Phonics in KS1
Timetable Introduction Recap of previous learning Phase 5 The Phonics Screening Check Phase 6 Questions
Why we teach phonics. Phonics gives children a tool to enable them to read and write independently. Phonics is reinforced throughout our school to keep a consistent approach. The government is expecting high quality phonics to be taught in schools, a phonics test is given in the summer term of year 1.
What is phonics? In phonics lessons we teach children the sound made by each letter which helps them to read and write words. We also teach tricky words which cannot be sounded out and high frequency words which are decodable. At Avenue Primary School we follow the government publication of Letters and Sounds.
Terminology Phoneme unit of sound Grapheme way a sound is written Digraph 2 letters making 1 sound Trigraph 3 letters making 1 sound Split digraph when a vowel sound is split by a consonant (a_e, u_e, i_e, e_e, o_e) Adjacent Consonants letters close but can their hear individual sounds (went) Blending putting sounds together to read a word Segmenting splitting a word up into individual phonemes for writing
What your child will be learning. Children have a daily 20 minute teaching session. They are placed in a phonics group to cover the most relevant phase for their ability. Each day your child will learn a new sound or tricky word. (phases 2-5) In phase 6 spelling rules and reading skills are taught. In our teaching we use pictures, videos and interactive games to make our learning enjoyable.
Recap Learning -Reception Phase 2 We will start at Phase 2 from Letters and Sounds.
Recap Learning -Reception Phase 2 We teach children to read the tricky words.. the, to, I, no, go, into We also teach the alphabet letter names using alphabet songs and games. Children also practise reading the high frequency words 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 Children are taught to use sounds to blend and chop words. We blend words when we are reading. d o g dog We chop/clap words when we are writing. dog d o g
Recap Learning -Reception Phase 3 We will continue to Phase 3 from Letters and Sounds.
Recap Learning -Reception Phase 3 We teach children to read the tricky words... he, she, we, me, be, was, my, you, they, her, all, are. We teach children to spell the tricky words the, to, no, go. Children also practise reading and spelling the high frequency words will, that, this, then, them, with, see, for, now, down, look, too.
Recap Learning Reception/Y 1 Phase 4 Children do not learn any new sounds in Phase 4, instead they learn about adjacent consonants. Adjacent consonants are two sounds that often come together in words. They can easily be missed out by young readers and writers. e.g went. It is common for children to miss out the quieter sound, in this case spelling wet.
Recap Learning Reception/Y1 Phase 4 We teach children to read the tricky words... said, so, have, like, some, come, were, there, little, one, do, when, out, what. We teach children to spell the tricky words he, she, we, me, be, was, you, they, all, are, my, her. Children also practise reading and spelling the high frequency words went, it s, from, children, just, help.
Year 1 Phase 5 Phase 5 is split into 3 sections: 1) Sounds 2) Alternative pronunciations for graphemes (e.g. c can sound different as in cat and circle ) 3) Alternative spellings for phonemes (e.g. the f sound can also be spelt ph )
Letters and Sounds- Phase 5 sounds
Letters and Sounds- Phase 5 Letters and Sounds pg134
Letters and Sounds pg144 Letters and Sounds- Phase 5
Phase 5 Introduces common spelling patterns to enable children to make educated guesses at spelling. Teaches to read and spell the tricky words: oh, their, people, Mr, Mrs, looked, called, asked, could. Teaches reading and spelling the high frequency words: don t, old, I m, by, time, house, about, your, day, made, came, make, here, saw, very, put. Teaches reading the words: water, where, who, again, thought, through, work, mouse, many, laughed, because, different, any, eyes, friends, once, please Teaches spelling the words: said, so, have, like, some, come, were, there, little, one, do, when, what, out (Year 1)
Y1 Phonics Screening Check. This is a check that is set by the government and administered to children in the summer term of year 1. A teacher known to the child will complete the check with them. Children decode and read real and pseudo or alien words from a booklet. There is a required number of words that should be read correctly. You will be informed if your child met this required number of words. If your child did not take the check in year 1 or did not correctly read the required number of words they will complete the check in Y2.
Pseudo Words We call pseudo words alien words. To an early reader any unknown word is approached as an alien word. They are used to assess how well children are able to use their sounds to decode unfamiliar words. Children enjoy speaking in an alien language and it helps them to use their phonics on all unknown words. We begin using alien words in reception so that children are familiar with them.
Alien Words.
Phase 6 Year 2 (Your child may recap parts of a lower phase in year 2) The main aim is for children to become fluent readers and accurate spellers. It is split into 2 sections: Reading Spelling
Phase 6- Reading Consolidates all previous learning of sounds, words and alternative pronunciations. There is an emphasis on the pace of reading. Children should be quickly recognising digraphs/trigraphs in words. They should be confident to read all high frequency words from phases 1-5 (also known as first 100 high frequency words) and work through the next 200 common words. Children should be encouraged to read silently and aloud. Comprehension strategies are taught through guided reading which starts later in the autumn term..
Phase 6- Reading Comprehension strategies: activating prior knowledge; clarifying meanings with a focus on vocabulary work; generating questions, interrogating the text; constructing mental images during reading; summarising
Phase 6- Reading Children should read a range of texts: Fiction- discussion of text plots Non-Fiction- use of glossary, index and contents Poems- alliteration, rhythm, rhyme, the effects of poetic language Children should choose their own texts and share their views on them using critical reasoning.
Phase 6- Spelling Using the past tense correctly in a verbal sentence before spelling past tense words How to add suffixes such as -ing, -ed, -er, -est, -ful, -ly and y Strategies for spelling long words- finding smaller words within longer words, learning how prefixes and suffixes can change a word, identifying syllables in a word. (Year 2)
Phase 6- Spelling Strategies for learning and practising spelling: (Letters and Sounds pg 180) Applying spelling in writing: Children focus on composition, handwriting, spelling and punctuation. Children are taught to proof read their own work.
What Next? SPaG (Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar) is taught in years 3-6. Children should continue to use their phonics knowledge when reading and writing. If your child needs further phonics teaching this will be provided through intervention groups.
Help at Home Encourage children to use their sounds when they are reading and writing. When reading help them to sound out and then blend the word together. e.g. a - m (not using letter names.) Help to identify tricky words that can t be sounded out. Please remember when reading books, we encourage children to use pictures to help them. When writing children should be encouraged to chop/clap out sounds they can hear before they write them.
Help at Home Alphablocks-early sounds http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/alphablocks/ Mr Thorne does Phonics-videos http://www.mrthorne.com/ Phonics Play-games www.phonicsplay.co.uk Oxford Owl- ebooks http://www.oxfordowl.co.uk/
Questions?