Early Reading and Phonics Workshop

The National Literacy Trust What is Phonics? ‘Phonics refers to a method for teaching speakers of English to read and write their language’ The National Literacy Trust Phonics refers to one of the methods we use to teach children to read. It relies on children knowing the 44 sounds in the English language.

Phonics at KPA. We follow the DfES Letters and Sounds phonics programme. The phonics programme is divided into six phases and each phase builds upon the previous one. The programme is split into phases with each phase building on from the previous phase. We work through the phases and ensure the children are confident in their phase before moving onto the next phase. Sometime this means supporting children who need it by given them extra phonics flashcards practise and support during guided reading sessions.

Phase One. Your child has been learning to: Have fun with sounds Listen carefully Develop their vocabulary Speak confidently to you, other adults and children Tune into sounds Listen and remember sounds Talk about sounds Understand that spoken words are made up of different sounds In the first phase of phonics we focus on listening to the sounds around us and having fun with sound. We encourage lots of speaking and listening activities as we do all the way through reception and year one.

Phase Two. Children begin to formally learn the sounds in the English language. Phonics sessions are fun sessions involving lots of speaking, listening and games. Sounds are taught in sets of four over a week. The aim of phase 2 is to recognise letters and their sounds and then use them when reading and writing simple words, e.g. pan, sit, mum and leg. In phase 2 we start teaching the sounds of the English language, we have just completed this phase in class which will allow the children to read simple words, which you may have noticed when reading at home with their new word books. Now that we have learnt the phase 2 sounds our focus is on building segmenting and blending skills to read the words.

Phase Two. Every letter of the alphabet has a sound. We teach the letter sounds first. We teach the names of the letters of the alphabet later. Our language system consists of 26 letter of the alphabet which are used to form the 44 phonemes (sounds). These phonemes can be written in over 120 combinations, e.g. i-e (side), ie (pie), igh (high) and y (fly).

Synthetic Phonics. Teaching the letter sounds helps children to read and write. Children are taught to segment to read, e.g. c-a-t. If you segment then blend the sounds together they make the word ‘cat’. If you try to blend the letter names together, it does not help you to hear the word.

How to Say the Sounds. Saying the sounds correctly with your child is extremely important. The way we say sounds may well be different from when you were at school. The way we say sounds may also be different in various parts of the country depending on accents and dialects. We also use Jolly Phonics actions to support the children. We use jolly phonics to support the teaching of phonics. Each sound has an action and a short story which helps the children remember the sounds. You should have phonics packs in your child’s books bags which are updated as we learn new sounds. Please let us know if you have lost this pack.

Segmenting and Blending. Segmenting is identifying the individual sounds in a word (him = h-i-m) and writing down letters for each sound to form the word. Blending is recognising the letter sounds in a written word (c-u-p) and merging or synthesising them in the order in which they are written to pronounce the word (cup). Eg d-o-g, b-a-g, In phonics lessons we often use a segmenting and blending robot to support the children in learning how to segment and blend.

Phase Three. The aim of phase three phonics is to recognise digraphs (this is when two letters make one sound) and use them when they are reading and writing more complex words, e.g. toad, feet, farm and pain. Children are expected to read and write these words in simple sentences. Phase 3 builds on phase 2 with the children learning new sounds. This will allow them to read more complex words.

Daily Phonics. Lessons are daily for 15-20 minutes. We revise old sounds and teach new sounds each week as well as high frequency or common words. Children are given lots of opportunities to practise their sounds in both reading and writing in both indoor and outdoor play. We use real objects to support learning as well as flashcards with pictures to help children to remember. We teach the letter sounds first as sounds help children to become better early readers and writers.

My First Word Wall. As your child’s reading develops word walls will be sent how allowing you to practise recognising high frequency words with your child. This may also include ‘tricky’ words which cannot be decoded using the phonics sounds. Unfortunately they simply have to be learnt.

My Second Word Wall.

My Third Word Wall.

Getting Started with Reading. Book talk – talk about the front cover. Show and encourage your child to point at every word. Encourage your child to look at the pictures, never cover them up. Don’t leave your child to struggle – count to three in your head and support your child by … Encouraging your child to look at the pictures. Ask what sound does the word start with? Re-read the sentence up to the point your child is stuck. Give the child the word. Write any words your child struggles with and needs to learn in their reading diary. When we sit down to read with the children we first look at the front cover. We talk about what we think the book might be about, looking for clues in the picture and title. There are a few questions on the back of their reading records to get you started. As you begin to start reading the book, it may be worth looking through the whole book and picking out any tricky words before you start reading. You can look at these words, segment and blend them to read them so that when you get to that word it is less daunting. Looking at the pictures is also important in looking for clues as to what a word might be, similarly reading the rest of the sentence might help your child think about what the word they are struggling with might be.

Different types of reading undertaken within school: Reading at KPA. Different types of reading undertaken within school: Shared reading Guided reading 1:1 reading Independent reading Shared reading- reading to the class, sharing a book and discussing it as a whole class or group. Guided reading happens in small groups with the teacher guiding the children through the book, looking at tricky words, pictures and discussing the book in detail, 1:1 reading takes place every week either with the class teacher or teaching assistant, we also have some volunteers who come in to listen to the children read weekly. Independent reading takes place when the children become confident readers.

Phonics for Writing. Words are segmented into sounds orally, and a letter (grapheme) written to represent each sound (phoneme). We call this sound talking: t-i-p r-ai-n What is the first sound? What is the second sound? What is the last/final sound?

Terminology. Children are taught from the beginning to use phonic terminology that may be unfamiliar to us. A phoneme is the smallest unit of sound in a word. A grapheme is the letter, or letters, representing a phoneme (e.g. t, ai and igh).

Digraphs, Trigraphs and Split Digraphs. Some phonemes have more than one letter. Digraphs have two letters (e.g. sh, ck, th and ll). A vowel digraph contains at least one vowel (e.g. ai, ee, ar and oy). Trigraphs have three letters (e.g. igh). A split digraph (e.g. slide and like). Spit digraphs often change the sound of a letter to its letter name. eg slide, like, bike, lake

Handwriting. Please ensure that you use lower case letters, unless it is for the capital letter of a person’s name or at the start of a sentence. Encourage name writing. Letters need to be correctly formed (left to right and top to bottom). Use a variety of media, e.g. whiteboard pens, felt tip pens, crayons, chalks, pencils and paint brushes. Lots of reading and writing practise is vital. The more the children read the better their writing will become in time. Writing often follows reading.

What you can do at home. Sharing a book with your child every day. Look at the pictures and talk about the book. Practising phonics flashcards everyday. Encouraging your child to form their letters correctly. Play reading and writing games (see leaflet) Although we work hard at school to teach reading and writing, practising at home is vital. 10 minutes daily reading can make a huge impact on the progress they make.

Useful Websites. www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/funwithphonics www.phonicsplay.co.uk www.twinkl.co.uk/resource/T-L-022- High-Frequency-Word-Flashcards Support with how to say the sounds can also be found if you type the word phonics into YouTube. Here are some useful websites to support your understanding of phonics and learning to read as well as supporting your child.

Any questions?