Mrs Daniels 24 th September 2015

Aims of today... To find out what phonics is To understand the terminology used in phonics To learn how to pronounce the sounds To find out how we teach phonics in school To find out how you can support your child at home

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

What is Phonics? Letters represent sounds (phonemes) A phoneme can be represented by one or more letters e.g. sh, th, ee, etc The same phoneme can be represented in more than one way e.g. rain, may, lake The same spelling may represent more than one sound e.g. mean, deaf

Have you heard of these ? phoneme grapheme segmenting blending split digraph trigraph digraph

Key definitions Phoneme - The smallest unit of sound. There are approximately 44 phonemes in English (it depends on different accents). Phonemes can be put together to make words. Grapheme - A way of writing down a phoneme. Graphemes can be made up from 1 letter e.g. p, 2 letters e.g. sh, 3 letters e.g. tch or 4 letters e.g ough. GPC - This is short for Grapheme Phoneme Correspondence. Knowing a GPC means being able to match a phoneme to a grapheme and vice versa. Digraph - A grapheme containing two letters that makes just one sound (phoneme). Trigraph - A grapheme containing three letters that makes just one sound (phoneme).

Key definitions Oral Blending - This involves hearing phonemes and being able to merge them together to make a word. Children need to develop this skill before they will be able to blend written words. Blending- This involves looking at a written word, looking at each grapheme and using knowledge of GPCs to work out which phoneme each grapheme represents and then merging these phonemes together to make a word. This is the basis of reading. Oral Segmenting - This is the act hearing a whole word and then splitting it up into the phonemes that make it. Children need to develop this skill before they will be able to segment words to spell them. Segmenting - This involves hearing a word, splitting it up into the phonemes that make it, using knowledge of GPCs to work out which graphemes represent those phonemes and then writing those graphemes down in the right order. This is the basis of spelling.

Can you use the phoneme frame to work out how many phonemes there are in these words? pigpig churchchurch boy curl thorn chick down shirt

How we teach phonics in school Letters and Sounds Phonics Programme Taught from Early Years – Year 2 20 minutes daily Phases 1 to 6

What does a Phonics lesson look like? Revisit/reviewFlashcards to practise phonemes learnt so far. TeachTeach new phoneme PractiseWriting and reading words with that taught phoneme ApplyRead sentences with key words and new phonemes

Phase 1 This phase concentrates on developing children’s speaking and listening skills. We get children attuned to the sounds around them. EnvironmentalAlliteration Instrumental soundsVoice Sounds Body PercussionRhythm and rhyme Oral segmenting/blending

This phase begins in Early Years Phonics sessions are fun sessions involving lots of speaking, listening and games The children will have a small number of grapheme/phoneme correspondences, blending and segmenting can start (/s/a/t/p/i/n/) ‘Your child will also learn several tricky words; those that cannot be sounded out Eg: the, to, I, go, no Phase 2

The main individual letter phonemes have now been learnt, and many children are reading CVC words independently – dog, chip CVC words follow the pattern consonant, vowel, consonant, eg: cat, dog, pet. Words such as tick or bell also count as CVC words; although they contain four letters, they only have three sounds By the end of phase 2

Phase 3 teaches children to learn the graphemes (written sounds), made up of more than one letter, eg: ‘oa’ as in boat ‘ai’ as in train Your child will also learn all the letter names in the alphabet and how to form them correctly Read more tricky words and begin to spell some of them Read and write words in phrases and sentences Phase 3

Phase Three chshthng aieeighoa ooarorur owoiearair ureerir Set 6jvwx Set 7yz, zzqu

Phase 4 This phase consolidates all the children have learnt in the previous phases. They will blend phonemes to read CVC words and segment words for spelling. They will also be able to read two syllable words that are simple.

Phase 5 Throughout Year 1 and into Year 2 Children will be taught new graphemes e.g oy, aw, ir and alternative pronunciations for these graphemes. The same phoneme can be represented in more than one way, for example: rain, may, lake The same grapheme can represent more than one phoneme, for example: meat, deaf, great. Phase 5

Phase 6 The focus is on learning spelling rules for word endings (these are known as suffixes) The children learn how words change when you add certain letters. There are 12 different suffixes taught: -s -es -ing -ed -er -est -y -en -ful -ly -ment -ness

How can you help at home? Reading Children will bring home two reading books: a picture book or non-fiction book a phonics book Writing Encourage your children to make marks and sound out words in real life contexts e.g. Writing in birthday cards, writing a shopping list.

Picture book or non-fiction book To foster a love of reading. Children are not expected to read this to you – it is for you to read them. Once you have read the book to them talk about what you have read.

Phonics book To practice blending and decoding unfamiliar words and recognising tricky words. Encourage your child to say the sounds and blend them read the word. Point out diagraphs if they don’t recognise them. Tell them the sound or the word if they are struggling.

Homework In your pack: Phase 2 phonemes Phase 2 tricky words Agreed actions to accompany the phonemes The children will begin to bring home phonics homework every other week. We will also keep you up to date with the phonemes we have covered in class.

WOW moments We want to know when your child has a WOW moment at home so that we can celebrate it with them at school! E.g. Recognises a new sound for the first time Reads a tricky word Blends the sounds together to read a word Segments the sounds and writes a word independently