Phonics

What is phonics? Phonics is an instruction about the relationship between sounds and letters. Phonics is a strategy which is used to identify the spelling of words. It is an extremely important aspect of teaching in the classroom as it gives children the ability and understanding to make connections of sounds with corresponding and appropriate letters, to finally map out entire words. When teaching the alphabetic principle in the classroom it is important that children understand that every single letter usually has its own specific sound, and it can sometimes represent more than one sound. A letter or a combination of letters can represent sound. Here is an example of a word which has four letters and only three sounds: ‘Duck’ there are four letters, but only three sounds because the letters ‘ck’ together represent a single sound. D/U/C/K (4 letters) D/U/CK (3 sounds)
 * __   [[image:13e_phonics_wideweb__470x340,0.jpg align="left"]]  Phonics  __**

In the English language there are 26 letters in the alphabet and out of all these letters they ‘represent approximately 44 sounds or phonemes.’ (Hill, 2006, p.208) It is very important that children gain an understanding of phonics as it is a vital key so that children have clear information when reading and writing.  ‘When two vowels go walking the first one does the talking’  (Hill, 2006, p.211) Phonics content:  __Letter identification;__  ·  <span style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif">  <span style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif">The name of individual letters. It is important that children can identify individual <span style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif">letters with ease and <span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol"> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif">· <span style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif">     <span style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif"> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif">Sounds which are represented in <span style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif">text which children read __<span style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif">Onset and rime; __ <span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol"> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif">·       <span style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif">  <span style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif">‘3-letter words in a consonant – vowel – consonant pattern <span style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif">, e.g. p-e-t, c-a-n’ (Hill,2006, p.212) <span style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif">__Blends;__ <span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol"> ·  <span style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif"> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif">The blending of letters in words <span style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif">‘2-letter initial consonant blends’ (Hill, 2006, p.212) e.g. ‘bl br cl dr fl gl pl lr sc sk sl sm sn sp st tr tw.’ (Hill, 2006, p.212) <span style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif">‘2-letter final consonant blends’ (Hill, 2006, p.212) e.g. ‘ft ld lk lp lt mp nd ng nk nt py ry sk sp st ty.’ (Hill, 2006, p.212) <span style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif">‘3-letter initial consonant blendes’ (Hill, 2006, p.212) e.g. ‘scr spl spr str squ.’ (Hill, 2006, p.212) <span style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif">__Digraphs;__ <span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol"> ·  <span style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif">Consonant and vowel diagraphs <span style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif"> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif">Consonant: ‘ck sh ch th //th// ph wh (and qu <span style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif">ng).’ (Hill, 2006, p.212)   <span style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif"> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif">  Vowel: e.g. ‘(ai a-e ay )<span style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif">’ (Hill, 2006, p.212)   <span style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif">