Phonics at Asquith Primary School September 2013

What is phonics? Phonics is a way of teaching children to read quickly and skilfully. They are taught how to: recognise the sounds that each individual letter makes; identify the sounds that different combinations of letters make such as ‘sh’ or ‘ai’; and blend these sounds together from left to right to make a word. Children can then use this knowledge to ‘de-code’ new words that they hear or see. This is the first important step in learning to read.

In school we follow a government document called Letters and Sounds and use activities, songs and actions from Jolly Phonics What are PHONEMES? In spoken English there are approximately 44 different sounds. These are called phonemes (pronounced foe-neems). If the children know all these sounds and can say them, they will be able to read/spell most words.

What are GRAPHEMES? All of the 44 sounds will be written down in words. The same sound can sometimes be written in different ways. The way a sound is shown when it is written is called a GRAPHEME (pronounced graf-eem). For example; Phoneme (sound) ‘oa’ is in goat, flow, stone, go, toe but each word has a different grapheme (written sound).

Speaking clearly for children To give children the best chance of learning to read and spell most of their words we must say the sounds properly. It is important that we do not add ‘uh’ to letter sounds, for example; ‘Fuh’ for f and ‘Luh’ for l A fantastic website to listen to the sounds is (click on the You Tube link at the side of the screen)

Segmenting and blending Children have to be able to split the words up into their phonemes. This is called segmenting or we often say ‘sound it out’. In writing this will encourage them to have a go at spelling words. The children also have to be able to put the sounds in a word together. This is called blending. This will help children to have a go at reading words. For example; h e n h en hen sh o p sh op shop

Alien words Alien words or nonsense words are used from Reception class to Year 2. By asking children to read a nonsense word we are checking that children are using their knowledge of sounds and not just memorising words. Year 1 Phonics Screening Check Nonsense words are also included in the end of Year 1 Phonics Screening Check. In this test children are asked to read 40 words to their class teacher. Half of the words in the test are nonsense words so it is important that children are familiar with using their knowledge of sounds to segment and blend lots of words, real or not real.

Tricky words There are some words that cannot be sounded out. We call these words, tricky words. Children must learn to say and spell these words. We include two or three tricky words in our phonics lessons. Year 2 includes tricky words in their fortnightly spelling tests. Some of the tricky words are: Ithesaidwasyou

Phonics activities in school Daily phonics lessons that follow the Revise, Teach, Practise and Apply method from the Letters and Sounds programme. Stories, posters, Jolly Phonics songs and nursery rhymes are linked to the sounds of the week. Games are played in phonics lessons e.g. Walk the plank with real and nonsense words, cross the river, silly sentences, quick write, bingo, using a large alphabet mat, Phonemes detectives, especially at lunchtimes e.g. s for sandwiches, m for muffin, ch for chips. Spelling test in Year 2 linked to the sounds of the week. Additional reading homework in Year 1 such as word searches, phoneme spotters, nonsense words.

How can you help? Reception class Look at your child’s Jolly Phonics book, say the sound together, learn the action/song. Ask about their pictures & writing. Play detectives and find objects around your home or when you are out and about. Encourage your child to draw, write or glue pictures in their book. Use foam letters in the bath to spell/read alien and real words. Help with fortnightly spellings in Year 2. Try to encourage your child to think of other words that contain the sounds of the week. Talk to your child about what they’ve been learning that week, read with your child regularly and enjoy finding words and phonemes in the environment or in books at home.

How can you help? If you have access to the internet these websites are very good; (£29.95 for the year) (some of the games and resources are free and the yearly subscription starts from £12) (further information for parents) ocks-games/ Watch Alphablocks on CBeebies You tube have video clips of Jolly Phonics songs and actions