• For parents and carers to have an understanding of what “phonics” is.

• How the teaching of phonics helps children to read and write.

• How we teach phonics at Hilldene School.

• What is Phonics?

• It’s all about linking speech sounds to

letters.

• How many speech sounds do you think there are

in the English language?

• The children then have to learn how to use those

sounds in reading and writing.

• Throughout their time in school these sounds are

taught in an organised way through what is known

as phonic phases.

phoneme-a sound that is used in talk.

digraph-two letters that make one sound e.g. sh

trigraph-three letters that make one sound. e.g. igh

split digraph-a two letter sound that is split. e.g. a-e

(save)

grapheme-the letter/letters that represent a sound.

• Ask the children to copy rhythms that you

clap to them.

• Practise clapping and counting the syllables

in words.

• Make sure your pronunciation of sounds is

correct, we will come back to this later.

• Share nursery rhymes with your children; they have

clear but simple rhythms which will help your child to

develop intonation and rhythm in their own speech.

• Talk about words and their meanings that they encounter

every day. Research shows that by the age of 11

children have a vocabulary of 40,000 words.

• Children between 18 months and 6 years old would

have to learn 8 new words a day.

• This is introduced in Reception.

• Children learn to use these phonemes

to read two and three letter words:

s, a, t, p i, n, m, d g, o, c, k

ck, e, u, r h, b, f, ff, l, ll, ss

• Vowel Consonant words (VC)

e.g. in, at, is

• Consonant Vowel Consonant words

(CVC)

e.g. cat, pin, dog

Cued articulation:

This helps the children to understand where the

sounds are made, for example in their mouths,

throat or nose.

Actions:

Two fingers means ‘voiced’ for example ‘g’

One finger means unvoiced for example ‘c’

Lets watch someone in

action…https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BPLnfNciLbA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BqhXUW_v-1s

This is also introduced in Reception just after Christmas.

Children learn to use these phonemes

j, v, w, x, y, z, zz, qu

to read CVC words and two and three syllable words:

Sandwich

Rabbit

Sandpit

Computer

• Consonant digraphs: ch sh th ng

• Digraphs: ai ee oa oo ar or ur er ow oi

• Trigraphs: ear air ure igh

Tricky words, those which cannot be

sounded out, are introduced from Phase 2.

Phase 2 the, to, no, go, I

(‘Tortoise’, ‘Caterpillar’, ‘Worm’, ‘Frog’ and ‘Snail

words)

Phase 3 he, she, we, me, be, was, my, you, her, they, all,

are (‘Kite’, ‘Mushroom’, ‘Butterfly’, ‘Pencil’ and

‘ship’ words)

Phase 4

said, so, do, have, like, some, come, were,

there, little, one, when, out, what.

Phase 5

oh, their, people, Mr, Mrs, looked, called,

asked, water, where, who, again, though,

through, work, mouse, many, laughed,

because, different, any, eyes, friends, once,

please.

Lilac level books were the first set of books the

children were introduced to. These books as

you recall were wordless. This was to help build

the children’s story language, such as ‘Once

upon a time..’ and ‘The end’.

During their Reception year it is hoped that the

children will progress onto ‘Pink’ ‘Red’ and then

‘Yellow’ books which is the end of year

expectation.

Any questions?