The Berkeley Primary School

Understanding the Importance of Phonics

27.9.13

Only one child in four has a book at home

National Picture

• KS1 Reading at secure L2 not improving sufficiently

• National debate about the most effective method to teach phonics

• Teaching of phonics in FS and KS1 haphazard

• Teaching of early reading skills limited

National focus on Literacy

• Year 1 Phonics Check – introduced in 2012.

• Daily phonics session 20 minutes• 4 part session• Engages all children

Daily Session• Review

• Teach

• Practise

• Apply

Phonics Terminology

Phoneme CountPhoneme Count• Cat• Play• Great• Plank• Strift• Pencil• Activity• Boy

enunciation

Tuning into Sounds• Outdoor sounds• Distinguishing sounds eg. tap,

hoover, washing machine etc.• Nursery rhymes• Predicting sounds from familiar

stories• Distinguishing different musical

instruments

Early Stage1. Can join in stories2. Can hear the difference between

a drum and a triangle3. Can hear and say what the

outside sounds are 4. Can rhyme5. Retell most of a story – because

they love it!

Phase Two• Children are starting to

recognise letters.• Will get into their first reading

books• This Phase will last for about 6-8

weeks

Phase 3

• Children find out more about how

words are made eg. ch, sh, th etc.• More about common words –

high frequency words• Know letter names, vowels and

consonants

Phase 4• Children progress to longer

words • Taught that a two letter sound

can give a different sound eg. slow and cow

Phase 5• Introduces alternative

graphemes for spelling• Introduces alternative

pronunciations for reading• Developing automaticity

Throughout Year 1

Phase Six

Automaticity for Spelling andReading

We make it fun at The Berkeley Primary School!

Lets play with phonics!

tTypical Activities• Beat the Detective• pirates ‘ahoy’• I can do it!• All the ‘ai’s• Cowboy Phonics• Damp Suib

Lets have fun and work together!