Phonics & Reading Workshop

Phonics & Reading Workshop Cippenham Infant School Wednesday 18th September 2013

Phonics Phonics

What is Phonics? • Knowledge of the alphabetic code (26 letters, 44 phonemes, 140 different letter combinations) • Understanding of the skills of segmenting and blending

Phonics Quiz 1. What is a phoneme? 2. How many phonemes are in the word ‘strap’? 3. a) What is a digraph? b) Give an example 4. a) What is a CVC? b) Give an example 5. a) What is a ‘trigraph’? b) Give an example 6. Write down at least four different ways of representing ‘ee’

Some definitions Phoneme A phoneme is the smallest unit of sound in a word

Grapheme Letter(s) representing a phoneme t aiigh

Digraph Two letters, which make one sound A consonant digraph contains two consonants shckthll A vowel digraph contains at least one vowel also known as a long vowel phoneme aieearoy

Trigraph Three letters, which make one sound ighdge

Split digraph A digraph in which the two letters are not adjacent (e.g. make) a_ee_ei_e o_eu_e

Consonant digraphs llssffzz hill puff fizz shchthwh ship chat thin ckngqu x fox sing quick

Adjacent consonants • Formally known as blends • Letter combinations where each letter makes an individual phoneme • spstsksl trftntlt mp un lpdr cl swcrsm e.g. step listclap graspstrap

Segmenting Identifying the individual sounds in a spoken word (e.g. h-i-m) and writing down or manipulating letters for each sound to form the word ‘him’

Blending Hearing a series of spoken sounds and merging them together to make a spoken word – no text is used For example, when a teacher calls out b-u-s’, the children say ‘bus’

Enunciation • Teaching phonics requires a technical skill in enunciation • Phonemes should be articulated clearly and precisely

Enunciation • Most consonants should be pronounced in a continuous manner ssssssss, mmmmm • All phonemes need to be said with care so that they do not become distorted e.gmuh • Some phonemes need to be said in the short form /c/ /t/ /p/ /b/ /d/ /g/ • Phonemes should be supported by symbols and actions (Jolly Phonics)

How many phonemes? Can you count the phonemes in each of these words. dog like shell tie portrait cloud

Segmenting Activity Segment the following words pin child press drink three croak light

Segmenting Activity

Phonics in school • Taught everyday for 20 minutes. • Year One and Two are set across the whole key stage. • EYFS are set into groups within their year group from October half term. • Phonics is taught in phases from phase 1 to 6 • Expectations: • EYFS phase 3 • Year One phase 5 • Year Two phase 6

Phase 1 • Environmental sounds • Instrumental sounds • Body percussion • Rhythm and Rhyme • Alliteration • Voice sounds • Oral blending and segmenting

Phase 2 • Sounds are introduced in sets • Set 1: s a t p • Set 2: i n m d • Set 3: g o c k • Set 4: ck e u r • Set 5: h b f ff l llss

Phase 3 • Letter progression and graphemes continued • Set 6: j v w x • Set 7: y z zzqu • Set 8: chshthng • Teach: aieeighoaooar or urowoi ear air ureer

Phase 4 The main challenge in this phase is to help children to blend and segment words with adjacent consonants e.g. truck, help. These adjacent consonant phonemes can both be heard when you say the word which makes them different from a digraph where there are two letters that make just one sound. Be careful, lots of people get these confused, including some published materials. Children with speech and language difficulties can find Phase 4 very tricky. If children struggle to hear all the sounds in a word encourage them to think about the movements that their mouths are making. Looking in mirrors can help with this.

Phase 5 New split digraphs are introduced they are a_e, e_e, i_e, o_e, u_e. Introduction of alternative pronunciation e.g. the ch grapheme can be pronounced in each of these ways check, chef and school. This is a vital lesson for children to learn and they need to learn to apply it in their reading. This can be quite a jump for some children to make as they have to realise that English isn't quite as straightforward as it once seemed. However, it can also be quite empowering to know that just because a word doesn't make sense first time, it doesn't mean that they can't go back and figure it out for themselves.

Phase 5 This part of Phase 5 is all about learning that some phonemes have more than one spelling (in fact some of the really awkward ones have loads of different spellings) e.g. ee, ea, ey, e, i, ie, y In the past, some people have thrown in the towel with phonics at this point and decided that there is no point in teaching it as there is no rhyme and reason to how these phonemes are spelled. The fact is that there is much more rhyme and reason to which spelling we use for these phonemes then most people are aware of. Certainly we can teach children how to make the best guesses when spelling these phonemes. They aren't always infallible but it leaves children with far fewer 'tricky' spellings that they have to just learn in other ways. It is important that children try to discover these rules by themselves by playing investigative type games and looking for patterns.

Phase 6 • Phase 6 reinforces much of the learning from Phase 5, helps children to develop greater fluency in reading, and begins to explore spelling rules and conventions e.g. • Adding -ing and –ed • Plurals • Tenses

Phonics Screening Check Completed over the course of one week in June. All Year one children will be checked and any children in Year 2 that didn’t meet the required level in Year 1. Consists of 40 words which the children have to blend and read. Last year 83% of our children met the required level and we are hoping this year to increase this to 90%. You will all receive a letter nearer to the time explaining the check in more detail.

Phonics Reading

The Power of Reading! Reading is one of the most important skills your child will learn in their early years. There can be few better ways to improve pupils chances in school, or beyond in the wider world than to enable them to become truly independent readers.

Reading requires two skills Understanding • The ability to understand the meaning of the words and sentences in a text. • The ability to understand the ideas, information and themes in a text. • If a child understands what they hear, they will understand the same information when they read. Phonics and Word Recognition • The ability to recognise words presented in and out of context. • The ability to blend letter sounds (phonemes) together to read words.

Understanding(Comprehension) • Being able to read does not mean you understand what you read. • Your child might sound like a good reader but may not necessarily understand what the text means. • The best way to develop understanding is to talk about texts. • The next slide is easy to read – does anyone understand what it means?

An extract taken from a computer manual According to the previous ATA/IDE hard drive transfer protocol, the signalling way to send data was in synchronous strobe mode by using the rising edge of the strobe signal. The faster strobe rate increases EMI, which cannot be eliminated by the standard 40-pin cable used by ATA and ultra ATA.

Understanding(Comprehension) • Finding information on the page. • Being able to find information that is not on the page. Looking for clues • Thinking about situations and predicting what might happen. • Putting yourself in a character’s shoes and understanding what is going on from their viewpoint. • Book talk to make your child think.

Talking about books • Do you like this book; why? • Who is your favourite character? • Tell me about a character in the book. • Which words tell you what the character is like? • How would you feel? • What do you think will happen next? • What would you do? • What have you learned about …… in your book? • What can you tell me about…?

Reading in school • Shared reading Introduction of new texts during literacy and across the curriculum • Guided reading One session with class teacher and one session with TA per week • Independent reading Once a week with class teacher or TA • Focused reading activities Activities during guided reading, literacy based group work • Reading across the curriculum For example – reading diary entries for history, weather reports for geography etc. • Class novels and stories A variety of novels and stories read to the class at the end of the day

Reading at home Make sure reading is enjoyable! It shouldn’t seem like a chore that they need to get out of the way. Point out and share print that is all around us: street signs, labels, posters, newspapers, recipes, comics etc. Involve your child in writing – cards, shopping lists, notes, e-mails, thank you letters etc. Play sound games like ‘I Spy’ Have books available in your home Talk about books Make use of the library – it now has longer opening hours!

What to do if your child is stuck? Use phonics first. What sound does the word begin with? Can you say the sounds in the word? Blend them together. Read to the end of the sentence. What would make sense? What is the text about – what might fit here? If your child reads the word incorrectly, ask them if it sounds right? Look at the picture. Does it help?

Hearing your child read Choose a quiet time and give your child your full attention Give support if required using the strategies explained earlier Explain the meaning of new words Talk about the text by asking questions Sit and listen - don’t do chores around the reader! A good quality read may only be reading five pages of the book each evening if the above are done well. If your child is reading one of the higher stages then try not to read the whole book in one evening, spend time talking about what they have read.

Reading to your children Introduce your children to different types of books; classic fiction, chapter books, magazines, joke books, poetry, non-fiction, newspapers. Read them the book that was your favourite when you were a child. Read slowly, with expression. Try to use different and funny voices for characters. Follow the words and read the story using the pictures. Talk about what is happening and what might happen next. Leave the story on a cliffhanger!

Reading Records Make sure you tell us where they read up to so we know how much of the story they should be able to retell. It is useful for us to know of any words that your child may have found tricky as we can check this when we read with them. Limit comments to two boxes in the reading record.

Golden Rules • Make reading a pleasure • Praise your child’s efforts • Talk about the pictures • Use phonics as the prime approach to reading new words • Talk about what might happen in the story • Stop when they have had enough • Bring stories to life with lots of expression and silly voices Please support your child and make the learning fun!

Useful websites www.oxfordowl.co.uk www.phonicsplay.co.uk www.letters-and-sounds.com

Handouts Phonics Glossary Phonics leaflet Reading leaflet

Literacy Events Families into Phonics & Literacy Tuesday 15th October & Thursday 17th October 9.10 – 10.30 Writing Workshop Wednesday 2nd October 9.00 or 6.30 School Hall

Questions

Thank you for attending our reading workshop. Please can you complete the evaluation form which is on your table.

Phonics & Reading Workshop