Phonics for Parents

Phonics Guide for Parents

Introduction “Teach a child to read, and keep that child reading and we will change everything.” Jeanette Winterson We know how important it is for parents and teachers to work together to give your children the best start. So in this book you will find information and advice to guide you through what learning to read looks like at school and how you can have fun reading at home.  The Read Write Inc programme  Games to Play  What is Phonics?  Website links  Set 1, 2 and 3 sounds  Meet Fred!  Fred Fingers  Red Words  Phonics Screening Check

In Nursery, Reception and Key Stage 1, children receive daily phonics and at St. Thomas’ we use the Read Write Inc programme. As part of the daily Read, Write Inc lessons children:  Are taught the 44 spoken sounds  Practise reading and writing words containing the 44 sounds  Use a range of fun story books  Practise writing with the sounds in a fun workbook  Learn rhymes and actions  Take part in roleplay and use props to remember the new sounds  Learn and use special celebration claps.

What is Phonics? The alphabet contains 26 letters whereas spoken English uses 44 sounds, otherwise known as phonemes. Each phoneme is represented by a letter or group of letters. A single letter sound is called a grapheme such as ‘m’ or ‘d’. A digraph is a sound made from two letters for example ‘sh’ or ‘ng’. A split-digraph is a sound made from two letters which are split within a word such as ‘a-e’ in make or ‘i-e’ in like. Where a sound is made from 3 letters this is called a trigraph for example ‘igh’ or ‘air’. Each letter has 3 elements for children to learn; the sound it makes (a grapheme) the lower case form and the upper case form. The letter sound is the first thing children learn, then they are taught the lower case form and finally the upper case form. Children are taught that the upper case form is only used for names and at the start of sentences (once they reach this level of writing).

Set 1 Sounds These are the first sounds that your child is taught and they are taught in order. Sounds can be identified as being ‘stretchy’ or ‘bouncy’.

Set 2 Sounds Once your child is secure in their recognition of set 1 sounds, and they are able to apply these into their reading and writing, they move on to learn the set 2 sounds. This set of sounds is made up of digraphs (2 letter sounds) and trigraphs (3 letter sounds).

Set 3 Sounds Once your child is secure in their recognition of set 1 and 2 sounds, and they are able to apply these into their reading and writing, they move on to learn the set 3 sounds. This set of sounds is made up of digraphs (2 letter sounds), split digraphs and trigraphs (3 letter sounds)

Meet Fred! Fred the Frog is a key part of Read Write Inc lessons. Fred can only speak in sounds for example d-o-g or h-a-t etc. Speaking like Fred helps children to understand that words are made of sounds. Fred helps children to practice blending sounds together because he needs them to say the word for him Fred says d-o-g the children say dog or Fred says h-a-t the children say hat. Have a go at these s-p-o-t-s adjectives with your child. g-r-ee-n j-u-m-p

Fred through the day... We take our Fred talk beyond the Read Write You could use Fred talk with your children at Inc phonics lesson and use it in other parts of home. the school day. This helps children to embed the skills they have learnt and master them in Choose simple words at the end of a sentence different ways. and say them using Fred talk - can your child tell you what the word is? Shall we have some l-u-n-ch ? Fred says… You will need your h-a-t . 1. Say: Fred says put your hands on your h-e- d. Ask children to repeat. Pause to allow chil- Animal Fred dren to jump in with the whole word and do Put out a few toy animals. the action. 1. Say: c-ow. Ask children to repeat. Pause to 2. Say: h-e-d, head. Ask children to repeat. allow children to ‘jump-in’ with the whole word cow. Repeat with: b-a-ck, t-u-m, l-e-g, h-a-n-d, f-u 2. Say: c-ow, cow. Ask children to repeat, and -t, kn-ee, r-u-n, s-k-i-p, h-o-p, s-t-o-p then find the cow. Repeat with: sh-ee-p, h-e-n, d-o-g, h-or-se, c- a-t

Fred Fingers As well as teaching children how to blend (put together) sounds to read words we also teach them how to segment (break them apart) in order to spell words. We teach segmenting using Fred fingers. This is when we put each sound we can hear in a word onto each finger. This helps us to hear the word how Fred the Frog would say it. Then children are able to write down the sounds they have heard and spell the word. For example; if a child wanted to spell the word ‘fright’ they would say it like Fred f-r-igh-t putting each sound on one of their fingers like this: Then they could write each of these sounds down and form the word fright.

Red Words Red words are words which don’t fit the phonics rules we have been teaching. Unfortunately, in the English language there are a lot of words like this! If we were to Fred talk a word like this it wouldn’t work. For example; said = s-ai-d The ai is a tricky grapheme because it doesn’t make the right ‘ai’ (as in ay) sound that it should. So we have to learn these words on sight. Red words in RWInc books: As children become more familiar they recognise with less prompts. Here is an example of how we teach these kinds of words:

Phonics Screening Check At the end of Year 1, all children’s phonics and reading is assessed using a test set by the government. This is a test that all children in England sit at the end of Year 1. It is carried out by their class teacher or another familiar adult in school. They are shown 40 words; 20 real words and 20 nonsense words to read. Their score out of 40 is reported to the local authority and will be shared with you. Each year the government releases the pass mark. If a child does not pass in Year 1, they have the opportunity to re-sit it in Year 2.

Nonsense Words These are made up words, designed for children to show they can blend sounds even in unfamiliar words. Read Write Inc lessons supports children preparing for this element of the Year 1 screening check in the use of ‘alien’ words. For every sound we teach, children can practice blending them in familiar words (green words) and in alien words.

How to Help at Home  Use pure sounds, not letter names.  Use Fred talk to read and spell words.  Listen to your child read their home reading book regularly.  Read stories together - enjoy favourite stories over and over again!  Look for opportunities to read beyond books e.g. recipes, food packets, game instructions, shopping lists, signs on shops and in windows.  Play games together.

Games to Play Sound sorting - find Letter writing - encourage your and sort objects that child to write letters/graphemes in start with a given different ways; with their finger in sound. sand, with a stick in mud, with chalk on the ground. Word building - Treasure/Trash - make write letters onto some word cards with single bricks and real and nonsense build sounds and words on. Together, de- words by ordering code the words and decide if they are and stacking the treasure (real) or trash (nonsense). bricks.

Reading at Home Your child will receive two kinds of books to read at home with you. Reading Book The first will be a book matched to the sounds which they have been taught and are able to read at school. It is important that you support and encourage your child to blend the words in these books independently to enable them to build on the skills learnt at school. Books for Enjoyment The second kind of book is one for the children to enjoy. This might be beyond their phonics level and we encourage you to read it TO them as a model for fluent reading. These books are an excellent opportunity to build your child’s understanding of stories and talk to them about what is happening and their opinions.

Helpful Hints When sharing stories together, ask your child to explain what has happened. Can they recall the sequence of events in familiar stories? What do you think What do you think happens next? the character is going to say? What is the character How might the thinking? character be feeling?

Vocabulary Building up your child’s vocabulary will help them both in preparation for starting school and throughout their education. The best way of doing this is by talking! Talk to your child about everything; from food to feelings. Engage your child in conversations to help them connect past experiences with current experiences, encourage them to ask questions and build on what they say. This website has a fantastic range of free e-books which are great for story time. Many of the books include tips for discussions as well as interactive games linked to the text.

Helpful Hints https://www.phonicsplay.co.uk/resources/phase/4 https://www.ictgames.com/mobilePage/literacy.html Parents section for phonics: https://www.ruthmiskin.com/en/find-out-more/parents/ Top tips for parents: https://www.spelfabet.com.au/2016/10/ruth-miskins-top- tips-for-parents/ Sound pronunciation guide: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkXcabDUg7Q