1. Phonics in Reception Aims of the session Introduce the phonics scheme we use in Reception Introduce and explain the terminology we use when teaching phonics Provide information and ideas of how you can help your child with phonics at home Give out set 1 sound cards for you to use at home

2. Reception use the synthetic phonics programme by Ruth Miskin called ‘Read, Write Inc.’ We teach reading and writing sounds together. Each sound has a letter-picture to help the children to learn sounds quickly and to encourage and support writing each letter. We introduce 3 new ‘pure’ sounds each week from set 1 sounds. It is really important that the children are taught how to say the ‘pure’ sounds correctly to make blending easier. In Reception we have some sounds that bounce, e.g. a, b, c, t and some that stretch, e.g. sssss, mmmm, ffff.

3. There are lots of great examples of ‘pure’ sounds online https://www.oxfordowl.co.uk/for-home/reading-owl/find-a- book/read-write-inc-phonics--1 use the Read Write Inc. sound cards. https://www.oxfordowl.co.uk/for-home/reading-owl/find-a- book/read-write-inc-phonics--1 We learn the sounds or ‘phonemes’ m, a, s, d, t, i, n, p first so children can start to put letters together or ‘blend’ letters for reading, e.g. ‘sat’, ‘pin’, ‘mat’, ‘tap’, ‘nap’, ‘man’. We also teach the children to use ‘sound buttons’ to represent each written sound, e.g. b- e- d and use ‘Fred Talk’ to support children when listening for each different sound.

4. More than one letter can make a sound e.g. sh, ng, igh, air We teach children to split words or ‘segment’ them into their individual sounds using sound buttons when looking at reading and spelling words e.g. ch i n, r i ng, n igh t Before writing a word young children need time to think about it, say the word several times and then ‘segment’ the word into each sound for writing.

5. Children will enjoy spelling if it feels like fun and they feel good about themselves as spellers. We notice and praise what children can do as well as supporting them with any mistakes and their next steps. Later in the year children will learn the letter names and how to form capital letters correctly.

6. ‘Red words’ in our reading book are words that you can not sound out but these need to be learned by sight. They don’t fit into the usual spelling patterns. These are taught from Reception and throughout KS1 and are also called ‘tricky words’ e.g. what, was, said. High frequency words or common words are words that frequently appear in much of the written material young children read and are words they need when they write e.g. the, and, this. Alien words are made up words using a combination of phonemes the children know, these need to be segmented and blended to read the nonsense word e.g. zeg, chay, quimp, stips

7. The children have daily phonics lessons throughout Reception and Key Stage 1. We practise and have fun with our sounds as much as possible. We ask you to do the same at home and try to keep things short, regular and fun for both you and your child. As children gain confidence and show their independence when hearing, saying and using the speed sounds, we start to introduce reading sheets called ditties for you to read with your child. When we feel they are ready, we will change to reading books. These are longer and may need to be read in stages. Please remember children are ready at very different stages in their development and need to feel confident and happy with their phonics to succeed!

8. We hope you have found this useful and please speak to your child’s class teacher if you are unsure about any aspect of this session or you need further guidance on supporting your child. Miss Smith, our Early Years Practitioner will also be available at Parents Evening on Tuesday 8 th and Thursday 10 th November if you would like to ask any questions about using the phonics cards and further ideas for supporting your child. The more support and encouragement we all give your child the more confidence and success they will have!