Phonics
We teach early reading through a scheme called Twinkl Phonics. This scheme is in use in many schools across the country and provides children with rigorous, consistent and high-quality synthetic phonics knowledge. All children in Key Stage 1 receive daily Read Write Inc phonics sessions.
Twinkl Phonics starts in Year 1, where pupils are taught all the sounds up to Phase 5 within the Autumn term. These start off with pure sounds that match the letters of the alphabet. Children are taught in their classes and learn a sound each day. They learn to match each sound to the letter and then to blend sounds together to make words.
What do phases mean?
When children start Twinkl Phonics, they learn different phrases and names that help them to embed their phonics knowledge. These include the following:
Special Friends
Special Friends are a combination of two or three letters (digraphs or trigraphs) representing one sound, e.g. ck, ay, igh, oa.
Common Exception Words
These are words we use regularly but that have unusual letter combinations so cannot be sounded out. ‘Said’, ‘what’, ‘where’ and ‘the’ are good examples. Children are taught not to use ‘sounding out’ methods to read common exception words but instead to ‘stop and think’.
Helping at Home
Parents and carers have an important role to play in embedding their children’s phonics knowledge. Each child has a storybook, matched to the sounds and words they know – a decodable book – which they bring home with them to read and which are changed weekly. Children love reading the same book again and again as their reading becomes speedier and they understand what they are reading.
Top Tips for reading at home include:
Making reading a positive experience – snuggling down together and giving lots of praise
Sharing your enjoyment of the story when they read it again and again – even if you would prefer to read something else!
Encouraging children to sound out words (Fred Talk) when they are still learning their sounds
Encouraging older children to read words using ‘Fred in your head’ and identifying Red Words
Showing children how to read the story in a storyteller voice
Reading more difficult texts and stories to promote a love of reading
Being proud of the progress they are making with their reading and letting them know how proud of them you are
We hope that you enjoy reading with your child and unlocking a world of imagination and possibility with them.
