Phase 1

In Phase 1 children will be learning to identify different sounds. They will

learn which sound (phoneme) a word starts with, merge sounds together (blend) to make words and chop words up (segment) ready for spelling.

Blending for reading words                s-a-t = sat    

Segmenting for spelling words           pin = p-i-n

Phase 2

In Phase 2 children are introduced to phonemes (sounds) and graphemes (the way we write the sounds).  They use this knowledge to merge sounds together (blend) to help them to read words and chop words up (segment) to help them to write simple words. 

This video explains blending.

https://youtu.be/vqvqMtSNswo

Phase 3

In Phase 3 children will learn some new phonemes (sounds) and graphemes (the way we write the sounds). These new phonemes are two letters (digraph) or three letters (trigraph) merged together to make one sound.

sh-o-p = shop

        t-ai-l = tail        

n-igh-t = night

Children will be applying their phonics when reading and writing simple sentences.

Tricky words

Children also need to learn the tricky words. These are words that need be learned as a whole word as they don't follow the normal phonics patterns.

Don't forget to practise your tricky words on your spelling homework card.