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