games such as ‘I spy’
Phase Two
19 letters of alphabet plus one sound for each
Blending and segmenting
Letter formation
Organised into sets (e.g. Set 1 = s a t p, set 2 – i n m d)
Tricky words (the, to, no, I, go, into)
After set 1 and 2 chn have enough phonic knowledge to begin to put sounds together (blending) and unpick sounds (segmenting). Coupled with work on letter formation, should be able to begin to read and write.
Use magnetic boards with set 1 and 2 (elc)
Make words
So when reading spot easy words to read (cvc), or play rhyming games and write down words (cvc)
Also look at tricky words and help your child remember them (rhyme, mnemonic, the (stick your tongue out)
Problems – some children still at phase 1 and so need help identifying sounds. Some struggle with middle and end sounds and often children can only remember last sound they heard because their memory is so poor. Lots of reinforcement and memory games will help.
Phonics programme is progressive and sounds are constantly revisited, so reinforcement is part and parcel of teaching.
At end of phase 2, most chn should be able to read (blend) and write simple sentences
e.g. The cat sat on the mat

7. Letters and Sounds Phase Three Phase Four
7 more letters and introduces graphemes to cover the other phonemes e.g. er, oi, igh
Tricky words
Phase Four
No new graphemes
Adjacent consonants – Fred, jumps, spring
Show cards
This allows chn to spell more complex words

8. Letters and Sounds Phase Five Phase Six Throughout Year One
Teaches different spelling patterns for the sounds
/er/ - er, ir, ur, /oi/ - oi, oy /igh/ – igh, ie, i-e, i, y
Phase Six
Introduced when ph 5 secure
Learning spelling patterns and rules
Prefixes/suffixes etc

9. Floppy’s Phonics Scheme used throughout the school
Familiar characters link with reading books
Resources to support learning phonics

13. Working with Foundation Stage children
Use sounds at home not names
Share stories with your child – share the reading, discuss the pictures, ask simple questions about the story
Play simple words games such as ‘I spy’
Make words with magnetic letters
Practise writing simple words
Encourage correct letter formation
Learn ‘tricky words’ by heart
Chn can sound out simple cvc words and recognise tricky words, you can do the rest