Bears and Books An introduction to reading and phonics. By Miss Clarkson and Mrs Radford

Tonight we will… Consider how to ‘light a fire in (a child’s) belly and ignite a passion for story that makes them want to read’. - Bruce Potts Develop an understanding of Phonics as a skill to support the development of your child’s reading. Laura

Children and their books… A shower or a bath?

How can we support children’s reading development? Listen to stories together Share story books, comment on the pictures, join in with repetition, use expression! Change stories and tell your own Small world role play with figures Acting Sing nursery rhymes (and make up your own)

… Discuss vocabulary, alliteration, rhyming words Be a role model Provide a variety of reading materials- magazines, leaflets, maps, fiction and non- fiction Give reading a purpose whether it be for enjoyment or reading the shopping list Read and same story over and over and over and over and over again!

Using Phonics to support reading development Teaching children phonics is not teaching children to read. It is teaching them the skills to decode words in order to read text. Can you crack the code?

What does this say? ΦΟ∐ 𝛻∿⊍ Ο ⋁ЅϨ⩀∇Ϩ⩊ џΦ⊳⊳Φ Laura

What actually is phonics? Knowledge of the alphabetic code Skills of segmentation and blending Sarah

The language of phonics Phonics is a way of teaching the skills to read, write and spell words based on hearing the sounds in words and matching them to letters and letter patterns. We use ‘posh’ words such as: Phoneme (sound) Grapheme (letter or sequence of letters) Digraph (2 letters that make 1 sound) Trigraph (3 letters that make 1 sound) Segmenting (splitting the word into sounds) Blending (putting the sounds together to make the word) Sarah

Phoneme A phoneme is the posh word we use for a ‘sound. ‘ The phonemes are the spoken sounds that you can hear within a word. It is really important that the children are using their phonemes for reading and writing and not the letter names. e.g. there are three phonemes in the word cat c – a – t Sarah

Grapheme A grapheme is the letter or sequence of letters that represent the phoneme (sound). Sometimes a phoneme can be represented in more than one way. For example reading or writing the sound for ai could be shown using these graphemes ai rain ay day a_e cake Sarah

Digraphs and Trigraphs A digraph is a sound that is made up of two letters e.g. sh as in ship ch as in chop or as in thorn A trigraph is a sound that is made of three letters e.g. igh as in night ear as in beard Sarah

Enunciation of the phonemes In recent years the way that we say some of the sounds has changed. Some of you may remember the days when the letter ‘m’ was pronounced ‘muh’. Research has shown, however, that this impacts children’s writing and spelling. When children tried to write the word ‘mat’ they wrote ‘muatu’. This is because they heard the ‘uh’ sound at the end. Laura

Enunciation of the phonemes Time to sit back and relax for a minute whilst you see a demonstration of how the phonemes are said. Enunciation of Phonemes Video Laura

Enunciation of the phonemes Long continuous sounds: f l m n r s sh v th z Short sharp unvoiced sounds: c p t ch h The hardest to pronounce clearly! Try to keep them short… b d g w qu y Laura

Phase One – continued throughout Reception During Phase One practitioners plan activities that will help children to listen attentively to sounds around them, such as the sounds of their toys and to sounds in spoken language. Phase One begins in nursery and continues throughout the six phases. Environmental sounds – what can you hear? What sound is it like? Let’s make that sound together. Body percussion Rhythm and Rhyme Alliteration Voice sounds – We’re Going on a Bear Hunt! Oral blending and segmenting – this is one of the most important skills involved in reading and writing c-u-p cup! Sarah

s a t p i n m d g o c k ck e u r h b f ff l ll ss… Phase Two Phonemes are taught in this order s a t p i n m d g o c k ck e u r h b f ff l ll ss… Sarah

Phase Two Why do we teach the sounds in this order and not in the order of the alphabet? Activity time! Try to make as many vc and cvc words as you can using these sounds: a b c d e f g h Sarah

Phase Two Share the words. Now try the same activity using these phonemes: s a t p i n m d Sarah

Phase Two Using just these 8 phonemes they can read and write the following words: at sat pat tap it an am dad is in man sad sit nip mat dim pan map din pit pin Pam did pip tan Tim Sid sip nap Sam and tip tin   dip Sarah

Phase Two Once you teach the next set of phonemes (and after just three weeks) they should be able to read and write the following additional words: (+g) (+o) (+c) (+k) tag got can kid gag on cot kit gig not cop Kim gap pot cap Ken nag top cat   sag dog cod gas pop pig God dig Mog Sarah

Robot Arms Time to join in…participation is compulsory…your children will love that you know how to do this! It will also help you both when it comes to them spelling words. hat bin fun ship chip goat nest jump Sarah

Segmenting What we have just been doing is something called ‘segmenting’. This means that we broke down each of the words into their phonemes. This helps your child when they are trying to write the words they need. Sarah

High Frequency and Tricky Words There are exceptions to the rules! There are 300 high frequency (common) words that recur frequently in much of the written material young children read and that they need when they write. High frequency words have often been regarded in the past as needing to be taught as sight words – to be learnt as visual wholes. The vast majority of these words are, however, decodable once letter sounds have been taught. Laura

High Frequency and Tricky Words Tricky words are words that have unusual spellings and need to be learned from memory. It should be noted that when teaching these words, it is important to always start with sounds already known in the word, then focus on the 'tricky' part. Laura

High Frequency and Tricky Words So why learn them if they are not decodable? Research has shows that learning just 13 of the most frequently used words will enable children to read 25% of any text. Learning 100 high frequency words gives a beginner reader access to 50% of virtually any text, whether a children's book or a newspaper report. When you couple sight recognition of common and tricky words with knowledge of phonics, that's when a child's reading can really take off… Laura

High Frequency and Tricky Words Phase 2 Decodable words Tricky words a had the an back to as and I at get no if big go in him into is his   it not of got off up on mum can but dad put Laura

Nonsense Words (Pseudo Words) In order to ensure that the children are decoding using their phonics knowledge we introduce nonsense words early on. The children take part in a Government ‘Phonics Check’ at the end of Year One. This checks their decoding abilities when reading real and nonsense words. Children who do not pass at the end of Year One retake the check in Year Two.

Phase Three Phoneme progression and graphemes continued Set 6: j v w x Set 7: y z zz qu We then start teaching the digraphs and trigraphs Set 8: ch sh th ng Teach: ai ee igh oa oo ar or ur ow oi ear air ure er Laura

Dots and Dashes speed crayon slight toast broom foil One of the games that we teach the children during phase 3 is called Dots and Dashes. When we teach reading during the phonics lesson the children are encouraged to underline the phonemes then blend them together. speed crayon slight toast broom foil Laura

Blending Congratulations! You now know how to blend the phonemes together to read words. This is our main strategy when supporting reading and encourage the children to use their finger to point to the phonemes as they read. We tell the children to read the sounds in the order that they appear rather than by looking for words within words (like we were taught). When your child reads with you at home, please encourage them to do this in the same way. Laura

Phoneme Frames Another game we play during phase 3 is called phoneme frames. The children are encouraged to segment the words (remember your robot arms!) and place them into the correct boxes for writing. Sarah

Phoneme Frames bleed night train sport shout greed It’s activity time again! Word Phonemes bleed b l ee d night n igh t train r ai sport s p or shout sh ou greed g Sarah

High Frequency and Tricky Words  Phase 3 Decodable words Tricky words will see you he that for they she this now all we then down are me them look my be with too her was Sarah

Phase Four In Phase 4, no new graphemes are introduced. The main aim of this phase is to consolidate the children's knowledge and to help them learn to read and spell words which have adjacent consonants, such as trap, string and milk. Phase Four is continued throughout reception. Sarah

High Frequency and Tricky Words Phase 4 Decodable words Tricky words went said so she it’s some come were from they all are children what my her just help   Sarah

Summed up Phonics That’s a glimpse of Phonics from September to Reception Spring Term. But remember, children will learn to love to read through interaction, experiences, excitement, awe and wonder, expression… Remember – you use a shower for it’s functional purposes, you bathe for luxury and nurture.

“Children who are regularly bathed in the language of carefully crafted stories written by authors who want to move, entertain and inspire are likely to find it easier to create imaginary worlds themselves.”

Thank you for coming. If you have any questions, please ask. Sarah