Phonics and Readingat

The Lancaster SchoolMarch 2014

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What is Phonics?

• Identifying sounds in spoken words• Recognising the common spellings of

each sound• Blending sounds into words for

reading• Breaking up words into sounds for

spelling.

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How is Phonics taught at The Lancaster School?

• We follow the ‘Letters and Sounds’ document which is split into 6 distinct phases.

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Phase 1 (Nursery)• Exploring and experimenting with sounds

and words (including Jolly Phonics).• Beginning to orally blend and segment

sounds.• Lots of work on Nursery Rhymes.

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Phase 2• Approximately 4 sounds a week.• Starts in Reception, or earlier if children

are ready for them.

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Phase 3• Reading and spelling a wide range of

simple 3 letter words.• Using all letters, some consonant digraphs

(ch, sh, the, ng) and some long vowel sounds.

• Children are expected be at this level at the end of Reception.

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Phase 4• This is a consolidation unit. There are no

new sounds to learn. Reading and spelling of tricky words continue.

• There is more of a focus on longer words.• Children should be working at this level

during Year 1.

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Phase 5• Reading longer words.• Looking at alternative pronunciations and

spelling patterns.• Usually taught at the end of Year

1/beginning of Year 2.

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Phase 6• Applying phonic skills and knowledge to

recognise and spell an increasing number of complex words.

• Introducing and teaching the past tense.• Investigating and learning how to add

suffixes.• Usually taught within Year 2.

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Red Words

• Each week the children learn ‘tricky’ words (those that are not spelt phonetically) and key sight vocabulary.

• These need a lot of practise!

were

there

little

one help

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Put sound buttons under these words

cat chip

hen tent

pram bell

rain leek11

Blending (for reading)

• Recognising the letter sounds in a written word e.g. c-u-p, sh-ee-p.

• Merging them in the correct order to pronounce the word: ‘cup’ and ‘sheep’.

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Segmenting (for spelling)

• Identifying the individual sounds in a spoken word (e.g. h-i-m, s-t-or-k) and writing down letters for each sound to form the word: ‘him’ and ‘stork’.

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Helping at home

Which starts with a different sound to

the others?

Odd One Out

Common Objects

Collect several objects that begin with the same letter.Say a number of words, all

but one of which begin with the same sound. See if your child can pick out the odd one.

Writing sounds

Practise writing letters in trays of salt or flour.

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