What is alliteration? Alliteration is when words begin with the same sound, such as big brown bear or silly slippery snake. In Phase 1 phonics, alliteration activities help pupils notice and identify initial sounds in spoken words. Alliteration is part of Aspect 5 of Phase 1 phonics and supports phonological awareness through playful speaking and …
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What are environmental sounds activities? Environmental sounds activities help pupils notice, identify and talk about the sounds they hear around them. These activities are part of Aspect 1 of Phase 1 phonics and support early listening and sound discrimination skills in Nursery and Reception. Pupils might listen to sounds indoors and outdoors, identify hidden sounds, …
What does phonological awareness mean in Nursery and Reception? Phonological awareness is the ability to hear, recognise and work with sounds in spoken language. In Nursery and Reception, this might include noticing rhyme, hearing syllables, identifying alliteration, listening carefully to sounds and blending spoken sounds together. These skills develop before pupils begin reading written words. …
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What is oral blending? Oral blending is the ability to hear individual spoken sounds and blend them together to make a word. For example, when an adult says c-a-t aloud, pupils blend the sounds together to hear the word cat. Oral blending is taught during Phase 1 phonics and helps pupils develop the listening and …
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What is Phase 1 phonics? Phase 1 phonics is the first stage of phonics learning in the Early Years. It focuses on developing listening skills, speaking, sound discrimination and phonological awareness through play, talk, rhythm and rhyme. Unlike later phonics phases, Phase 1 does not introduce written letter sounds. Instead, pupils learn to tune into …
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Across the country, schools are working harder than ever to fill their nursery places. With falling pupil numbers and funding linked to enrolment, headteachers and EYFS leads know how important it is to attract families early on and keep them with the school for the long term. The challenge is clear: parents have choices. From …
What is Phase 5 phonics? Phase 5 phonics is usually taught in Year 1 and marks a shift from learning new sounds to broadening phonics knowledge. Children explore alternative ways to spell familiar sounds, encounter new graphemes, and tackle more challenging words. This phase helps develop fluency, confidence and more accurate spelling — all vital …
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What is Phase 4 phonics? Phase 4 phonics is all about strengthening the skills children have developed so far — particularly blending and segmenting. No new graphemes are introduced at this stage. Instead, children learn to read and spell words with adjacent consonants, such as trap, frog, and clamp. These blends can be tricky to …
What are the tricky words in Phase 3? As children move into Phase 3, they start to come across words that can’t be decoded using their current phonics knowledge — and that’s where tricky words come in. These are words that don’t follow the usual phonics rules or include sounds that haven’t been introduced yet. …
What is Phase 3 phonics? Phase 3 phonics builds on the knowledge children gain in Phase 2. Once they’re confident with single-letter sounds and can blend simple CVC words, Phase 3 introduces them to more complex graphemes — including digraphs and trigraphs — so they can read and spell a wider range of words. It’s …
Phase 1 sets the foundations for everything that comes next — and in my view, it’s the most important phase of phonics. Once children are confident with listening skills, sound discrimination and oral blending, they’re ready to move on to Phase 2. This is where they start learning specific letter–sound correspondences and begin reading and …
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If you’ve been teaching phonics for any length of time, you’ll know that not every word plays by the rules. That’s where tricky words come in. These are the words that can’t be sounded out, and children need to recognise them as whole words. In this post, we’re breaking down what tricky words are, how …
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What are sound buttons in phonics? Sound buttons in phonics are marks placed under letters or graphemes to show the sounds (phonemes) in a word. They help children segment and blend because the sounds are mapped clearly onto the word. They are useful in daily phonics sessions, guided reading and interventions, especially when pupils need …
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Time-saving year 2 phonics screening check resources and information for year 1 and 2 teachers.
Time-saving year 1 phonics screening check resources and information to help you prepare for the check.
Time-saving year 1 phonics screening check resources and information to help you prepare for the check.
Read about our exciting range with Katie from Phonics Family – making phonics fun and creative!
Get a summary of the main points of the DfE Reading Framework 2021.
