Phonics and Reading at The Lancaster School March 2014

What is Phonics? Identifying sounds in spoken words Recognising the common spellings of each sound Blending sounds into words for reading Breaking up words into sounds for spelling.

How is Phonics taught at The Lancaster School? We follow the ‘Letters and Sounds’ document which is split into 6 distinct phases.

Phase 1 (Nursery) Exploring and experimenting with sounds and words (including Jolly Phonics). Beginning to orally blend and segment sounds. Lots of work on Nursery Rhymes.

Phase 2 Approximately 4 sounds a week. Starts in Reception, or earlier if children are ready for them.

Phase 3 Reading and spelling a wide range of simple 3 letter words. Using all letters, some consonant digraphs (ch, sh, the, ng) and some long vowel sounds. Children are expected be at this level at the end of Reception.

Phase 4 This is a consolidation unit. There are no new sounds to learn. Reading and spelling of tricky words continue. There is more of a focus on longer words. Children should be working at this level during Year 1.

Phase 5 Reading longer words. Looking at alternative pronunciations and spelling patterns. Usually taught at the end of Year 1/beginning of Year 2.

Phase 6 Applying phonic skills and knowledge to recognise and spell an increasing number of complex words. Introducing and teaching the past tense. Investigating and learning how to add suffixes. Usually taught within Year 2.

Red Words Each week the children learn ‘tricky’ words (those that are not spelt phonetically) and key sight vocabulary. These need a lot of practise! were there little one help

Put sound buttons under these words cat chip hen tent pram bell rain leek

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

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 to form the word: ‘him’ and ‘stork’.

Which starts with a different sound to the others? Helping at home Odd One Out Common Objects Which starts with a different sound to the others? Collect several objects that begin with the same letter. Say a number of words, all but one of which begin with the same sound. See if your child can pick out the odd one. Writing sounds Practise writing letters in trays of salt or flour.