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I can still remember my first-ever phonics course from over 15 years go. They wrote sets of letters on the board and asked us if we knew what sounds they made.
I remember thinking pleeease don't ask me! I had grown up on Letterland and all I knew was "ah, buh, cuh". I had no idea what sounds letters made when they were put together! How was I ever going to teach Phonics to children?!
That moment is one of the main reasons I run Mini Writers Club. Every year, a new set of children and parents are shown groups of letters and are possibly feeling that same feeling. Phonics is a code. Once we learn what the symbols mean we can crack reading and writing. Learning the sounds is part of cracking that code.
If you were also part of the Letterland generation, forget everything you were taught! The sounds should be pure, which means we need to say them without adding the 'uh' sound at the end. This will make it easier for your child to blend the sounds together to make a word. If you find it tricky, try whispering the sound because it makes it harder to add the 'uh'. The video below models how to pronounce the Phase 2 sounds.
Click the speaker button at the bottom to unmute the video.
Children will begin to learn digraphs (two letters) and trigraphs (three letters) where the letters now work together to make a new sound. Here is a video showing how to pronounce the Phase 3 sounds.
Many schools use Phonics schemes which may have rhymes, pictures and actions to help children remember the sounds and may teach the sounds in a different order. I haven't added any rhymes or pictures to the Mini Writers Club flashcards so that they can be used to support whichever scheme your child's school uses.
Resources:
Reception Flashcards
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