Phonics

My aims for this session To help you understand what phonics is. To help you understand how to use phonics to support your child’s literacy skills. To show you how phonics is taught in our school

abc ...........as easy as 123? For some people it is, for others it isn’t. As adults, it’s surprising what you can’t remember from your school days, such as, how did I learn to read and write? Something is only easy if you know how to do it – We would like to make phonics easier for you, so you are able to support your child.

Terminology A phoneme is a sound A grapheme is the letter/s that represent that sound

Blending is one of the techniques used in reading Blending is one of the techniques used in reading. It is being able to say the sounds in a word and blend them together to say what the word is. Segmenting is the opposite. We use this when we want to spell a word. The word is said slowly so it is split up into its sounds (segments).

Let’s begin with abc and the rest of the alphabet.

Facts for you and your child to know There are 26 letters in the alphabet There are 5 vowels – a e i o u There are 21 consonants In spoken English there are 44 phonemes (sounds) – 20 of these are vowels and 24 are consonants Your child will learn all of these sounds plus the graphemes used to represent them.

Pronunciation letter sounds How you pronounce letter sounds is what I would consider the most important part of phonics. The reason for this is because it’s essential in the development of being able to blend and segment words. Use the Oxford Owl website for guidance (regional accent)

ai Who is speaking? Letters don’t say sounds.........we do! Letters represent sounds that we say ai

The 44 Phonemes of the English Speaking Language Consonants - 24 b d f g h j k (c) l m n p r s t v w y z ch th th ng sh zh Vowels - 20 a e i o u (short vowels) ai ee igh oa oo oo air ear ar er er oi ure or ow (long vowels) These letters are a combination of two sounds, be sure that your child writes them in the correct way: q (kw) x (ks)

Progression When children first begin to blend words together they start off with simple VC words such as: on, up, at, it, in They then move on to CVC words such as: cat, pin, hit, pan Children can use rhyming patterns at this stage to help them with their reading and writing: hat, cat, sat, pat

Children are then introduced to the long vowel sounds such as: ai (rain), ee (been), igh (light), oa (road), oo (moon) Following on from this they learn how to blend consonants together at the beginning and end of words such as: fr (from), nk (sink) The next stage is where the children learn alternate graphemes for the phonemes they have learnt such as: igh (light) – ie (pie) After this children learn more about how words are put together and the strategies needed to support their independent spelling

Magnetic Letters These are great to use at home when children are just learning the letters of the alphabet. At school we use a certain type of magnetic letter as they show the correct formation and have letters linked together for sounds containing more than one letter.

Magnetic letters are used to identify sounds and for word building Magnetic letters are used to identify sounds and for word building. They are good for children who need touch, sight and hearing to learn. Children should say the sound for the letters they are moving and blend them together to say words.

Sound Buttons These are placed underneath each sound in a word so they can be identified. A sound can be represented in two ways. By a single dot or by a line (stitch). b i g f i sh sh ou t When two consonants are blended together at the beginning or end of a word we draw a smile to join the dots. t r ai n Have a go at putting some sound buttons underneath some words to practice using them.

f b i g i sh sh ou t Phoneme frames These are used in a similar way as before, instead of putting a button under each sound you place the sounds in the frame. f b i g i sh sh ou t

Be aware! ie - pie not pier or field When your child is learning a particular sound please make sure they are writing words with that sound in. ie - pie not pier or field

This is okay....... When your child is writing they will always use sounds they know. As they develop their knowledge of graphemes and phonemes they will try different ones in their writing. This is okay! – light – lIt – liet – lit If children are writing in a phonetically plausible way this is okay! – The trayn caim into the stashun If they don’t use the correct grapheme in a word, ask your child if they can think of another one they could use. This supports their understanding of phonics.

Alien Words Alien words are words which are made up using the sounds that the children are learning. It is important to teach alien words in the correct way so that the children can read them with confidence.

This is not an alien word ighegogstr These are alien words chark kighn maim

How to make an alien word Always begin with a word that your child knows. Put the sound buttons underneath the word. Then ask your child to change one sound which will then create an alien word f i sh z i sh

Alien words have been introduced as part of the Phonics Test that the children now take in Year One. I will be running a session on this test nearer the time (last term). Always teach alien words as a separate thing, not as part of their daily reading and writing.

At home Check your child’s pencil grip Check their letter formation and encourage correction Make phonics available in your house Enjoy it!

Thank you and please do pop in and see us if you have any questions