Phonics and Reading

Parents Information

Meeting

26 letters of the alphabet

44 sounds

140 ways to spell these sounds

The English Language

Phoneme

�The smallest unit of sound in a word.

�There are 44 phonemes that we teach.

The Alphabetic Code

The 44 phonemes

/b/ /d/ /f/ /g/ /h/ /j/ /k/ /l/ /m/ /n/ /ng/

/p/ /r/ /s/ /t/ /v/ /w/ /y/ /z/ /th/ /th/ /ch/

/sh/ /zh/ /a/ /e/ /i/ /o/ /u/ /ae/ /ee/ /ie/ /oe/

/ue/ /oo/ /ar/ /ur/ /au/ /er/ /ow/ /oi/ /air/ /ear/ /ure/

Grapheme

• Letters representing a phoneme

• A grapheme may consist of one (t), two (ch), or more letters (igh).

• A phoneme can be represented in more than one way: cat, kennel,

choir

• The same grapheme may represent more than one phoneme: circus,

car, me, met

BlendingBlendingBlendingBlending

• Children need to be able toChildren need to be able toChildren need to be able toChildren need to be able to hear hear hear hear the separate the separate the separate the separate

sounds in a word and then blend them together sounds in a word and then blend them together sounds in a word and then blend them together sounds in a word and then blend them together

to to to to say say say say the whole word the whole word the whole word the whole word ....

c / a / t catc / a / t catc / a / t catc / a / t cat

shshshsh / / / / eeeeeeee / p sheep/ p sheep/ p sheep/ p sheep

Segmenting

�Chopping up a word to spell it out

�How many phonemes in these words?

dog

light

speech

dog = 3 - d / o / g

light = 3 - l / igh / t

speech = 4 - s / p / ee / ch

Other Terminology

�Digraph (2 letters 1 sound)

�Consonant digraph (sh, ch, ck, th, ll, ss)

�Vowel digraph (at least 1 vowel – ee, ai, ar, er)

�Trigraph (3 letters 1 sound igh, dge,)

�Split digraph/sometimes magic e but we teach correct

terminology (bike, came, rose)

High Frequency High Frequency High Frequency High Frequency WWWWords/ Tricky Wordsords/ Tricky Wordsords/ Tricky Wordsords/ Tricky Words

� There are 100 high frequency words in Phases 1-5. There are 200

common words.

� High frequency words become decodable as children develop their

phonic knowledge e.g. ‘dad’ in Phase 2.

� Tricky words are words children need to learn that will help them read

more fluently e.g. was, the, people.

At Shaw-cum-Donnington

we use

Letters and Sounds

as our main phonics

scheme and we

supplement this with

other resources.

There are 6 Phases

taught through

Early Years and Key Stage One

Phase 1•Environmental sounds

•Instrumental sounds

•Body percussion

•Rhythm and Rhyme

•Alliteration

•Voice sounds

•Oral blending and segmenting

Phase 2Introduces letter sound correspondences

�Set 1: s a t p

�Set 2: i n m d

�Set 3: g o c k

�Set 4: ck e u r

�Set 5: h b f ff l ll ss

Blend and segment vc, cv, cvc words

Read high frequency words:

is it in at and to the no go I

Phase 3

� Set 6: j v w x

� Set 7: y z zz qu

� Set 8: ch sh th ng

Also: ai ee igh oa oo ar or

ur ow oi ear air ure er

Phase 3 - continued

�Read high frequency words

he she we me be was my you they her all are

Spell no go the to I

�Read and spell 2 syllable words and captions

�Letter names

Phase 4

�Blending and segmenting adjacent consonants for

reading and writing

� 2 syllable words: lunchbox, desktop etc.

�cvc, ccvc, cvcc words

Phase 5� Further graphemes for reading

ay ou ie ea oy ir ue aw wh ph ew

oe au a-e i-e e-e o-e u-e

� Alternative pronunciations for graphemes (fin, find cow, blow)

� High frequency words (read and spell)

� Alternative spellings for phonemes ( sh tion ss cion ch)

� Read and spell 2 syllable and 3 syllable words

� Writing and reading sentences

Phase 6Spelling focus

� Past tense (ed)

� Suffixes (s es ing ed er est ful ly y ment ness)

� Prefixes

� Plurals

� Spelling long words

� Finding and learning the difficult bits in words

� Learning and practising spellings (syllables, base words, analogy,

mnemonics)

� Application of spelling in writing

Reading Reading Reading Reading

at school at school at school at school

and homeand homeand homeand home

ReadingReadingReadingReading

• Success in reading is fundamental to success in school.

• Reading is all about acquiring meaning; for enjoyment, information and

understanding.

• It is not a performance.

• It is not a test.

Every time you finish a book - do always choose a harder one next time?

UnderstandingUnderstandingUnderstandingUnderstanding

(Comprehension)(Comprehension)(Comprehension)(Comprehension)

• Being able to read does not mean you understand what you read.

• Your child might sound like a good reader but may not necessarily understand

what the text means.

• The best way to develop understanding is to talk about texts.

• The next slide is easy to read – does anyone understand what it means?

An extract taken from a computer manualAn extract taken from a computer manualAn extract taken from a computer manualAn extract taken from a computer manual

According to the previous ATA/IDE hard drive transfer protocol, the

signalling way to send data was in synchronous strobe mode by using the

rising edge of the strobe signal. The faster strobe rate increases EMI, which

cannot be eliminated by the standard 40-pin cable used by ATA and ultra

ATA.

Reading requires two skillsReading requires two skillsReading requires two skillsReading requires two skills

Phonics and Word RecognitionPhonics and Word RecognitionPhonics and Word RecognitionPhonics and Word Recognition

The ability to recognise words

presented in and out of

context.

The ability to blend letter

sounds (phonemes) together

to read words.

UnderstandingUnderstandingUnderstandingUnderstanding

The ability to understand the

meaning of the words and

sentences in a text.

The ability to understand the ideas,

information and themes in a text.

If a child understands what they

hear, they will understand the same

information when they read.

Reading in School Reading in School Reading in School Reading in School ----

The The The The TeachingTeachingTeachingTeaching of Readingof Readingof Readingof Reading

• Phonics – daily

• Shared reading (being read a story) - daily

• Guided reading – once a week KS1

• Independent reading - daily

• Reading across the curriculum – daily

• 1:1 reading with an adult (teacher/teaching assistant/parent helper) – as often as

possible

The hearing of reading is NOT the teaching of reading

Home reading books and recordsHome reading books and recordsHome reading books and recordsHome reading books and records

� Books are set in book bands

� In each band there are different sets of books – some more difficult than others.

� In each band our books are organised so they get progressively more difficult.

This could be because of type (fiction/ non-fiction) or use of high frequency

words (words that can’t be sounded out).

� When they move book bands the first ones are usually easier to read.

� The children only move a book band when listened to by a teacher.

What to do if your child is stuckWhat to do if your child is stuckWhat to do if your child is stuckWhat to do if your child is stuck

� Use phonics first. What sound does the word begin with? Can you say the

sounds in the word? Blend them together.

� Read to the end of the sentence. What would make sense?

� What is the text about – what might fit here?

� Does it sound right?

� Look at the picture. Does it help?

Home reading recordsHome reading recordsHome reading recordsHome reading records

• Please sign to say when you have listened to them read. We also initial books

when any adult in school has listened to them.

• Comments we find helpful –

We took it in turn to read, good expression, we discussed what might happen next,

we looked for capital letters and full stops, clear reading, could tell me the meaning

of difficult word.

‘My child read this book easily’‘My child read this book easily’‘My child read this book easily’‘My child read this book easily’

� Sometimes we try not to move children on too quickly

- To boost their confidence in reading

- Reluctant readers at home

- Can read the book fluently but they do not understand all the

vocabulary

Changing reading booksChanging reading booksChanging reading booksChanging reading books

• In Class 4 (Reception) – when they have read to a teacher or teaching

assistant.

• In Class 3 (KS1) – when they have read to an adult at home and

sometimes if they have read in school

• Children will ideally read each book twice with the earlier book bands.

• Teachers or teaching assistants can only change books – ideally this is 2 or

3 times a week.

Reading at Home Reading at Home Reading at Home Reading at Home –––– enjoyenjoyenjoyenjoy!!!!

� Make reading visible; have books available in your home.

� Share books every day.

� Boys need to see that reading is something men do.

� Talk about books.

� Sit and listen - don’t do chores around the reader!

� Respect choices.

Reading to your childrenReading to your childrenReading to your childrenReading to your children

• Introduce your children to different types of books; classic fiction, chapter books,

short stories, joke books, poetry, non-fiction.

• Read them the book that was your favourite when you were a child.

• Read slowly, with expression. Try to use different and funny voices for

characters.

• Follow the words and read the story using the pictures.

• Talk about what is happening and what might happen next. Leave the story on a

cliffhanger!

Useful sites

http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/alphablocks/

https://content.espresso.co.uk/openhive

http://www.oxfordowl.co.uk/

http://www.phonicsplay.co.uk/