Phonics Videos

Your child begins their phonic journey by learning the individual phonic sounds. It is really important that you say the sounds correctly. Therefore, please watch this video to ensure that you are confident in saying the pure phonic sounds.

When your child knows all the individual phonic sounds, they then use the sounds to blend words. This video demonstrates how your child uses their phonic knowledge to read simple CVC words.

Your child must be confident in reading the words, before attempting to write it: If they can’t read it, they can’t write it!! Therefore, when your child is confidently reading the words – they then use their phonic knowledge to write the words independently. We use “Freddy Fingers” to sound out the word, before writing it. This is demonstrated on the following video.

Ditties

Your child moves to ditties when they child are confident with their phonic sounds, and they can blend words without support. Ditties are simple sentences that your child needs to read independently. They need to have lots of discussion based on the dittie, and there is a question at the bottom of the page for you to ask your child. Encourage them to find the answer in the text. They then have to say the “Hold a Sentence” over and over, until they can remember it without any support. Finally, they have to write the “Hold a Sentence” (without looking at it). They must always remember to use a capital letter, finger space and full stop in their writing. Your child will also be introduced to Red Words (these are words you cannot use your phonics for, and they simply need to know them!)

Books

Once children are confident with reading/writing sentences, they then move on the books. It does not matter what colour book your child is on, as they all work similarly. Your child needs to practise the phonic sounds, confidently read the green words (using their phonics) and red words (words they cannot use their phonics for), read the book, discuss the story and to write a sentence from the book. They are encouraged to always use a capital letter, finger space and full stop.

When a child can write the “Hold a Sentence” we then encourage them to start thinking of their own sentence to write. This can be tricky for many children, and is why talking to your child is so vital for their development in reading and writing.