Dunkirk Primary School
Helping your child learn to read
What is Phonics?
The relationships between letters (graphemes) and sounds (phonemes)
phonics is
skills ofsegmentationand blending
Knowing about letters
and sounds+
Words your child will use
phoneme
The sounds that make up a word.
Words your child will use
grapheme
Letter(s) written to show the sounds in a
word.
t ai igh
Phonemes and Graphemes
• A grapheme may consist of one (t), two (kn) or more letters (igh)
• A phoneme can be represented/spelled in more than one way cat, kennel, choir
• The same grapheme may represent more than one phoneme me, met
Pure Sounds DVD
Some Definitions
segmenting
Identifying the individual sounds in a spoken word
h-i-m s-t-or-k
and writing down or manipulating letters for each sound (phoneme) to form
him stork
Some Definitions
blending
Recognising the letter-sounds in a written word, for example
c-u-p, sh-ee-p
and merging or synthesising them in the order in which they are written to pronounce the word
cup, sheep.
Some Definitions
split digraph
A digraph in which the two letters are not adjacent.
make rose chute
rain bright
witch daughter
Sound Buttons
rain bright
witch daughter
Sound Buttons
Games to do at home
• Sound buttons• Silly voices• Flash cards• Chew it up/pull it out• Hunt the sound in the book• Have a look at the school website
Reading is all around
Glossary
• Phoneme-each sound in a word• Grapheme-letters to show each sound• Blending-joining each sound together to
make a word• Segmenting-breaking up a word into each
sounds• Split digraph-a long sound that is split by
another letter• Tricky words-words that don’t follow sound
rules
Reading in school
• Phonics learning sessions• Guided reading• Modelled reading• Class books to share• Independent reading• Book club• Book assemblies• Reading records