PHONICS September 2013

Aims What is Phonics? How you can help? Questions

The way that spelling and reading is taught in schools has changed as a result of the Jim Rose Report Phonics is now the first approach to reading and spelling!

What is phonics? Phonics is… Skills of segmentation and blending Knowledge of the alphabetic code.

Phonics Consists of: Identifying sounds in spoken words Recognising the common spellings of each phoneme.(eg:ai,ay,a-e) Blending phonemes into words for reading. Segmenting words into phonemes for spelling.

How many phonemes can you hear in Some Definitions A Phoneme This is the smallest unit of sound in a word. How many phonemes can you hear in cat?

The grapheme could be 1 letter, 2 letters or more! A grapheme These are the letters that represent the phoneme. The grapheme could be 1 letter, 2 letters or more!

A word always has the same number of phonemes and graphemes! A phoneme you hear A grapheme you see A word always has the same number of phonemes and graphemes!

Grapheme Key Vocabulary Digraph Trigraph Split diagraph 2 letters making one sound ( ai, ee, oo) 3 letters making one sound ( igh , air ) Where the two letters are not adjacent ( a-e, e-e ) 9

Enunciation Phonemes should be clearly articulated. We use jolly phonics to introduce the correct enunciation.

Blending (for reading) Recognising the letter sounds in a written word e.g c-u-p sh-ee-p. Merging them into the correct order to pronounce the word cup and sheep.

Put the sound buttons under these words speed crayon slight toast broom foil crawl jumper

Segmenting (for spelling) Identifying the individual sounds in a spoken word (e.g. h-i-m , s-t-or-k) and writing down letters for each sound (phoneme) to form the word him and stork.

How many phonemes are in each of these words? bleed flop cow jumper chair pencil

Important points…. Phonemes should be blended left to right, ‘all through the word’ rather than focussing on initial, final and then medial phonemes. Phonemes are taught following the teaching sequence (based on their frequency) so some digraphs (ff,ll) may be taught before single letter phonemes. Adjacent consonants are no longer referred to or taught as discrete blends. CVC refers to phonemes NOT letters eg: cat, bath, teeth are all cvc’s Correct terminology for ‘magic e’ is a split digraph.

As a result of the findings from the Rose report Phonics and reading skills are now taught in 6 distinct phases. At St. Johns we use the Letters and Sounds programme to deliver our daily phonic teaching.

(100 in Rec/Y1 and an additional 200 in year 2) In addition to this, each week the children learn ‘tricky’ spelling words (those that are not spelt phonetically) and key sight vocabulary. The key sight word list has also changed. There are now 300 words to learn. (100 in Rec/Y1 and an additional 200 in year 2)

How you can help Read with your child as frequently as possible. Share Letters and Sounds homework. Encourage your child to look for the phonemes they recognise in the words when they are working out unfamiliar words. Draw their attention to words in the environment. Find opportunities for purposeful writing eg: cards, letters, diaries. Remember to Praise! Praise! Praise!

Questions!