1. Phonics for Parents
1st Feb. 2016

2. What is Phonics?
When we talk we use different sounds to make each word
Phonics connects all these sounds with their letter shapes
Children are taught that sounds go with particular letters and that the sounds are put together to make words.
We all use this understanding when we make sense of words that are spoken and written

3. Key Phonics skills...
Distinguishing environmental sounds
Hearing and saying letter sounds in words
Seeing letters and saying their sounds
Putting sounds together to read words (blending)
Hearing individual sounds in words to write words (segmenting)
Knowing words automatically

4. The role of Phase 1
Central importance of developing speaking and listening skills
Relies on and complements a broad and rich language curriculum
Promotes the range and depth of children’s language experience
Introduces oral blending and segmenting
Paves the way for systematic phonic teaching to begin
Singing and saying rhymes are very important

5. Some definitions Phonemes are the smallest units of
sound in a word eg the ‘r’ in rain
Grapheme
Letter(s) representing a phoneme
r ai n

6. What is a cvc word? consonant vowel consonant
A word with 2 consonants and 1 vowel in the middle
Cat
Bus
Top
Tip
Pet

7. Digraph
Two letters, which make one sound eg ‘ai’ in rain
A consonant digraph contains two consonants
sh ck th ll
e.g. ‘sh’ in shop
A vowel digraph contains at least one vowel
ai ee oa oo
e.g. ‘ee’ in sleep

8. Oral blending
Hearing a series of spoken sounds and merging them together to make a spoken word – no text is used
For example, when a teacher calls out
‘b-u-s’, the children say ‘bus’
This skill is usually taught before blending and reading printed words

9. 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’

10. 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’

11. Phase 2 Introduces 19 grapheme-phoneme correspondences
Decoding and encoding taught as reversible processes
As soon as children have a small number of grapheme/phoneme correspondences, blending and segmenting can start
(/s/a/t/p/i/n/)
‘Tricky’ words

12. Phase 2 sounds s a t i p n c k ck e h r m d g o u
l f b + constant revision and practise

13. Phase 3 Introduces another 25 graphemes Most comprising two letters
One representation of each of 44 phonemes
Reading and spelling two syllable words and captions
Typical duration: Up to 12 weeks

14. Phase 3 Sounds Remaining single letter sounds j, v, w, x y, z, zz, qu+
Consonant digraphs: ch, sh, th, ng
Vowel digraphs: ai, ee, igh, oa, oo, ar, or, ur, ow, oi, ear, air, ure, er

15. A blending activity p i g s h i p b o y f i l l s o n g d a y
w h i z z c h i c k
c a r c o w
w h i p f o r

16. Segmenting
WORD
PHONEMES
shelf
dress
think
string
sprint
flick

17. 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

18. High frequency words
The majority of high frequency words are phonically regular
Some exceptions – for example the and was – should be directly taught

19. Phase 2 Tricky Words to
the I no go

20. Phase 3 tricky words he
she we me be
was
you
they
all
are my
her

21. Segmenting
WORD
PHONEMES
sun
match
ship
they
throat
chair

22. Segmenting sun s u n match m a t ch ship sh i p they th ey throat r oa
WORD
PHONEMES
sun s u n
match m a t ch
ship sh i p
they th ey
throat r oa
chair
air

23. Pronunciation
Using phonics requires some skill in pronunciation
Phonemes should be spoken as clearly and precisely as possible – don’t worry too much!

24. Useful links http://www.oxfordowl.co.uk/
(for phonic help click ‘reading’ then ‘Expert Help’
then ‘Phonics Made Easy’ then ‘ Say the Sounds’)
Booktrust.org.uk
(Great for the pleasure of reading)
(Lots of practical phonics help)

25. A phonics quiz: What is a phoneme?
How many sounds are in the word ‘cat’?
How many sounds are in the word ‘string’?
a) What is a CVC word? b) Give an example
What is meant by blending?
What is meant by segmenting?
What is a grapheme?