Phonics at Stephen Freeman School Tuesday 1st November

Fonix Phonics How many ways can you think of to write ?

How do we use phonics to teach children to read? We want every child to be a successful reader and writer. Children take part in phonics activities from when they start in nursery. This goes alongside reading a range of books to children and promoting a real enjoyment of reading, and enabling children to experience different types of writing. Chn expected to read 5 times a week in year 1/2-star reader Good to start this habit in Reception-will start to bring home ORT books-wordless to start with to encourage chn to use the pictures and think about stories which make sense. Prepared for phonics in Nursery All classrooms have a book area and children are regularly read a variety of stories, poems and information books. Also group reading regularly.

Examples http://www.oxfordowl.co.uk/home/readin g-owl/expert-help/phonics-made-easy http://www.mrthorne.com/phonemes/ Oxford Owl- introduction Explain synthetic phonics-how we teach reading by breaking words into sounds or phonemes with at least 1 grapheme for each phoneme-there are 44 phonemes for chn to learn (many of which have several graphemes). Mr Thorne- look at him saying letter sounds Explain phases- phase 1 in nursery, phase 2/3/4 in Reception, phase 4/5 in yr1 and phase 6 in year 2 (suffixes and prefixes and become more confident spellers and readers).

Nursery and Reception In Nursery/Pre-school children will have been prepared for phonics through activities involving sound, listening, rhyme and rhythm. Some children may have started learning some sounds too. Children begin in Reception by learning the sounds which individual letters make and digraphs as the year progresses. Each of the sounds has an action which we teach too. Also learn the names of letters. Begin to learn common (high frequency) and tricky words. Phase 1 activities continue in Reception as long as children need them and will be along side learning letters and sounds. Children will learn sounds and letters at a pace which suits them . Important for chn to know each letter has a name and a sound and not to get them confused (so if they are asked to spell a word they can sound talk the word and say the names of the letters they need). Common words which children will need to be able to read and eventually spell without having to sound out. Some of these are tricky words which can’t be sounded out such as ‘to’ and just need to be learned (although as children learn alternative graphemes for sounds some words are no longer tricky).

Blending Sounding out and blending is how we teach children to read using phonics. They use their pointy finger to point to the sounds and say each sound (sounding out) then they slide their finger under the word to blend the sounds together. We sometimes use sound buttons to help this mat chin

Segmenting We teach children to segment the words they are writing using segmenting gloves. They need to hear each of the sounds in a word, then they can write it. Until they have learned all alternative graphemes for sounds any grapheme is ok e.g. stai would be acceptable for stay, neet would be acceptable for neat. We often use alphabet charts to help with writing once they have segmented.

Tricky Words Some words are tricky and can’t be sounded out for reading or segmented for writing. Phase 2 (stage 1+) to the no go I into Phase 3 (stage 2 and 3) He She We Me Be Was My You They Her All are

Tricky words Phase 5 (stage 5) oh their people Mr Mrs looked called said so have like some come were there little one do when out what Phase 5 (stage 5) oh their people Mr Mrs looked called asked could

Phonics teaching Phonics is taught daily in ability groups. Groups are fluid so children are moved between groups frequently as necessary. In Reception, once they are ready, children will regularly have sounds and words to practise sent home.

Reading and writing In Nursery children will focus on phase 1 which involves rhyme, alliteration, listening and oral blending. In Reception we will focus on recognising letters and their corresponding sounds and blending for reading to begin with. Some spelling using magnetic letters or letter cards and then writing when the children are able. Words with 2 and 3 sounds to begin with (e.g. at, beg, chat). More focus on children writing as the year goes on. Important for chn to learn letter formation correctly-ask teacher if you would like a sheet. In year 1 and 2 chn will be learning cursive letters

Year 1 and 2 Children learn more long vowel sounds They learn different ways to write the same sound Phonics check at the end of year 1

‘ai’ as in train ‘ay’ as in play ‘a_e’ as in same Long vowels ‘ai’ as in train ‘ay’ as in play ‘a_e’ as in same

A typical phonics session Play a game such as countdown to revise previously learned sounds or words Teach a new sound or grapheme Activity such as using phoneme frames to practise the new sound or grapheme Children write a ‘super sentence’ to apply previous skills and skills learned in that session * Show jp cards, floppy phonics books and phoneme frame

How can you help your child at home? Encourage them to ‘sound out’ words that they find difficult when reading Say the sounds without an ‘u’ so that they are easier to blend Keep telling them how well they are doing Play games like finding the tricky words Talk about the book and ask questions Keep reading to your child so they can enjoy a range of books

Some useful terms Phoneme- a sound which can be made by 1, 2, 3 or 4 letters (‘a’ as in ant, ‘ch’ as in chop, ‘air’ as in pair, ‘ough’ as is dough Grapheme- the letter(s) used to write a phoneme Digraph/trigraph- 2/3 letters making one phoneme (‘ng’ in long, ‘ear’ in near) Blending- blending together phonemes to read a word (c-a-t blended to make cat) Segmenting-breaking a word into phonemes for spelling (sit segmented to s-i-t)

These links may help you at home www.oxfordowl.co.uk www.mrthorne.com