Phonics and Early Reading

Phonics is a method schools use to teach your child to read the sounds in words. This approach is used consistently across EYFS and Key Stage 1. It helps your child to learn to read quickly and skilfully and is an essential part of your child's early education. 

 

We use Unlocking Letters and Sounds which was validated by the DfE in December 2021. We begin teaching phonics in the first few weeks of term 1 in Reception and children make rapid progress in their reading journey. Children begin to learn the main sounds heard in the English Language and how they can be represented, as well as learning ‘Common Exception’ words for Phases 2, 3 and 4. They use these sounds to read and write simple words, captions and sentences. Children leave Reception being able to apply the phonemes taught within Phase 2, 3 and 4.

Unlocking Letters and Sounds Actions, Images and Handwriting Phase 2

In Year 1 through Phase 5a, b and c, they learn any alternative spellings and pronunciations for the graphemes and additional Common Exception Words. By the end of Year 1 children will have mastered using phonics to decode and blend when reading and segment when spelling. In Year 1 all children are screened using the national Phonics Screening Check.

 

In Year 2, phonics continues to be revisited to ensure mastery of the phonetic code and any child who does not meet age related expectations will continue to receive support to close identified gaps. For further details please see the Unlocking Letters and Sounds progression.

Phonics Progression Unlocking Letters and Sounds

To ensure no child is left behind at any point in the progression, children are regularly assessed and supported to keep up through bespoke interventions. These include GPC recognition and blending and segmenting interventions. The lowest attaining 20% of pupils are closely monitored to ensure these interventions have an impact.

At Ladybridge, we promote a 'phonics first' approach and the books children take home are very closely matched to a child's current phonics knowledge so that every child can experience real success in their reading. In these crucial early stages of reading we primarily use books from Collins Big Cat, to ensure complete fidelity to the Unlocking Letters and Sounds progression we follow.

Once children progress beyond decodable texts, they can continue to progress in their decoding, fluency and comprehension skills to become avid, expert readers.

 

What does Phonics look like and how can you support at home?

Phase 1 · Sharing books from an early age is hugely beneficial for children. · Enjoying and sharing books from being young, enables children to see reading as a source of pleasure. · Through the sharing of good books, children’s vocabulary increases which encourages them to talk confidently. This is the beginning of the systematic learning of phonics. It falls primarily in the Communication, Language and Literacy are of learning in the EYFS curriculum. During this phase, children should be exposed to a language-rich environment.   Useful Tips This phase is divided into seven strands: 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

Ways you can support your child at home Share a range of rhymes. Practise oral blending in and around the home. For example: · c-a-t cat Can you put on your s-o-ck? Initially, the children will just listen and then with time, they will be able to join in, hearing the words the sounds create.

 

Phase 2

This phase builds on the oral blending and segmenting of the previous phase. They will also be taught the grapheme-phoneme representations (letters) for 19 sounds. During this phase, your child will be on Pink books to embed their phonics. Additionally, they will be taught that phonemes (sounds) can be represented by more than one letter. For example: fin, huff.

Set 1	Set 2	Set 3	Set 4	Set 5
s    a    t     p	i   n   m   d	g   o   c    k	ck   e   u    r	h    b   f/ff l/ll ss

 

You can see how these letters are pronounced along with the actions that are taught alongside them here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzBoqtayewI

During this phase, children will be taught to read different words using the sounds an letters they have been exposed to.

V = vowel

C = consonant

VC Words are those that consist of a vowel and then a consonant (am, on, it). CVC words are those that consist of a consonant then a vowel and then a consonant (cat, dog, pen). Some words such as bell are also CVC words becayse they only have three sounds – b-e-ll

Useful Tip Pure sounds should be used when children are saying sounds. This means, where possible, the ‘uh’ sounds after consonants should not be said. E.g. the sound ‘f’ should be pronounced ffffff rather than fuh.

Tricky Words

During this phase, the children will also be exposed to tricky words; words that cannot be sounded out: the, to, I, no, no

Ways you can support your child at home

Using the sounds the children have been exposed to, the following games and activities can be done:

· Using flashcards, expose children regularly to the sounds they have learnt. Remember to use pure sounds.

· Magnetic letters – Using magnetic letters on the fridge or any type of magnetic surface, children can practise making words.

· Make words using letter cards of magnetic letters. Ask the children to blend the sounds together to make the words.

· Ask children to spell out CV and CVC words both orally and on paper.

During this phase, the children will also be exposed to tricky words; words that cannot be sounded out: the, to, I, no, no

 

Phase 3

The purpose of this phase is to:

Teach more graphemes; the remaining letters of the alphabet and some sounds of which are made up of two or three letters, known as digraphs and trigraphs. E.g ee as in bee.

Practise blending and segmenting a wider range of CVC words.

Read more tricky words and begin to spell them.

To read familiar words on sight, rather than decoding them.

The following sounds are taught:

Set 6	Set 7	Digraphs	Trigraphs
j  v  w  x	y  z,zz   qu	ch  sh  th  ng  ai  ee  oa  o oar  or  ur  ow  oi  er	igh   ear   air   ure

 

Here are some examples of the words your child will be reading in this phase:

Ship cook fork high beard chair

During this phase, your child will be on red/yellow books to embed their phonics.

Frequent practise allows your child to become more fluent.

 

Useful Tip It is important children quickly learn to recognise digraphs and trigraphs as one sound, rather than as separate letters. E.g rain should be read as r-ai-n not r-a-i-n.

 

Tricky Words

During this phase, the children will also be exposed to more tricky words – words that cannot be sounded out.

Ways you can support your child at home Using the sounds the children have been exposed to, the following games and activities can be done. Use flashcards, expose children regularly to the sounds they have learnt. Remember to use pure sounds. Try to increase the speed at which children are shown the sounds.

 

Phase 4

Useful Tip It is important children learn to read the words without segmenting as soon as possible. Children progress from blending out loud, to blending in their head before reason on sight. The sooner they can read on sight, the quicker their fluency will improve. The purpose of this phase is to consolidate the sounds already taught. Children are also exposed to adjacent consonants and multisyllabic words. During this phase, your child will be on blue books to embed their phonics. CVCC and CCVC Words Blends and consonant clusters such as the following are taught: ‘nt’ ‘st’ ‘pl’ ‘sp’ Tricky words During this phase, the children will also be exposed to tricky words e.g

 

Ways you can support your child at home Using the sounds children have been exposed to, the following games and activities can be done: · Continue to use flashcards with the sounds already taught. · Practise sounding out a range of CVCC and CCVC words. Ask your child to make a word using magnetic letters or write a word down.

Said, so, do, have, like, some, come, were, there, little, one, when, out, what

 

Phase 5

Typically, phase 5 is taught in Year 1. During this phase, your child should be on green/orange books to embed their phonics.

Children will be taught new graphemes for reading:

Useful Tip

Split digraphs are introduced in Phase 5.

a-e   e-e   i-e   o-e   u-e 

Children will learn that the ‘e’ on the end causes the initial vowel to make the longer vowel sound rather than the shorter one.

ay    ou    ie   ea   oy   ir   ue   aw   wh   ph   ew   oe   au   a-e   e-e   i-e   o-e   u-e 

They will also be taught alternative pronunciations for graphemes and alternative spellings for phonemes such as ai as in rain and a-e as in make.

Tricky Words

The tricky words taught in this phase are:

Oh   Mrs   people   Mr   called   looked   could   asked   their 

Ways you can support your child at home

Using the sounds children have been exposed to, the following games and activities can be done:

·   Ask your child to make or spell words. Support them whilst they figure out how the sound needs to be represented.

·   Focus on split digraphs using flashcards, try to increase the speed you show children.

·   Encourage children to write as many sounds/words in a set amount of time.

·   Expose children to a wider range of stories to include longer texts.