Phonics Workshop for Parents/Carers

10.11.15

Aims

• Explain what is involved in the teaching of phonics at Stewart Fleming Primary School

• To share and explain the vocabulary used • To look at teaching methods used in the

classroom• Understand how you can support your

child with their learning• Questions

What is Phonics?

• Phonics is a way of teaching children to read quickly and skilfully

• Children are taught to: - Recognise the sounds that each letter makes - Identify the sounds groups of letters make- Blend sounds together to read a word e.g.

c – a – t

Vocabulary1. A phoneme is the smallest unit of sound in speech. E.g. a

2. A grapheme is how the sound is written e.g. sh

3. Phonemes can be represented by one or more letters –

1. Digraph - 2 letters making up one sound e.g. ch

2. Trigraph - 3 letters making up one sound e.g. air

4. Alternative graphemes. Some phonemes can be written in more than one way but sound the same e.g. ai, ay, a-e. (rain, say, brave).

5. The same letters can represent more than one phoneme. ow in snow and ow in cow

1.1

The Teaching of Phonics • Research shows that teaching phonics in a structured and

systematic way is the most effective way of teaching young children to read.

• Almost all children who receive good teaching of phonics will learn the skills they need to tackle new words.

• At Stewart Fleming Primary School phonics in the Early Years is taught on a daily basis and follows the Letters and Sounds programme.

• Children are taught the skills for segmenting and blending words and are introduced to new phonemes as part of a systematic synthetic approach.

• The teaching of phonics continues in Years 1 and 2 as children are introduced to alternative graphemes, lesser known sounds and begin to learn some of the more complicated spelling rules.

The Teaching of Phonics

• At the end of Year 1 children are required to sit the Phonics Screening Check to assess their ability to segment and blend words. Children are presented with 40 words – a mixture of real and pseudo words and they are expected to apply their Phonics knowledge to read the words.

• If children are unsuccessful in Year 1 they have the opportunity to retake the test in Year 2. Intervention groups are set up for those children struggling with their Phonics learning and this additional support will continue in Key Stage 2 if necessary.

• In 2015 – 91%, 2014 - 93%, 2013 – 90%

26 letters

but

44 phonemes approx

Phonic - Skills and Knowledge

skills of

segmenting and

blending

knowledge of the

alphabetic code

+

Examples

c-a-t p-i-g

ch-i-p-s

Examples

cat p-i-g

Ch i p s

The Phases!Phase

1 Explore and experiment with sounds. Distinguish between sounds in the environment.

2 Learn 19 phonemes and know the graphemes that represent them. Begin to segment and blend CVC words.

3 Teach another 25 phonemes and graphemes to go with them. Continue to segment and blend longer words.

4 To consolidate children’s knowledge of graphemes in reading and spelling words.

5 Children broaden their knowledge of graphemes and phonemes for use in reading and spelling with a focus on alternative graphemes.

6 Learn some of the rarer phoneme-grapheme correspondences. Learning simple spelling rules and grammar e.g. Plurals.

Phase 1

Focus on developing speaking and listening skills

Phase 2 onwards

Using real objects to engage children

Purposeful opportunities for applying phonic skills

• Words that can’t be phonetically sounded out

• Must be taught on sight• For example:

• the • I• no • go • to

Tricky Words

• Most common words in English language

• Some can be sounded out, others must be learnt on sight.

• 45 key Reception high frequency words e.g. up, you, was, went, day.

High Frequency Words

The same letters can represent more than one phoneme

When the English tongue we speakWhy is break not rhymed with weak?Won't you tell me why it's trueWe say sew, but also few?And the maker of a verseCannot rhyme his horse with worse?Beard is not the same as heard,Cord is different from word,Cow is cow, low is low,Shoe is never rhymed with foe.Think of hose and dose and lose,And think of goose and yet of choose, Think of comb and tomb and

bomb,Doll and roll and home and some.And since pay is rhymed with say,Why not paid with said I pray?Think of blood and food and good;Mould is not pronounced like could.Why is done, but gone and lone -Is there any reason known?To sum it up, it seems to meThat sounds and letters don't agree.

• Have fun!

• Be active

• Keep it quick and snappy

Please remember to:

Questions?