PHONICS - Useful vocabulary

PhonemeA phoneme is the smallest unit of sound in a language; it is the sound a letter, or group of letters, make. There are 44 phonemes in the English language. We represent phonemes with graphemes.

GraphemeA grapheme is a symbol of a phoneme. It is a letter or number of letters that represent a sound (phoneme). Graphemes can comprise one letter ; two letters such as ‘sh’ in ship; three letters such as ‘tch’ in hatch or four letters such as ‘eigh’ in eight. There is always the same number of graphemes in a word as phonemes.

Grapheme to Phoneme Correspondence/Phoneme to Grapheme CorrespondenceKnowing a GPC means being able to match a phoneme to a grapheme and vice versa. We convert graphemes to phonemes when we are reading aloud and phonemes to graphemes when spelling. In order to read a word, a child must recognise (‘sound out’) each grapheme, not each letter and then blend the phonemes together to make a word. E.g. Sounding out chop as /ch/-/o/-/p/ and not /c/-/h/-/o/-/p/.

DigraphA digraph is a grapheme containing 2 letters which represent one sound/phoneme e.g. ‘th’. A split digraph has a letter that comes between the two letters in a digraph, as in like and bike where the ‘k’ separates the ‘ie’ for the phoneme /ie/. In the case of a split digraph it serves to change a short vowel such as the /o/ in hop to a long vowel /o-e/ in hope.

TrigraphA trigraph is a grapheme containing 3 letters to represent one sound/phoneme e.g. ‘igh’ in night for the phoneme /igh/.

Blending*Blending involves hearing the constituent phonemes and being able to merge them together to make a word. This skill needs to be developed orally before the children will be able to blend written words for reading. E.g. /m/-/a/-/n/ = man

Segmenting* Segmenting is hearing a whole word then splitting it up into its constituent phonemes. For example, splitting ‘that’ into /th/-/a/-/t/. This skill needs to be developed orally before the children will be able to segment words when spelling for writing.

*Blending and segmenting are reversible.

What is phonics?

Phonics work teaches children the correspondences between graphemes (letters) in written language and phonemes (sounds) in spoken language. Phonics is by no means the only strategy we use to teach reading in school; it is one strategy that children are taught to enable them to read and write and runs alongside other strategies such as word recognition and context.

Does it matter how the phonemes are pronounced by those teaching and learning?

Some children will pick up the skill of blending (for reading) quickly even though the phonemes are not being clearly pronounced. However, for others this proves a more challenging task; some children will struggle to make hat when phonemes are pronounced ‘huh-a-tuh’. Therefore, as we teach the phonemes it is important that only the ‘pure sounds’ are used and encouraged to ensure that blending for reading is an easier task. The easiest way to describe this is to make the shortest sound possible when pronouncing a phoneme (the sound a letter ‘makes’).

What about learning the letter names?

Alongside learning the sounds/phonemes for the letters/graphemes we also need to encourage children to use the letter names. Children can pick this up quickly if the names are used frequently in conjunction with the sounds/phonemes.

What do we do in school?

During Reception/EYFS and KS1 (Years 1 & 2) we teach phonics in short, regular sessions, as well across the curriculum as and when appropriate. Children are grouped, within year groups, according to their phase of working, which enables us to more effectively meet their learning needs. We follow the Letters and Sounds programme that sets out the letters and sounds to be taught and in which order.Jolly Phonics is the means by which we teach the graphemes/phonemes.

Letters and Sounds Published in 2007, Letters and Sounds is a phonics programme published by

the Department for Education. It is a way of enabling children to see the relationship between reading and

spelling, one reinforcing the other. The programme is structured in six phases designed to run throughout EYFS

and KS1. Each phase builds on the previous one, introducing new graphemes (letters),

phonemes/(sounds the letters ‘make’) and ‘tricky’ words. Children move through the phases with the aim of Phase 6 being reached by the

end of Year 2.

Jolly PhonicsChildren learn to associate a sound, an action and an image with a grapheme/letter; it appeals to children’s different learning styles. The children enjoy learning new actions and phonemes/sounds and are soon able to use their knowledge when reading and writing.The resources we use for spelling and images on display in class, link to Jolly Phonics ensuring continuity for the children throughout.

What happens next? Once children have learned the basic phonemes for the letters of the alphabet and long vowel sounds such as /ai/ /ee/ /ie/ they will continue to work on expanding their knowledge of which graphemes represent which phonemes. They will learn that in some cases there may be several graphemes to represent one phoneme. For example, the /ai/ phoneme us represented with ‘ai’ in snail; ‘ay’ in play; ‘a_e’ in make; ‘eigh’ in eight.As learning progresses further, the children will learn the correct grapheme choice within a word. For example, to learn that the /ai/ in train is spelled ‘ai’ rather than ‘ay’. Children’s phonic knowledge continues to be required as they progress with reading and writing. As they come across unfamiliar words, they may need to use their phonic knowledge to read the word. Of course, as previously mentioned, phonics is not the only strategy used when learning to read. As the children progress with their reading, their knowledge and understanding of the different techniques develops as does their ability to apply them. More information on the various aspects of learning to read can be found on our website under insert link.

Here are a few examples to practise identifying the number of phonemes/sounds within words…

Within each word, the number of graphemes (letters representing a sound) is always the same as the number of phonemes. The number of individual letters however, may sometimes be more than the number of phonemes/sounds. Each phoneme is represented in between a / / .

Word Is made up of… Number of graphemes and

phonemes

Additional notes

top /t/ /o/ /p/ 3 graphemes;

3 phonemesAlthough top and car

have the same number of individual letters, the number of phonemes differs; car uses the

phoneme /ar/ car /c/ /ar/ 2 graphemes;

2 phonemes

stop /s/ /t/ /o/ /p/ 4 graphemes;

4 phonemesshop uses ‘sh’ which is a digraph (2 individual

letters representing one sound); it has fewer phonemes than stop

and pots. pots /p/ /o/ /t/ /s/ 4 graphemes;

4 phonemes

shop /sh/ /o/ /p/ 3 graphemes;

3 phonemes

flick /f/ /l/ /i/ /ck/ 4 graphemes;

4 phonemesflick uses ‘ck’ which is a

digraph (2 individual letters representing one

sound);

catch uses ‘tch’ which is a trigraph (3 individual

letters representing one sound);

chair uses ‘ch’ and ‘air’ therefore using a

digraph and a trigraph in the same word.

catch /c/ /a/ /tch/ 3 graphemes;

3 phonemes

chair /ch/ /air/ 2 graphemes;

2 phonemes

laptop /l/ /a/ /p/ /t/ /o/ /p/ 6 graphemes;

6 phonemesNo digraphs or trigraphs

are used within this word, so the number of individual letters is the

same as the number of graphemes and

phonemes.

Useful websites

Here are some links to websites, which you might find useful. There are a variety of games which the children thoroughly enjoy and know how to play.

http://www.letters-and-sounds.com/

http://www.teachyourmonstertoread.com/

The phonics song we heard on YouTube is called Phonics Song, written and performed by A.J. Jenkins.