Hi all,
Following the phonics meeting on Friday 28th April, here are some links to games that you may want to play and more information about the screening test, as well as the video shown during the meetings. Mrs Toms will be discussing this information during the meeting. This is designed for you to have all the information you need in one place.
These are the sounds the children are taught in school. Please don’t be discouraged if you do not know any of the sounds! Lots of adults need to practise saying the sounds themselves before teaching a child. A quick Google search or look onto Youtube videos listed below will have you knowing the sounds in no time, ready to support your child.
Link to the official DfE video on administering the check: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPJ_ZEBh1B
Although this video is for teachers to ensure they administer the test correctly, it is useful for you to see how the children are to break down the words into sounds and put them back together to read the word. As you can see, if the children do not use the correct sounds or blend them back together correctly, they will be incorrect for that word.
Videos:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rbMOQTjdgY
We LOVE Mr Thorne videos in Year 1! Check out some of Geraldine the Giraffe’s videos where she finds items around the house with each sound.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjKq8s8154s&t=116s
Singing is the best way to help your child remember ANYTHING! These short songs are perfect for daily listening.
Although we do not use the term ‘Magic E’ to describe a split digraph e.g. a-e as in ape or i-e as in kite, this video is excellent for demonstrating how the ‘e’ at the end is silent but gives the vowel in the middle of the word a different sound.
Games & Books
http://www.phonicsplay.co.uk/freeIndex.htm
There is a free section on the website, or you can pay a small fee (roughly £10) for a yearly subscription. Any games here are excellent. Please ensure you are clicking on phase 2 and 3 if your children are beginning to learn their sounds and click phases 4 and 5 for children who are more confident with their sounds and just need a little extra reading boost. Phase 6 focuses on plurals and spellings rules and is perfect for teaching alternative pronunciations.
http://www.ictgames.com/literacy.html
This website is free to use throughout (it also has some excellent maths games!). There are great sentence building games and sound games. Have a look!
ABCYA offers free to use games on a computer but will require a subscription on a tablet. Check Grade 1 for emerging readers, Grade 2 for more confident and Grade 3 and beyond for secure readers. The e-books on this website are easy for children to sound out independently.
https://www.oxfordowl.co.uk/for-home/reading-owl/find-a-book/library-page
There are lots of free e-books to read on this website! Have a little look around.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/guides/z38t6fr
Unfortunately, Deep Sea Phonics has been archived, but this handy page about compound words e.g. star & fish = starfish is available still.
http://www.iboard.co.uk/activities/path/phonics_phase-5-letters-and-sounds
The TES iboard is great but is a subscription website used by many teachers and schools around the UK. However, you can get a 1 month subscription trial for free. Just be sure to cancel any subscriptions after this time to avoid being charged if you are asked for payment.
Apps (Charged & Free)
If you wish to purchase any apps, please please please do your research. They can be very costly but can tend to have American or Australian pronunciations and the words are sometimes not as difficult as they need to be for the English curriculum.
Mr Thorne has a vast range of phonics apps available so have a browse!
What you can do:
Don’t forget that reading everything and anything and discussing words with your child is the most effective way for them to learn! You do not need to do anything special or out of the ordinary- point out words wherever you go, have competitions to find as many sounds as you can or have a race to spell as many words as possible with particular sounds.
We hope you find the meetings informative. If you are unable to attend the meeting, please speak to Mrs Toms & Miss Munro after school any day. The powerpoint from the meetings will also be posted after the meetings have taken place so you have all the information in one place.
Thank you again for your continued support, whether you could attend the meetings or not. If you are interested, your children will be interested too! We couldn’t do it without you!
Mrs Toms