If you have a child at school, you’ll probably have heard of phonics! Phonics (sometimes called synthetic phonics) teaches children the link between letters and the sounds they represent, and it is the system almost all schools use to teach children to read. Through phonics children are taught how to:
recognise the sounds that each individual letter makes
identify the sounds that different combinations of letters make – such as ‘sh’ or ‘oo’; and
blend these sounds together from left to right to make a word. Children can then use this knowledge to ‘decode’ new words that they hear or see.
Once pupils can decode using phonics, they are able to focus on their wider reading skills and develop a love of reading.
At Mordiford Primary School, we use Bug Club phonics programme, which is a government approved phonic’s scheme. It is a really engaging scheme that aims to help all children in the school learn to read in a fun and accessible way. The programme includes daily phonics lessons covering the letters and sounds and activities for blending for reading and segmenting for spelling. The children get to reinforce their knowledge by playing games and reading books.
Bug Club Phonics at home
The Bug Club digital platform gives all parents access to the sounds the children are learning, a selection of digital books to read and games to play in order to consolidate their learning at home. Here is a link to how this might look for your child.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MP38k4Vwqu4
Warning!!
Your children will soon be correcting YOUR pronunciation of the sounds they are learning. Although there are only 26 letters of the alphabet, there are 44 sounds, or phonemes, in the English language. Here is a handy guide to the sounds your children will be learning:
What more can I do?
Here are some easy things you can do at home or on a long car journey to help support your child’s phonics learning.
https://home.oxfordowl.co.uk/how-can-i-support-my-child-with-phonics/