Phonics in EYFS and KS1Welcome! Session:*What is phonics? *The Phases taught in EYFSand KS1*Teaching tricky words*Activities and ideas of how to practise at home*Websites that are useful

Cracking the Code

• 26 letters of the alphabet

• 44 sounds in the English Language (Jolly Phonic Letter Sound British English)

• 144 different ways we put letters together to represent the sounds

So what should be taught?Beginner readers should be taught four things:

• grapheme-phoneme correspondence (that is, the alphabetic code) in a clearly defined, incremental sequence

• to synthesise (blend) phonemes (sounds) in order, all through a word, to read it

• to segment words into their constituent phonemes for spelling

• that blending and segmenting are reversible processes• Ensuring children’s knowledge of a range of high frequency

and other words, such as most names that do not conform with phonic rules

word recognition

language comprehension

good

poor

goodpoor

The Simple View of Reading

Good language comprehension, poor

word recognition

Good word recognition, good language comprehension

Poor word recognition, poor language

comprehension

Good word recognition, poor language

comprehension

Phase 1• tuning into sounds (auditory

discrimination)

• listening and remembering sounds

• (auditory memory and sequencing)

• talking about sounds

• (developing vocabulary and language comprehension)

• Aspect 1: Environmental soundsStories – Walk around local area• Aspect 2: Instrumental soundsBag of instruments – Add sound effects • Aspect 3: Body percussionAction songs and rhymes• Aspect 4: Rhythm and rhymeRhyming stories – What rhymes with…?• Aspect 5: AlliterationHaving fun with names – Story characters• Aspect 6: Voice soundsAdding different voices to stories• Aspect 7: Oral blending and segmentingRobot speech c-a-t and Put it together

Phase 2• introduces 19 grapheme-phoneme

correspondences• decoding and encoding taught as

reversible processes• as soon as children have a small number

of grapheme/ phoneme correspondences, blending and segmenting can start

• ‘tricky words’: the, to, no, go, I

Phase 3• teaches 25 graphemes

• children will be able to represent about 42 phonemes by a grapheme

• continue to practice CVC blending and segmentation

• application of their knowledge of blending and segmenting to reading

• learn to read some more tricky words

• learn to spell some of these words

• learn letter names

Phase 4• To consolidate all the learning in phases 2 and 3 • No new GPCs (grapheme-phoneme

correspondence) to learn• Develops children's skills knowledge and skills

of blending and segmenting words with adjacent consonants, e.g. stairs, tent, brain

• Read and spell multi syllabic words e.g. lunchbox, desktop

• Tricky words

Phase 5

Purpose of this phase:• Learn new representations of vowel digraphs

learn in phase 3: ee – ea, e-e, ie, ey, y• Alternative pronunciations for the graphemes

children already know: ow – blow, cow• Develop ability to choose the appropriate

graphemes to represent phonemes when reading and writing.

• Tricky words

The 4 part lesson

• Revisit and review• Teach• Read / blend• Spell / segment

Word structureVC phase 2 on eat off

CVC phase 2 & 3 dog boat chick

CCVC phase 4 &5 trip train brought

CVCC phase 4 &5 tent paint yards

Sound buttons - blending it am got

kick mess laptop

rain now shed

cook turnip join

clear shark pure

lightening powder march

Using phoneme frames – segmenting for spelling

1 2 3 4

sh ee pc r a bea t

Teaching tricky words• Write the word on paper, cut out each letter and put the

word back together.• Write the word three times. Trace over it in different colours.• Look, say, cover, visualise, write, check.• Play bingo with the words.• Small word inside the word • Write the word in a nonsense sentence.• Find words with similar patterns. e.g. the, them, they• Write the word, draw around the shape of the word and cut

out.• Can you add ing or s to any words.• Put words into alphabetical order.

Revisit and review

• Pass the bag – balls/pebbles/cards with taught phonemes

• Grapheme dice• Objects: say the phoneme - show it on a

phoneme fan, find the letter, write it on the white board

• Beach ball key word recognition

New teaching

• Use real objects• Use puppets• Link to a title in a known text • Link to a character’s name in a known text• High quality poetry / rhyming texts• Link to known songs and rhymes• Link to words being used across the

curriculum

Read / blend• Reading names• Book titles / using favourite books • Word match using cards and objects• Sound buttons• Captions• Lists• Notes• Letters• Envelope• Instructions• Tabards / full circle• Paired reading of words / word sorts

Spell / segment

• Phoneme fingers• Letter tiles make words• Magnetic letters make words• Grapheme pebbles make words• Full circle• Whiteboards – write words, phrase, sentence (link to

puppet, story title etc. where possible)• Labels • Signs • Sentences / silly sentences

Pace and progressionAge expectations:

By the end of reception children to have been taught and know at least one way of representing each phoneme.

By the end of year 1 children to have been taught and know alternative graphemes for each grapheme and different pronunciations of the same grapheme and use these to read and spell.

By year 2 children are applying their phonic knowledge and recognising irregularities to spell more complex words and notice spelling patterns.

Useful websites

Phonicsplay.co.ukBBC phonics