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Phonics
What is Phonics?
Phonics is one method of teaching children how to read and write. Phonics is all about sounds. There are 44 sounds in the English language, which we put together to form words. Some are represented by one letter, like ‘t’, and some by two or more, like ‘ck’ in duck and
‘air’ in chair. Children are taught the sounds first, then how to match them to letters, and finally, how to use the letter sounds for reading and spelling. Synthetic phonics refers to ‘synthesising’, or blending, the sounds to read words. It is based on the idea that children should sound out unknown words and not rely on their context.
Phonics Glossary
All you need to know about phonics
How do we teach phonics at St Peter's?
We use a reading programme called Bug Club Phonics. This scheme of learning, which we follow from Reception, teaches the children to read and write. Phonics is taught in Reception and KS1 every day in interactive, fast-paced sessions.
Bug Club follows an approach of synthesising phonemes associated with graphemes a child sees; or put another way, learning to read by blending the sounds associated with the letters a child sees. The programme is the product of extensive research on the best way to teach children how to read.
The reading books your child brings home are designed to support them in practising and consolidating the learning they have done at school. They also enable children to experience the pleasure and pride of reading their own books.
All the books in Bug Club Phonics have been finely-levelled to ensure that all children can read books at exactly the right level for them. There are also online versions for every printed title and a personalised website which your child has access to in Reception and KS1.
How can you support your child at home?
Each year, we hold a phonics parents meeting for all the Reception parents. This allows you to gain an understanding of how phonics and reading are taught at St Peter's and ask any questions. Please click the box below to view this year's PowerPoint of the session.
We understand that many parents and carers were not taught synthetic phonics when they went to school. Click the box below to view a guide explaining how to pronounce each of the sounds.
Using the Online Resources
If you have access to an internet connection, your child can enjoy reading Bug Club Phonics books online as well as in print. Each child has a unique homepage and can log into it by following these steps:
- Go to www.activelearnprimary.co.uk
- Enter the login details.
- Your child’s homepage will appear.
- All login details can be found on the inside cover of your child's yellow reading record.
We allocate books to your child according to their reading levels. These books will appear in the ‘My Stuff’ area of their personal homepage.
The eBooks have three main additional features to help your child. Find them in the ‘Independent’ section of ‘My Stuff’.
- Phoneme pronunciation guide: click on the bug icon to hear some of the phonemes (sounds) in the book.
- Read to me: after your child has had a go at reading the book, you can click on this to hear the text read out loud, e.g. to help your child with giving expression.
- Quiz question: click on the second bug icon within the book to answer a question designed to reinforce your child’s learning. Their teacher will receive information about attempted questions.
When your child has finished the book, click on the phoneme pronunciation guide and attempt the quiz question, he or she will earn ‘ActiveLearn Coins’. By reading more books, your child will earn enough coins to ‘buy’ a reward in one of the many reward schemes.
When your child has finished a book, it will move to ‘My Library’. Children can read these books again if they want to, or they can choose new books from ‘My Stuff’.
Using the printed books
Inside every Bug Club Phonics printed book there are notes to help you make the most of reading with your child.
Inside front cover: there are suggestions of things to do before your child starts reading, such as saying the sounds and practising blending them to make words as well as things to do whilst your child is reading to you; for example, checking their understanding of the story or information on the page.
Inside back cover: the activities here are to help your child consolidate what they have read and increase their fluency.
