1. Ducklington Phonics Workshop

2. AIMS To share how phonics is taught in Ducklington
> To show examples of activities and
resources we use to teach phonics
To develop parents’ confidence in helping their children with phonics

3. WHAT IS PHONICS? Phonics is the main way in which we help your child
Children develop awareness that spoken words are
made up of different sounds (phonemes) and they
learn to match these phonemes to letters (graphemes)
“A cow makes the moo sound but it’s called a cow”
Phonics is about children knowing how sounds
(phonemes) link to letters (graphemes)
Phonics is the main way in
which we help your child
to learn to read and write .

4. DAILY PHONICS Every day the children have at least one
session of phonics led by an adult
Lessons encompass a wide range of activities
and games
Children apply their phonics knowledge across
all areas of the curriculum
Letters and Sounds
There are 6 phonics phases which the children
work through
Phase 1 – 3 in F1, Phases 4-5 in Year 1 and
Phase 6 in Year 2 although every child is
different
Phoneme frames, sound buttons, full circle, countdown, flashcards, buried treasure

5. PHASE 1: ASPECT 7 Blending Segmenting
Your children learn to use the term:
Blending
Children need to be able to hear the separate sounds in a word and then blend them together to say the whole word before they start using letters
Segmenting
Children need to be able to hear a whole word and
say every sound that they hear
Continues throughout Phases 2-6
Games list in information booklet (pages 4-5)

6. PHASE 2 HOW CAN I HELP AT HOME?
Once children are secure with oral blending and segmenting they need to build up their letter recognition. Then they can begin to read and write!
HOW CAN I HELP AT HOME?
Practise saying the phonemes and graphemes
Write the graphemes – large and small scale e.g. paintbrushes and water outside, chalk on tarmac, handwriting sheets and whiteboards in phonics packs
Games – find the graphemes in books, on food
packaging, amongst magnetic letters on the
fridge etc.
Then they can link everything together and really begin to read and write 

7. PHASE 2 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 muck/ticket) e u r
Set 5: h b l f ff (as in puff) ll (as in hill)
ss (as in hiss) DIGRAPHS
They will use these phonemes to read and spell simple “consonant-vowel-consonant” (CVC) or “consonant-vowel-consonant-consonant” (CVCC) words:
sat, tap, dig, duck, rug, puff, hill, hiss

8. Sounds must be articulated clearly and precisely (link in information booklet – will be added to
school website)
What happens if they are not?
cuh-a-puh versus c-a-p
Lesson demonstrations by Mrs Thomas and KS1 pupils:
> Blending for Reading: Children need to practise instantly recognising phonemes and blending them together to read words
> Segmenting for Spelling: Children need to practise orally breaking down the sounds they hear
in words and writing one sound at a time

9. TWO-SYLLABLE WORDS
Children are introduced to two-syllable words at Phase 2
They are taught to split up the word for reading and spelling
laptop rabbit cobweb
This is a very important skill that children will use throughout the rest of the phases and beyond when tackling longer words

10. TRICKY WORDS the was said you some
There are many words that cannot be fully blended or segmented because they are irregular.
the was said you some
These require lots of practise at home – instant recognition of these will build up fluency in reading
Ideas listed in information booklet
(page 10)
Words will be added to phonics packs

11. PHASE 3
Children will learn more tricky words and another 26 phonemes: This is where grapheme knowledge becomes important!
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
TRIGRAPHS
Children will use these phonemes (and the ones from Phase 2) to read and spell words e.g:
chip, shop, thin, sing, pain, feet, right,
boat, boot, look, farm, fork, burn,
town, coin, dear, fair, sure

12. . . . . . _ HOW CAN I HELP AT HOME? c a t f i sh
Phoneme frames and sounds buttons
. _ .
More activities listed in information
booklet (page 9) c a t
Keep your sound mats close by to help you identify the digraphs and trigraphs f i sh _

13. PHASE 4
Children move into Phase 4 when they know all the phonemes from Phases 2 and 3 and can use them to read and spell simple words and captions/sentences.
They will also be able to read some two-syllable words and increasing range of tricky words.
This should happen by the end of F1 but every child is different
Your child’s class teacher will be happy to discuss
your child’s progress with you and let you
know which specific activities will help at
home. Work will be added to phonics packs.

14. PHASE 4
Phase 4 doesn’t introduce any new phonemes. It introduces adjacent consonants and focuses on reading and spelling longer words with the phonemes the children already know.
Words can have adjacent consonants at the beginning, at the end or at the beginning and the end: spot, trip, clap,
tent, mend, damp,
trust, spend, twist
Children will read and write words containing both adjacent consonants and digraphs. They will also read and write polysyllabic words
chimp paint shampoo

15. HOW CAN I HELP AT HOME? Phoneme frames and sounds buttons
Remember – one phoneme (sound) per box
golf (4 boxes)
stand (5 boxes)
green (4 boxes)
spring (5 boxes)
More activities are listed in the information booklet (page 11) and
will be added to phonics packs

16. PHASE 5 ay – day ou – out ie – tie ea – eat oy – boy ir – girl
Teach new tricky words
Teach new graphemes
ay – day ou – out ie – tie
ea – eat oy – boy ir – girl
ue – blue aw – saw wh – when
ph – photo ew – new oe – toe
au – Paul

17. out/shoulder/could/you
Learn alternative pronunciations of graphemes
(the same grapheme can represent more than one phoneme)
Fin/find hot/cold cat/cent got/giant but/put cow/blow tie/field eat/bread farmer/her
hat/what yes/by/very
chin/school/chef
out/shoulder/could/you

18. SPLIT DIGRAPHS toe tone cue cube a-e (make) e-e (these) i-e (like)
o-e (home) u-e (blue)

19. PHASE 6 Children will learn about: > Rules for spelling
> Spelling strategies (applying everything they have learned)
> adding suffixes e.g. –ed (laughed), - ing (laughing), -er (writer), -est (happiest), -ful (careful), -ly (carefully) and –y (funny), -ness (happiness) and –ment (development)

20. HOW CAN I HELP AT HOME?
Keep the Phase 5 sound mat and Phase 5 table handy – regularly discuss the “best guess”
When spelling, encourage your child to think
about what “looks right”
Have fun trying out different options. Whiteboards are excellent for trying out spellings.
tray trai
rain rayn
boil boyl
boy boi
throat throwt
snow snoa

21. “ALIEN” WORDS
Using phonemes to make up imaginative nonsense words e.g. glurg, sprong
Helps children to practise and apply their phonics skills
Helps children to filter new vocabulary

22. AT HOME
Phonics Packs for every child – the more you practise, the more you’ll learn, the more you’ll achieve
Read everyday with your child if possible
Useful websites listed in information booklet (page 17)
Evaluations and questions

23. DON’T FORGET… We want all children to have a real love for books!
Learning to read should be fun for both children and parents.