This evening.... What is phonics? Why do we teach phonics? How do we teach phonics? How can you support at home?

+ What is Phonics? Phonics is Knowledge of the alphabetic code Skills of segmentation and blending + Knowledge of the alphabetic code Very soon after starting Reception chn are taught to recognise the letters of the alphabet and the sound they make. (Letter names come later) The letters of the alphabet are taught in a specific order. SATPIN so that chn can start word building very quickly with a small number of letters. Chn will come to recognise the letter shape, they will know the sound that goes with it and they will also learn an action to go with each sound. We do not call them sounds, we call them phonemes.

Some definitions: A phoneme you hear A phoneme This is the smallest unit of sound in a word A phoneme you hear Give definition Correct articulation of sounds is vital. Listen to the video clip.

Blending Recognising the letter sounds in a written word and merging them in the order in which they are written.

Blending is Important for Reading cup cat pin 5

A grapheme More definitions: These are letters that Chn are also taught how to write their letters. Definition of grapheme That means that not only single letters but groups of letters can be used to represent the 44 phonemes. This is the alphabetic code. Children are taught to segment. They 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. Children are also taught to be able to blend. This is the opposite of segmenting. 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. In order to read an unfamiliar word, a child must recognise (‘sound out’) each grapheme, not each letter (e.g. ‘th-i-n’ not ‘t-h-i-n’), and then merge the phonemes together to make the word. More definitions: A grapheme These are letters that represent the phoneme You can see a grapheme. It can be one letter, two letters or more 6

Segmenting Identifying the individual sounds (phonemes) in a spoken word (e.g. h-i-m) and writing down letters (graphemes) for each sound to form the word ‘him’ 7

Segmenting is important for spelling. Time for you to play a game! hat

Why do we teach phonics? 26 letters in the alphabet 44 sounds (phonemes) There are 44 phonemes in spoken English but only 26 letters in the alphabet. This means that sounds can be represented by more than one letter If there was only one grapheme for each of the 44 phonemes, learning to read and write would be relatively easy.

Sounds can be represented by more than one letter sh ck th sounds can be represented by more than one letter Before we start. Let’s get used to the terminology: Phoneme: the smallest unit of sound in a word. c/a/t Grapheme: A letter or group of letters representing one sound eg sh, igh What is the alphabetic code? In the English spoken language there are around 44 phonemes but there are only 26 letters in the alphabet with which to represent the phonemes in writing. That means that not only single letters but groups of letters can be used to represent the 44 phonemes. This is the alphabetic code. Children are taught to segment. They 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. Children are also taught to be able to blend. This is the opposite of segmenting. 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. In order to read an unfamiliar word, a child must recognise (‘sound out’) each grapheme, not each letter (e.g. ‘th-i-n’ not ‘t-h-i-n’), and then merge the phonemes together to make the word. ai ee ear

ai train day plane The same phoneme can be spelled in more than one way For example, here there are 8 different graphemes representing the ai phoneme. Table, train, rays, sundae, jet plane, survey, eight, great grandma, straight.

The same spelling may represent more than one sound bread steak peach The same spelling may represent more than one sound So the grapheme is pronounced in different ways depending upon the word. For example, the ‘ea’ grapheme is pronounced differently in the words peach, steak and bread.

ch sh th ng ai ee igh oa oo oo ar or ur ow oi ear air ure er

Pure Sounds https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlTw0oiLNys 14

Your child will have: A phonics lesson every day Support with their reading Support with their writing

How can you support at home? Look at signs and labels. Key Ring Reading for pleasure and enjoyment Reading phonic books