1. How to help at home

2. What is Phonics? Words are made up from small units of sound called phonemes. Phonics teaches children to be able to listen carefully and identify the phonemes that make up each word. This helps children to learn to read words and to spell words. Phonics= breaking words down into sounds

3. Learning Phonics Phoneme = sound Grapheme = how the sound is written. i.e.- the letter p = p We practise the sounds on their own and in whole words. We use sound buttons to help children to identify sounds in written words. A dot for one letter that makes one sound, and a line for 2 or more letters that make one sound. i.e.- feet

4. Initial sounds abcdefg hijklmn opqrstu vwxyz If you get stuck-Think about a simple word i.e. dog- Say is slowly- how is each letter pronounced? The children will be familiar with the jolly phonics actions.

5. Simple example words

6. Once children are good with single phonemes… DIGRAPHS – 2 letters that make 1 sound ll ss zz oa ai TRIGRAPHS – 3 letters that make 1 sound igh dge

7. Digraphs/Trigraphs ffllsszzwhquar ckshchthphngow* eeoioo*oraiurau* awayea*ewie*ueoa irerou*oyighaireardge +You can practise these with your child using your orange word book.

8. Split Digraph a-e make / sale e-e these/theme i-e time/like o-e stone/pole u-e rule/huge

9. Grapheme phoneme correspondences This simply means that they are taught all the sounds in the English language and ways of writing them down. These sounds are taught in a particular order. The first sounds to be taught are: s, a, t, p. Phonics is taught in phases from 1 to 5. Children progress at different rates, however in year one they should be working on phase 5 and in year two there is a focus on grammar and spelling.

10. Blending Children are taught to be able to blend. This is when children say the sounds that make up a word and are able to merge the sounds together until they can hear what the word is. This skill is vital in learning to read. c-a-t = cat

11. Segmenting Children are also taught to segment. This is the opposite of blending. Children are able to say a word and then break it up into the phonemes that make it up. This skill is vital in being able to spell words. cat= c-a-t

12. TRICKY WORDS- Words that are not easy to decode need to be learnt separately- e.g. was, the, I, want. Some are ‘tricky’ to start with but will become easier to decode once we have learned the harder phonemes e.g. out, there,

13. Most important thing – From a very early age… Talking and Listening. Reading with and to your child Playing listening games Singing songs and rhymes Simple movement games All these things will help to build up connections in the brain, and enjoyment of language and confidence to try things out.

14. www.phonicsplay.co.uk

15. Useful websites www.phonicsplay.co.uk www.bbc.co.uk/schools/parents www.jollylearning.co.uk/ www.focusonphonics.co.uk/ www.syntheticphonics.com http://www.nessy.com/

16. What is the Year 1 Phonics Screening check? It is a government test designed to assess whether children have learnt phonic decoding to an appropriate standard. All Year 1 pupils will take the phonics screening in June. Any children absent will still need to take it upon their return to school.

17. Is it compulsory? Yes It is a statutory requirement for all schools to carry out the screening check Any child that does not reach the specified pass mark will need to re-take the screening check in Year 2.

18. What will the check look like? It will consist of 20 real words and 20 pseudo words It will be assessing children up to Phase 5 in Letters and Sounds The children will do this on a one-to-one basis with a teacher It should take about 10 minutes but each child is different so may need longer

19. Results The pass mark has not been set yet, but in previous years it has been 32 out of 40- 80% Parents will be informed of their child’s results at the end of the term.

20. Further Information about the Phonics Screening Check This can be found on the Department for Education Website http://www.education.gov.uk Sample materials can be downloaded from this website and on you tube there are example videos of how the tests are undertaken.