Phonics

Helping your child learn

Ms Christabel Attard
Complementary Teacher
a
x
 a
Maltese English

Letter name – a Letter name – a

Letter sound – a Letter sound – apple

If I say the sound /a/ it is

the wrong sound because
/a/ is for umbrella
 x
Maltese English

Letter name – x Letter name – x

Letter sound – x Letter sound – box

If I say the sound /x/ it is

the wrong sound because
/x/ is written sh as in fish
 5 Basic Skills

1. Letter formation

2. Learning the letter sounds

3. Blending

4. Identifying sounds in words

5. Tricky words
Letter Formation

It is important not to check the end result

only, but the process.
Letter sounds

It is important that we all use the

same language – at home and at
school.

Also remember that letter sounds are

different than letter names.
 Phonological Awareness
 The understanding that spoken
language is made up of individual
and separate sounds.

Every sound is called a phoneme.

Sometimes a sound is represented
by more than one letter and is called
a grapheme.
 The 44 phonemes
/b/ /d/ /f/ /g/ /h/ /j/ /k/ /l/ /m/ /n/ /ng/

/p/ /r/ /s/ /t/ /v/ /w/ /y/ /z/ /th/ /th/ /ch/

/sh/ /zh/ /a/ /e/ /i/ /o/ /u/ /ae/ /ee/ /ie/ /oe/

/ue/ /oo/ /ar/ /ur/ /au/ /er/ /ow/ /oi/ /air/ /ear/ /ure/
Letter Sounds

Group 1
A cat is on a mat.
Use phonics for reading purposes.
/c//a//t/ - cat
A cat is on a mat.
When writing it is important to use
letter names – cat.

Common mistakes
kat, fix
 Phonological Awareness
Activities
1. Oral Rhyming (cat rat sat)
Read poetry and other rhyming books. (Humpty
Dumpty) When reading a familiar rhyme, stop before a
rhyming word and ask your child to say the word.

2. Syllable awareness in spoken words

Clap parts of words. Start with your child’s name.

3. Phonemic awareness (an essential element)

Individual sounds in spoken words is a part of
phonological awareness.
 Next steps …

• Children then begin to blend for

reading.
• Starting with simple VC (vowel
consonant) words - at, it, is
• and then to CVC (consonant vowel
consonant) words - dog, cat, man
Blending

• Recognise and say the letter

sounds in a written word, for
example:
s-a-t
by merging or ‘blending’ them in
the order in which they are written
to pronounce the word ‘sat’.
s a t i p n
/ai / Words
Tricky words

Words that
cannot be
decoded using
phonics.
Look, say, cover, write and check
basic skills

help us identify strengths and

weaknesses

structure a tailored programme

References
jollylearning.co.uk

www.phonicsfun.co.uk