Phonics Support
Jargon Buster
Phoneme (sound)- The smallest unit of sound. There are approximately 44 phonemes in English (it depends on different accents). Phonemes can be put together to make words.
Grapheme (letters) - A way of writing down a phoneme. Graphemes can be made up from 1 letter e.g. p, 2 letters e.g. sh, 3 letters e.g. igh or 4 letters e.g ough.
GPC - This is short for Grapheme/Phoneme Correspondence. When children know a Grapheme/Phoneme Correspondence they are able to match a phoneme to a grapheme and vice versa.
Digraph - A grapheme containing two letters that makes just one sound (phoneme). E.g. ‘ar’ in car
Trigraph - A grapheme containing three letters that makes just one sound (phoneme). E.g. ‘air’ in chair
Blending- This involves looking at a written word, looking at each grapheme and using knowledge of GPCs to work out which phoneme each grapheme represents and then blending these phonemes together to make a word.
Segmenting - This involves hearing a word, splitting it up into the phonemes (sound talk/sounding out) that make it, using knowledge of GPCs to work out which graphemes represent those phonemes and then writing those graphemes down in the right order.
Statutory Year 1 Phonics Screening Check (PSC)
The check is an assessment of their blending and word reading of 40 words. It will assess their phonics shill and knowledge learned through Reception and Year 1. It will check that your child can:
- Decode and blend graphemes to word build e.g. t-r-ai-n
- Read phonetically decodable multi-syllable words e.g. flower
- Interpret nonsense words (alien or pseudo words) using their phonics knowledge
Phonics in EYFS & Year 1
A ‘Essential Letters & Sounds’ evening for Parents will take place in September for parents of EYFS & Year 1. We will outline how we teach Phonics. Resources will be available online post-event.
Practise your phonics skills at home: https://www.phonicsplay.co.uk/
Practise your reading at home: https://www.oxfordowl.co.uk/