At Homelands we follow the Letters and Sounds systematic phonics programme.  

As explained in our phonics workshop and booklet the children have learnt all of the individual letters and are blending them together to read short words e.g h e n   f o x.  The children are also saying whole words in robot talk and segmenting (splitting up the sounds) to write short words and sentences.

Over the spring term we have been busy learning our digraphs (two letters that make one sound)

So far we have learnt ss, ff, ll, ch, sh, th, ng, qu, ai, ee, igh, oa, oo, ar, or, ur, ow, oi, er and the trigraphs ear, air, ure.

Lots of the reading books you take home will begin to have these digraphs for your child to decode.  Have a look on the useful websites page for some phonics games to play.

Below are some sentences your child can practise writing sounding out using their letter mat and tricky word book mark.

Mark and Carl got wet in the rain.  The farmer gets up at six in the morning.  Jill has fair hair but Jack has dark hair.   Jim has seven silver coins.  I can hear an owl hoot at night.  Nan is sitting in the rocking-chair. Bow down to the king and queen.  Gurdeep had a chat with his dad. On the farm In town I will soon visit my nan at her farm. You and I can meet on the corner. She will let me feed the hens and chickens. We can get the bus to the fish and chip shop. They peck up corn in the farmyard. Janaki and her sister may join us. She has goats and cows as well as hens. They can get fish and chips, too. She gets the hens into a shed at night Then we can all run to the park. – foxes might get them. In a wigwam At the river Kevin has a wigwam in the garden. Max and Vikram sail a wooden boat. Alex, Jon and Jeevan visit him. Jeff chucks bits of bun in the river for the ducks. Kevin’s dad cooks chicken for them on Yasmin sits on a rock and looks for fish.

However you can also encourage them to write in real context and use the sounds they know, it does not matter if they miss some out.  So to write She went to the park. They may write She wet to the parc.   

Please see the video of how we pronounce the letter sounds in school.  This should be helpful for when you are using the flashcards or doing robot talk and shared reading at home.  Watch this space for a video on the pronounciation of the digraphs e.g two letters that make one sound ch sh ai etc.  Just click on the link below.

https://homelands-primary-school.primarysite.media/media/phonics