LETTERS AND SOUNDS WORKSHOP

Phase 1• Taught in Nursery

• Seven Aspects:

• Aspect 1 – Environmental Sounds

• Aspect 2 – Instrumental Sounds

• Aspect 3 – Body Percussion

• Aspect 4 – Rhythm and Rhyme

• Aspect 5 – Alliteration

• Aspect 6 – Voice Sounds

• Aspect 7 – Oral Blending and Segmenting

Phase 2• Taught in Reception

• Sounds taught:

s a t p i

n m d g o

c k ck e u

r f b l ll

ff ss

Phase 2• Taught in Reception

• High frequency words taught:

a an as at if

in is it of off

on can dad had back

and get big him his

not got up mum but

Phase 2• Taught in Reception

• Tricky words taught:

I no go

the to into

Phase 3• Taught in Reception

• Sounds taught:

j v w x y

z zz qu ch sh

th ng ai ee igh

oa oo ar or ur

ow oi ear air ure

er

Phase 3• Taught in Reception

• High frequency words taught:

will that this then them

with see for now down

look too

Phase 3• Taught in Reception

• Tricky words taught:

he she we me be

was you they all are

my her

Phase 4• Taught in Year 1

• In Phase 4, no new graphemes are introduced. The main aim of this phase is to consolidate the children's knowledge and to help them learn to read and spell words which have adjacent consonants, such as trap, string and milk.

• High frequency words taught:

went It’s from children Just

help

Phase 4• Taught in Year 1

• Tricky words taught:

said have like so do

come were there little one

some when out what

Phase 5• Taught in Year 1

• Sounds taught: 22 phonemes represented by different graphemes.

• Alternate spellings – there are 22 sounds of which some are the same but spelt differently.

• Example:

ai as in rain ay as in daya-e as in make

All children are expected to be able to read all Phase 5 sounds by the end of Year 1.

a-e (as in came) au (as in Paul) aw (as in saw)

ay (as in day) e-e (as in these) ea (as in sea)

ew (as in chew) ew (as stew) ey (as in money)

i-e (as in like) ie (as in pie) ir (as in girl)

o-e (as in bone) oe (as in toe) ou (as in out)

oy (as in boy) ph (as in Phil) u-e (as in June)

u-e (as in huge) ue (as in clue) ue (as in due)

wh (as in when)

Phase 5

Year 1 Phonics Screening Check

In Year 1, children take part in a Phonics check in the Summer term.

Children have to read a mixture of real and pseudo words known to the children as ‘alien words’. There are 40 words altogether.

Last years pass rate was 32 out of 40.

The check is taken under test conditions with one member of staff in a quiet area.

‘The alien game’ – demonstration.

Practice makes perfect.

70% at age related expectations in 2012 across Year 1.

Children who do not pass the check are re-tested in Year 2.

TES – www.tes.co.uk

Phonics screening flashcards, mock tests etc.

Phonics Play

Games and interactive resources to aid phonics check.

www.phonicsplay.co.uk

Useful Websites:• Twinkl.co.uk – has a parent section• Phonicsplay.co.uk• Ictgames.com/literacy• Northwood.org.uk/phonics• Bbc.co.uk/schools/bitesize/ks1/literacy• Bbc.co.uk/schools/wordsandpictures• Kidzone.ws/phonics• Primaryresources.co.uk/English• Bugclub.co.uk• Starfall.com• Familylearning.org.uk/phonics_games

Phase 6 Phonics

Phase 6 is ideally the starting level for children entering Year 2 due to Phase 5 being the target for the Year 1 phonics screening.

By the beginning of Phase Six, children should know most of the common graphemes and their phoneme. They should also be able to identify graphemes that make the same phoneme.

They should be able to read hundreds of words, doing this in three ways:

1. reading the words automatically if they are very familiar; 2. decoding them quickly and silently because their sounding and blending routine is

now well established; 3. decoding them aloud.

Children’s spelling should be phonetically accurate, although it may still be a little unconventional at times. Spelling usually lags behind reading, as it is harder.

During this phase, the aim is that children become fluent readers and increasingly accurate (though not perfect) spellers.

Phase 6 Phonics: The Right Choice!

In Phase 5, the children more complex graphemes and phonemes. Many phonemes have several graphemes and in Phase 6 children are expected to start making the right choices when considering which grapheme to use in their spelling.

For example:

Is it c, k, or ck? Is it oi or oy?

Is it ou or ow? Is it ee or ea?

Is it an ay, ey, aigh, ai or a_e?

Phase 6 Phonics: The Right Choice!

Children are encouraged to carefully consider how the word looks with their chosen grapheme and to test how other graphemes look.

caym caim came

boi boy

bowt boat bote

Children are encouraged to make links to their reading whilst doing this.

“How did the word look when you saw it in a book you have read?”

Phase 6 Phonics: The Right Choice!

Helping to choose…

Phase 6 Phonics: Past Tense

In Phase 6, children are taught to identify and use the past tense form of verbs.

Before you teach children to spell the past tense forms of verbs, it is important that they have an understanding of the meaning of what a ‘tense’ is.

Since many common verbs have irregular past tenses, it is not an easy thing to learn!

e.g. go = went not goed, come = came not comed, say = said not sayed

It is often easier to teach the concept of past tense separately from the spelling of past tense forms. Short oral games can be used for this purpose.

For example, a puppet could say Today I am eating an egg – what did I eat yesterday? The response could be Yesterday you ate a sandwich, Yesterday you ate some jam. The puppet could say Today I am jumping on the bed. Where did I jump yesterday? and the response could be Yesterday you jumped in the water, etc.

Phase 6 Phonics: Suffixes

In Phase 6, children are also taught to use suffixes (word endings).

These can be:

to show a change in tense ( e.g. by adding ‘ed’ to the end of a word

to show a change in quantities (e.g. one puppy and two puppies)

as well as for other reasons.

Children are taught which letters they need to leave, which letters they need to remove and which letters they need to add.

e.g. happy and happiness

skate and skating bake and baking