Download Developing Phonics

Developing Phonics
What is phonics?
Phonics is simply the system of
relationships between letters and sounds
in a language.
 Knowledge of sounds is used to ‘de-code’
words.
 Phonics has been promoted by the
government as the best way to boost
reading standards.
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Why Phonics?
When phonics is taught in a structured way – starting
with the easiest sounds and progressing through to
the most complex – it is the most effective way of
teaching young children to read. It is particularly
helpful for children aged 5 to 7.
 Almost all children who receive good teaching of
phonics will learn the skills they need to tackle new
words. They can then go on to read any kind of text
fluently and confidently, and to read for enjoyment.
 Children who have been taught phonics also tend to
read more accurately than those taught using other
methods, such as ‘look and say’. This includes children
who find learning to read difficult, for example those
who have dyslexia.
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Learning phonics
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The process starts long before any letters or
the sounds that the letters make are learnt.
The first stage is to :
◦ Learn the ability to hear and apply different
sounds.
◦ Tune ears to hear different things.
◦ Join in with songs, rhymes and stories by clapping,
stamping and skipping
◦ Understand that words are made up of sounds
and that different sounds can be heard in words.
Learning phonics
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During the next stage the emphasis is on synthetic phonics, in
which words are broken up into the smallest units of sound
(phonemes). This usually occurs in early years teaching.
Children are taught the letters (graphemes) that represent these
phonemes and also learn to blend them into words. So, at its most
basic, children are taught to read the letters in a word like c-a-t,
and then merge them to pronounce the word cat.
A phoneme can be represented by one, two, three or four letters
(such as "ough" in "dough").
Children are systematically taught around 40 phonic sounds and
the combination of letters used to represent each sound.
Most sounds, however, have more than one way to spell them. For
example, "e" in "egg" can also be spelt "ea" as in "head" or "ai" as in
"said".
Graphemes are grouped together and children progress from one
group to the other and will be tested at the end of year one, when
they are six years old.
Phonics ‘phases’
At school we follow the ‘Letters and Sounds’ process
of teaching phonics.
 Letters and Sounds breaks the teaching of phonics
into 6 phases:
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◦ Phase 1-3 in Reception
◦ Phase 4 -5 in Year 1
◦ Phase 6 in Year 2
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Each Phase differs in terms of length and skills taught.
We supplement this with a range of resources and
activities to make the learning and appropriate for the
age and abilities of the children. Eg. Jolly Phonics
(actions); Internet based activities, puppets.....
Phase 1
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These activities are designed to pave the
way for all other phonics teaching.
These activities run along side all
other phases.
They help the children to tune their
listening skills.
During this phase the children experience
regular, planned opportunities to listen
carefully and talk extensively about what
they hear, see and do.
Phase 1
There are 7 aspects within this Phase:
•General sound discrimination – environmental
sounds
•General sound discrimination – instrumental
sounds
•General sound discrimination – body
percussion
•Rhythm and rhyme
•Alliteration
•Voice sounds
•Oral blending and segmenting
Phase 1
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Each aspect is divided into three strands.
◦ Tuning into sounds (auditory discrimination)
◦ Listening and remembering sounds (auditory
memory and sequencing)
◦ Talking about sounds (developing vocabulary
and language comprehension).
Phase 1
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Activities within the seven aspects are
designed to help children:
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listen attentively;
enlarge their vocabulary;
speak confidently to adults and other children;
discriminate phonemes;
reproduce audibly the phonemes they hear, in
order, all through the word;
◦ use sound-talk to segment words into
phonemes.
How can you help?
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Go on a listening walk
Sing songs together
Say some action rhymes
Make up rhymes and silly words
Make up little nonsense stories with
words beginning with same letter
Make voices of characters
Letters and Sounds
There are 26 letters in the alphabet.
 There are 44 sounds in the English
language.
 These sounds are associated with one or
more of the letters.
 We use a song to teach the children the
alphabet and the sounds that each letter
makes.
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Phase 2
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In phase 2 children:
◦ begin to learn phonemes
◦ Recognise some high frequency words
◦ Learn 19 letters of the alphabet with one
sound for each.
◦ Develop segmenting for spelling and blending
for reading.
Phase 2
Letter progression
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
http://www.mumsnet.com/learning/phonics/
listen-to-the-44-phonic-sounds
Sound and Actions
Learning the /s/
sound
Action:
Weave your hand
like a
snake, making an
‘s’
shape, saying
ssssss
Blending
Sug
Pon
s–u–g
p–o–n
The sug and the pon.
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Some strategies for teaching blending
include
◦ sound buttons
◦ robot arms
◦ cubes
HAVE A GO
Words, words, words!
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Children will be taught to read 3 kinds of
words
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Words they can blend (sound out).
Words that are high frequency words they
can blend.
Word that are high frequency words they
can’t blend and must learn (tricky words).
Which words belong to which
group?
cat
dog
cap
mat
was
said
he
the
to
his
and
at
it
in
Phase 3
j
vwx
 y z, zz qu
 ch ar sh or
 th ur ng ow
 ai oi ee ear
 igh air oa ure
 oo er
Phase 3
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Some strategies for segmenting (for
spelling) include:
◦ the use of phoneme frames
◦ magnetic whiteboards and letters
HAVE A GO
Phase 4
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Practise previously learned graphemes
Teach blending and segmentation of adjacent
consonants
Teach some tricky words
Practise blending and reading words with
adjacent consonants eg swing
Practise segmentation and spelling words
with adjacent consonants
Read or write sentences using one or more
high-frequency words and words containing
adjacent consonants
A Phonics Lesson
Each phonics lesson is around 20 minutes in
length.
 The lessons take place daily.
 Lessons are made up of 4 parts:
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Revisit/Review
Teach
Practise
Apply
A lesson may have a reading or a spelling focus
Letter formation is taught as part of the lessons
What can you do to support your
child?
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Some things that you can do at home to
support your child:
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Flashcards
Stepping stones
CVC
Words
Phoneme frames
Noughts and Crosses
Box of sounds