Holy Trinity CE Primary SchoolServing the Tottenham Community

Phonics in the EYFS

March 2014

What is Phonics?

There has been a huge shift in the past few years in how we teach reading in UK schools. This is having a big impact and helping many children learn to read and spell. Phonics is recommended as the first strategy that children should be taught in helping them learn to read and write. It runs alongside other teaching methods such as Guided Reading and Shared Reading to help children develop all the other vital reading skills and hopefully give them a real love of reading and writing.

English Language

The English language is made up of:

44 sounds,Represented by 26 letters,In about 140 combinations.

Key principlesSounds are represented by letters.

A sound can be represented by one letter or by a group of 2 or more letters. e.g. sh, igh, ea.

The same sound can be spelt in more than one way. e.g. cat, kennel, sack

The same spelling may represent more than one sound.

Mean – deaf Crown – flown Field – tie

The 44 Sounds

/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/

Skills used in phonics

Blending for reading

Merging sounds together to read a word.In order to read an unfamiliar word, a child must link a sound to each letter or letter group in a word and then merge them together to say the word.

c – a – t = catsh – o – p = shop

t– ai – l = tail

Segmenting for spelling

Hearing the sounds within a word.

E.g. The word ‘fish’ has three sounds - f – i - sh

In order to spell a word a child must segment a word into the individual sounds and choose a letter or letter combination to represent the sounds.

For example a child may write:

‘The cat was blak. It had a wiet tayl and a pinc noas.’

It is important that children understand that blending and segmenting are reversible.

Letters and Sounds‘Letters and Sounds’ is a very straightforward document in which the programme for teaching children to read is set out in six phases.

Phase 1 – Nursery Class

This phase is to prepare children for formal phonics.

- Exploring and experimenting with sounds and words.- Distinguishing between sounds in the environment and letter

sounds.- Showing an awareness of rhyme and alliteration.

- Discriminating speech sounds in words. -Beginning to orally blend and segment phonemes.

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

• Phase 2 – knowledge of common consonants and vowels, blending and segmenting CVC words (cat, dog, box, pig, den) Learning to read some tricky words.

• Phase 3 – Knowledge of the letters for each of the 44 sounds, blending and segementing words. Learning to read and spell tricky words.

• Phase 4 – Blending and segmenting previously learnt letters. Revision phase.

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

http://www.phonicsplay.co.uk/BuriedTreasure2.html

Phase 2, 3 and 4 – Reception Class

Phases 5 and 6

Phase 5 and phase 6 are taught throughout KS1. Children no longer have regular phonics lessons in KS2 unless they require it. All children learn at different rates so may be on different phases at different times. Some children in Nursery might be ready for phase 2 whilst some children in Reception might still be working in Phase 1 or might be ready to start Phase 5!

High frequency and tricky words

Not all words follow the rules! We also need to teach “tricky” words. These are not segmented but taught as whole words, recognised on sight.

Eg: was, you, her, they, are, all, the, little, said, there, when, what, have,

like

Practise our soundsCareful pronunciation of sounds is very important to ensure we are good language models to children.

Sounds should be pronounced softly and in a clipped, short manner.

Otherwise: c-a-t becomes cur- a -tur

VC and CVC Words

• C = consonant, V = vowel• VC words are those consisting of a vowel and

then a consonant, eg: at, in, up• CVC words follow the pattern consonant,

vowel, consonant, eg: cat, dog, pet• Words such as tick or bell also count as CVC

words; although they contain four letters, they only have three sounds

What can you do at home?Phase 1: Provide your child with lots of different opportunities to speak and listen with others:

- Preparing meals- Tidying up- Putting shopping away- Getting ready to go out

- Switch off the TV, radio and mobile phones!- Show you are interested in their conversation- Read stories and lots of them! - Use puppets and toys that stimulate talk.

Phase 2, 3 and 4

-Display an alphabet poster or chart in your home. - Sing alphabet / phonics songs together. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=saF3-f0XWAY- Play ‘I spy’.- Magnetic letters on the fridge. - A set of Flashcards of sounds for using in games. -Good quality story books and non-fiction books. Frequent reading is essential!