Phonics in Reception

Phonics Workshop How Phonics Work Phonics is the link between letters and the sounds they make. Although there are 26 letters in the alphabet the English language has over 40 speech sounds. Each language has a different number of speech sounds. Finnish has 21, Spanish 24, Italian 27. English has about 44! Most European languages are based on the roman alphabet with 26 letters and 26 speech sounds – unsurprisingly, most Italian and Spanish children learn to read and spell quickly and easily as a result. English, with its 40+ speech sounds, has insufficient letters for each sound, so groups of letters have to be combined to write the extra 18 sounds. To make it even harder each sound is written in more than one way (the speech sound ‘f’ is spelt f, ff and ph) and same letter group can make different sounds (mean, bread, read).

The same phoneme can be represented in more than one way a a-e ai ay ey eigh e e-e ea ee y i i-e ie igh y o o-e oa oe ow u u-e ue oo ew oo u oul ow ou ough oi oy ar a or aw ore a ough air are ear eer ear This is what it looks like! This principle shows itself as a challenge in writing (rather than reading). Children need to know the range of vowel choices for spelling and that in most words these choices are limited by position in word and frequency of occurrence. Children should be taught the vowel digraphs in words in which they appear most frequently and teaching should make explicit the most probable position in the word of each vowel digraph.

Read, Write Inc. Resources Letter formation model. Flash cards. Decodable word/flash cards. Tricky word flash cards. Complex Speed Sound Chart. CVC refers to phonemes not letters.

Phonics Workshop Glossary CVC: Stands for consonant, vowel, consonant. Decode: Analyse the word and look at the sounds. Segmenting: is breaking up a word into its sounds. Blending : Putting the sounds together to read a word Phonemes: The smallest units of sound that are found within a word. Grapheme: The spelling of the sound e.g. Th Digraph: Two letters that make one sound when read Consonant: contains two consonants next to each other, but they make a single sound. e.g. sh, ck, th, ll Vowel: contains at least one vowel but the two letters still make a single sound e.g. ai ee ar oy Split: a-e, e-e, i-e, o-e, u-e These letters don’t get on very well and need another letter to separate them. Trigraphs: Three letters that make one sound Tricky words/High Freqeuncy words: Words that cannot easily be decoded. Phonemes: The smallest units of sound that are found within a word Grapheme: The spelling of the sound e.g. Th Digraph: Two letters that make one sound when read Consonant: contains two consonants next to each other, but they make a single sound. e.g. sh, ck, th, ll Vowel: contains at least one vowel but the two letters still make a single sound e.g. ai ee ar oy Split: a-e, e-e, i-e, o-e, u-e These letters don’t get on very well and need another letter to separate them. Trigraphs: Three letters that make one sound CVC: Stands for consonant, vowel, consonant. Segmenting is breaking up a word into its sounds. Blending : Putting the sounds together to read a word Tricky words: Words that cannot easily be decoded.

Decoding Strategies used at school Sound chop, Sound march, Robot dance, Sound talk, Placing Sound buttons underneath the words, CVC refers to phonemes not letters.

Phase 1: Getting ready for phonics 1. Tuning into sounds 2. Listening and remembering sounds 3. Talking about sounds Music and movement Rhythm and rhyme Sound effects Speaking and listening skills

Phase 2: Learning phonemes to read and write simple words Children will learn their first 19 phonemes: Set 1: s a t p Set 2: i n m d Set 3: g o c k Set 4: ck (as in duck) e u r Set 5: h b l f ff (as in puff) ll (as in hill) ss (as in hiss) They will use these phonemes to read and spell simple “consonant-vowel-consonant” (CVC) words: sat, tap, dig, duck, rug, puff, hill, hiss All these words contain 3 phonemes.

___ . . . c a t Phonics Workshop Let’s have fun Sound fingers Look Decode Segment/sound out Blend

Green Words (de-codable) Use a strategy and have a go! Model MTYT – assisted blending MTYT – independent blending Fred in your head 10

Phase 3: Learning the long vowel phonemes Children will enter phase 3 once they know the first 19 phonemes and can blend and segment to read and spell CVC words. They will learn another 26 phonemes: j, v, w, x, y, z, zz, qu ch, sh, th, ng, ai, ee, igh, oa, oo, ar, or, ur, ow, oi, ear, air, ure, er They will use these phonemes (and the ones from Phase 2) to read and spell words: chip, shop, thin, ring, pain, feet, night, boat, boot, look, farm, fork, burn, town, coin, dear, fair, sure

____ buzz __ . . Phonics Workshop Let’s have fun The diagraph Sound march Look Decode Segment/sound out Blend A consonant digraph contains two consonants sh ck th ll A vowel digraph contains at least one vowel ai ee ar oy

Green Words (de-codable) Use a strategy and have a go! Model MTYT – assisted blending MTYT – independent blending Fred in your head 13

____ light ___ . . Phonics Workshop Let’s have fun The triagraph Sound sandwich Look Decode Segment/sound out Blend igh ear

Green Words (de-codable) Use a strategy and have a go! Model MTYT – assisted blending MTYT – independent blending Fred in your head 15

tide . . Phonics Workshop Let’s have fun The split diagraph i_e a_e o_e u_e e_e tide Sound sandwich Look Decode Segment/sound out Blend . .

Green Words (de-codable) Use a strategy and have a go! Model MTYT – assisted blending MTYT – independent blending Fred in your head 17

Tricky Words There are many words that cannot be blended or segmented because they are irregular. the was said you some

Red Words 19

Phonics Workshop Games: Go on a sound hunt – find objects in the house with the weekly sounds they are learning. Practice reading the sounds in a mirror – look at the shape of the mouth. Write words with the sounds. Bingo Draw or paint the letter or objects with the sound. Letter formation with playdough, in cornflour or foamy soap Sound treasure hunts Look for the sounds in words in books. Alien word games Create rhyming strings (sentences containing words with the same sounds in) Pair the picture to the sound. Make a scrap sound book for these sounds. Practice your cursive writing on a whiteboard or use a stylus on a tablet

Phonics Workshop Useful Websites: http://www.oxfordowl.co.uk/ http://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/ks1/literacy/phonics/play/ http://www.ictgames.com/literacy.html http://www.phonicsplay.co.uk/ http://www.familylearning.org.uk/phonics_games.html http://ictgames.com/writingRepeater/index.html http://www.alphablocks.tv/