Phonics Is Fun!

How We Teach Phonics at Witham St. Hughs Academy. Phase 1. (Taught in Pre-School and Reception.) Children are taught to discriminate between environmental sounds. They listen and sort instrumental sounds. Children perform body percussion and describe the sounds that they make. They learn to hear rhythm and rhyme in stories with predictable text. Children begin to orally blend sounds together to make words like, “c-a-t”. Phase 2. (Begins to be taught in Reception.) Children are introduced to “phonemes”. There are 44 sounds or phonemes altogether in the English language. In this phase the children focus on learning the 19 most common single letter sounds. (s,a,t,p,i.n…) At our school we teach then apply these phonemes to word building and decoding right from day 1. E.g. By using the phonemes above we can make words like in is, it, sat, pin, pat, sit.

Phase 3. (Taught when the child is ready). In this phase the children are introduced to the remaining, more difficult or less commonly used phonemes. There are 25 of these, mainly made up of 2 letters together making one sound. (E.g. ch, ar, ee, ow…) Alongside this your child will also be introduced to words which do not follow phonic patterns. These are called common exception high frequency words. Phase 3 generally takes most children around 12 weeks to complete. By the end of this phase children should be able to sound out and blend cvc words using all the sounds.

Phase 4 (Taught when ready). By now children should be confidently word building and decoding with their phonic skills. Phase 4 is about consolidating these skills and developing reading and writing skills for life. They will now practise reading and spelling CCVC words. (E.g. such, belt, milk…) Children will learn high frequency words from the Y1/2 Literacy list.(E.g. some, have, little …). They should confidently and independently be able to read without sounding out by the end of this phase. Most children will reach this stage by the end of Reception.

Phase 5! Another word for Year 1! By the end of Year 1 children should be able to say the sound for any grapheme they are shown. They should be able to write common graphemes for any given sound. (E.g. “e, ee, ie, ea”). Children should be able to read and spell unfamiliar words of up to three syllables. (E.g. frightening). Letters should be formed correctly. In Phase 5 children begin to learn about , “spelling choices” and alternative spellings for sounds. (E.g. igh, y, i-e all make the I sound.) They learn about split digraphs, a-e, i-e, u-e, o-e. Children need to become fluent in spotting and using these in their reading in order to comprehend what the text is about.

Phase 6. (Taught when ready). Within this phase the aim is for children to become fluent readers and articulate spellers. Pupils need to use phonic strategies to decode quickly in their heads or out loud to gain meaning from text. Prefixes and suffixes are introduced to root words . (E.g. Fasten- fastened- unfastened etc.) Visual memory is also developed so that reading and spelling words becomes second nature.

The Phonics Screen Test. The test takes place towards the end of June in Year 1. Children are presented with 40 words to decode/ read. Some are real words and some are made up words. These are called “Alien Words”. In order to pass the Screen your child will need to score over 32/ 40. At Witham St. Hughs Academy we regularly assess the needs of each child, and keep you informed of their progress through the use of the Reading Record books.

You Can Make A Difference. What We Do. Firstly we screen each child to see which sounds they know or don’t know. This is done regularly. Daily the children are supported in a targeted teaching way to learn the sounds that they are not confident with. This is done in a fun way, and largely consists of phonic games and challenges. Every few weeks we reassess each child to note progress and gaps in learning. (A Phonics Screen score is posted in the Reading Record Books.) Pupils are grouped together for Phonics lessons of an hour per day according to their needs. (WE currently have 8 Phonics groups!) The spellings that are sent home are specific to the needs of your child’s phonic group and support their learning. What You Can Do. Read regularly with your child, talking about what you are reading and noting skills in the Reading Record booklet. Sound out the Alien Words, then blend them together. (Use Fred Fingers). Look out for digraphs and split digraphs in every piece of text. Focus on these with your child when sounding out. Help your child to learn their spellings in whichever way suits them and you! Speak to us. We are a team!

Read Write Inc. Speed sounds Cards Useful Ideas. Phonics Play- Google Read Write Inc. Speed sounds Cards Fred Fingers!