Phonics Guidance
At Woodsetts Primary we know how important it is for parents and teachers to work together to give your child the best start. Reading together at home is one of the most effective and important ways in which you can help your child. Children should be encouraged to enjoy sharing books and read independently, as well as reading with an adult. This not only supports children’s progression in reading but leads to them seeing reading as a source of pleasure and interest. To support your child in becoming an effective and confident reader we hope to work with you to develop their knowledge of phonics (letter sounds) to enable them to decode different words they may come across.
Overview
At Woodsetts Primary ‘Letters & Sounds - Little Wandle’ is the chosen accredited programme used to teach phonics, high frequency words and to support early reading development.
The ‘Little Wandle' scheme is split into 6 phases:
- Phase 1 is introduced in the Nursery
- Phases 2 and 3 are introduced in Reception
- Phases 4 and 5 are introduced in Year 1
- Phase 6 is introduced in Year 2.
In EYFS and KS1 your child will be taught phonics every day. Alongside the teaching of phonics, every child will be provided with daily opportunities to apply their phonic knowledge and skills in reading and spelling.
More information about Little Wandle can be found at this website:
https://www.littlewandlelettersandsounds.org.uk/resources/for-parents/
Phonics Workshop
The following presentation is our workshop to support parents. This would normally be delivered in school but due to Covid-19, we are providing this via our school website:
A few definitions...
Here are some of the key terms you may come across when reading "Letters and Sounds" and finding out more about phonics:
Phoneme - a sound as it is said
Grapheme - a sound that is written
Digraph- two letters that work together to make the same sound
Trigraph - Three letters that work together to make the same sound
Split digraph - Two letters that work together to make the same sound, separated by another letter
Articulation of phonemes
Here is a short clip sharing the correct 'pure' pronunciation of phonemes (units of sound).
Letters and Sounds Online
This resource is designed by experts for use at home with children. This was initially created to support with learning during the Covid-19 lockdown but is a great resource to support extra phonics practice or to support children who are unable to come to school.
You can access this resource via YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCP_FbjYUP_UtldV2K_-niWw/featured or by clicking on the image above.
New lessons are uploaded at 9am on week days during term time.
- Reception: Teaching children to read letters and begin to blend to read words.
- Year 1: For children who can blend and read words such as 'stamp', 'chair' and 'green'.
- Year 2 Phonics Screening Check Revision (Autumn Term only) Daily lessons to review Phases 4 and 5 to help children read words in the PSC.
- Learning to Blend: Additional blending practise for children and are not suitable for Reception children in the Autumn Term as they contain letters and sounds that have not been taught.
Useful Websites
Below is a list of websites that can support you and your child with letters and sounds:
Includes further information on each phase as well as printable resources and links to online games
www.bbc.co.uk/school/wordsandpictures
Games mainly aimed at year 1 and year 2 looking at sounds and high frequency words. Some printable activities, particularly for the phase 4 blends
Wide range of games for sounds, words and rhyming
www.phonicsplay.co.uk/freeIndex
Lots of free games for each phase, especially good for reading non-words. You can also subscribe to access more games
Search engine designed for schools where you can find a wide range of resources and activities with a phonics focus
