Phonics
At Harris Academy Tottenham our aim is for all pupils to become fluent and confident readers. We achieve this by teaching phonics to all pupils starting from Reception to Year 2.
What is phonics?
Phonics is a method of learning to read. We start by teaching phonics to the children in the Reception class. This means that they learn how to ‘read’ the sounds in words and how those sounds can be written down. This is essential for reading, but it also helps children learn to spell well. We teach the children simple ways of remembering these sounds and letters.
What is Read Write Inc?
Read Write Inc. Phonics is a literacy programme for children in Reception to Year 2 (age 4 – 7) that teaches reading and writing through a systematic approach rooted in phonics. The programme begins with 20-minute daily lessons in term 1 of Reception, building up to an hour a day for Year 1 and 2.
Sounds and their pronunciation.
Set 1 sounds:
In Set 1, letters and their sounds are introduced one at a time. A set of letters is taught each day. As soon as each set of letters is introduced, children will be encouraged to use their knowledge of the letter sounds to blend and sound out words. For example, they will learn to blend the sounds s-a-t to make the word 'sat'. They will also start learning to segment words. For example, they might be asked to find the letter sounds that make the word 'tap' from a small selection of magnetic letters.
Set 2 sounds:
Once the children have mastered their Set 1 sounds and learning to segment and blend with these sounds, they move onto learning Set 2 sounds. There are 12 Set 2 ‘speed sounds’ that are made up of two or three letters which represent just one sound.
Set 3 sounds:
So far your child will have learnt one way in which each long vowel sound is written (Set 2 sounds). When learning their Set 3 speed sounds they will be taught that there are more ways in which the same sounds are written, e.g. ee as in tr-ee (tree) and ea as in t-ea (tea). There are 20 Set 3 ‘speed sounds’ that are made up of two or three letters which represent just one sound, e.g. air as in f-air , ow as in c-ow.
Additional sounds:
Below is a video which demonstrates how to pronounce each sound.
Spelling
Once the children have learn to read enough sounds, they begin to spell words using their sound knowledge. They will begin to use ‘Fred fingers’ which asks the children to ‘pinch’ the sounds on their fingers before writing it down. For example, if a child is asked to spell the word ‘dog’ they would put up 3 fingers, one for each sound (d-o-g). If a child is asked to spell the word ‘munch’ they would put up 4 fingers, one for each sound (m-u-n-ch).
How to support your child’s reading and writing at home
Here are the top five things you can do:
1. Ask your child to read the Speed Sounds speedily.
2. Use Fred Talk and Fred fingers to help your child read and spell words.
3. Listen to your child read their Read Write Inc. Storybook every day.
4. Practise reading Green and Red Words in the Storybook speedily.
5. Read stories to your child every day.
Year 1 Phonics screening check
The phonics screening check is a check of your child’s phonics knowledge. It helps your school confirm whether your child is making the progress expected in the national curriculum. The test is usually completed in June in Year 1. The screening check is a list of 40 words that the children are required to read. The list is a combination of both real and nonsense words which rely purely on using phonics to decode. The nonsense words are words that have been made up and will be shown with a picture of an imaginary creature to help them.
What are nonsense words?
Your child will be told during the check which words are nonsense words (words that he/she will not have seen before). Your child will be familiar with this because we already use nonsense words when teaching phonics in school. Children cannot read the nonsense words by using their memory or vocabulary; they have to use their decoding skills. Pupils who can read nonsense words should have the skills to decode almost any unfamiliar word.
Example:
Below is an example of the type of words that could appear in the phonics screening check.
