Phonics is...
about the relationship between letters and sounds. We apply this knowledge when decoding words to facilitate reading and spelling.

Phonics is not...
an aid to understanding the meaning of words; the only skill needed for reading.

Where does Phonics fit into reading?
Phonics skills are used to predict the meaning and sounds of new words.

Relationship with reading
Phonics,
•blends phonemes into words;
•develops skills to decode texts with fluency and accuracy;
•develops confidence and proficiency in reading.

Relationship with writing
Phonics,
•Helps with spelling because the students can hear all the sounds in the word
•Helps to divide words into sound ‘chunks’ (syllables)
•Provides some understanding of spelling, aside from memorization.

Relationship with speaking
Phonics,
•develops skills to read texts aloud with fluency and accuracy;
•develops skills to pronounce the sounds of letters accurately.

Relationship with listening
Phonics assists children
•To work out the sounds of unfamiliar words;
•To identify sounds in spoken words (phonological awareness);
•To discriminate between words of a similar sound by using contextual clues, e.g. blue and blew

Letters and Sounds
•A letter is the written form –
what you see
•The sound is the auditory form – what you hear

Contemporary English is encoded into approximately 44 sounds (phonemes) represented by 26 letters. There are
•21 consonants + extra consonant digraphs
e.g. sh, th
•5 vowels + extra vowel sounds made by combinations of vowels
e.g. oo, ie, ou, ei

Phonemic Awareness is …
•The ability to hear the separate sounds (phonemes) within words.
A phoneme may be represented by a letter, a digraph or a trigraph
The crucial point to remember is that it is a SOUND.

Making the Correct Sound
•Sounds are produced by the tongue, lips, teeth, hard and soft palates, larynx (voice box), lungs and nose.
•The correct production of a sound needs to be taught.

Rhyming Pairs
Sort these words into pairs of words which rhyme
stuff basin farm
moan come hasten
foul calm crumb owl bone rough

ANSWER:
Solution
•stuff - rough
•moan - bone
•hasten - basin
•farm - calm
•foul - owl
•come - crumb

Developing Phonemic Awareness
Without Phonemic awareness students cannot effectively use Phonics
Phonemic awareness can be taught through the use of alliteration, rhyme, blending, segmenting, syllabification, onset / rime.
As with any skill, it takes frequent practice to develop proficiency.