Phonics and Early Reading

Phonics is the foundation of early reading and spelling. By learning how sounds match to letters, children develop the skills needed to read unfamiliar words independently. Short, regular practice at home makes a significant impact. On this page, you’ll find guidance on how to pronounce the sounds children learn, key phonics terminology and simple games and strategies to help your child practise blending, segmenting and recognising tricky words with confidence. Please also refer to the Home Learning phonics sheets that your child takes home.

 

Use the link to the Little Wandle Website for videos and resources on how to support you child with phonics: https://www.littlewandle.org.uk/resources/for-parents/#tabnametabSupportForPhonics

 

EYFS: Phase 2 – Phase 4 A video on how to pronounce phase 2 sounds part 1: https://youtu.be/-ZtjFIvA_fs A video on how to pronounce phase 2 sounds part 2: https://youtu.be/qDu3JAjf-U0 A video on how to pronounce phase 3 sounds: https://youtu.be/DvOuc7cWXxc

 

Year 1: Phase 3 and 4 recap, Phase 5

See the link above for pronouncing phase 3 sounds. A video on how to pronounce sounds in phase 5: https://vimeo.com/742982775?fl=pl&fe=sh

 

Phonics Screening Check Year 1

Ahead of the phonics screening check in Year 1, children learn how to sound out and read alien words (nonsense/made up words). Please watch this video for more information on alien words: https://youtu.be/VtoJZMVgy1I

 

Year 2: Phase 5 recap (see Year 1)

In Year 2 children recap phase 5 sounds, please use the above videos on phase 5.

 

Links to Phonics Games

Use the following links to games your child can play to support and reinforce phonics learning: https://www.phonicsplay.co.uk/ Free games include: Dragon’s Den, Buried Treasure and Picnic on Pluto – select a phase (see above) for your child to practise

 

Use these videos on how to play different phonics games to correctly identify sounds and read words. You can create your own sound cards (post it notes, paper etc.) · Little Wandle Change It (make and read words) · Little Wandle Win It (identify sounds and read words) · Little Wandle Mix It Up (read and spell words)

 

Phonics Vocabulary:

Definitions of some of the vocabulary your child will learn in their phonics lessons:

Sound → the noise a letter makes rather than the letter name e.g. s = sss not ‘es’

Phoneme → The smallest unit of sound in a word e.g. cat has 3 phonemes c-a-t, ship has 3 phonemes sh-i-p

Grapheme → The letter or letters used to write a sound e.g. the sound ai can be written as: ai (rain), ay (play), a-e (cake)

Blending → Pushing sounds together to read a word e.g. m–a–t → mat, sh–o–p → shop. This is used mainly for reading. See more here: https://youtu.be/IL5YUCPyC5I

Segmenting → Breaking a word into sounds to spell it e.g. dog → d–o–g, fish → f–i–sh. This is used mainly for spelling.

Tricky Words→ Words that cannot be sounded out easily and need to be remembered e.g. the, said, was, you, my (some parts may be decodable, but not all). See more here: https://youtu.be/NTC0PbtmeUA

Digraph →Two letters that make one sound e.g. sh, ch, th, ee, oa

Trigraph → Three letters that make one sound e.g. igh, ear, air

Split Digraph →Two letters that work together but are split by another letter e.g. make (a–e), bike (i–e)

Sound Buttons (or Dots and Dashes) → Marks under letters to show sounds. A dot = one sound, a line = one sound made by more than one letter 

 

Supporting at Home:

More ideas on how to support your child at home with reading and phonics.

Learning Sounds

· Practise letter sounds regularly (not letter names)

· Say the sound and match it to the letter (e.g. “s says sss”)

· Use magnetic letters, foam letters or flashcards

· Spot letters and sounds in names, books, signs and packaging

Blending (Putting Sounds Together)

· Say sounds slowly: c-a-t → cat

· Play “robot talk” and ask children to blend e.g. “Can you find the p-e-g?” or “Can you put your hands on your h-i-p, h-ea-d, l-e-g?”

· Encourage pointing to each sound as they blend.

Segmenting (Breaking Words Apart)

· Say a word and ask children to tell you the sounds e.g. “What sounds can you hear in shop→ sh-o-p?”

· Use fingers or counters for each sound

· Spot sounds

· Build words with letter tiles

Reading Together

· Read little and often

· Encourage children to sound out unknown words

· Re-read familiar books for confidence

· Talk about the story and pictures

 

Games and Other Ideas

· Word searches

· Spelling bingo

· Hangman

· Write shopping lists together

· Label objects around the house.

· Play “I spy” using sounds e.g. “I spy something beginning with t→ tree, ch→ church”

· Play initial sound games e.g. “I went to the zoo and saw a→ anteater, b→ bear, c→ camel…” “I went to the shop and bought a→ apple, b→ baked beans, c→ carrot…”

· Encourage writing cards, notes or messages (e.g. birthday cards, thank you notes, invitations)