Phonics

Phonics Webinar

Last week the EY&I Campus hosted a phonics webinar. This webinar would be incredibly useful for any parent who would like to know how phonics in general and specifically at BIS works.

To the right is a video recording of the webinar and below you can find the webinar slides. There is a set of slides specifically to do with phonics for F3 and another set that focuses in on phonics for Years 1 and 2. If you have any questions regarding phonics, how it works or how you can help at home. do not hesitate to contact your child's EAL teacher.

EY&I Phonics Webinar Year 1 & 2.mp4
Year 1 & 2 Phonics Workshop
F3 Phonics workshop 2021

What is Phonics?

Phonics is a way of teaching children how to read and write. It helps children hear, identify and use different sounds that distinguish one word from another in the English language.

Understanding phonics will help children to decode words as they read, and also know which letters to use when they write words.

Watch the video to learn more about Phonics:


How you can help at home

You can practise Phonics when reading with your child.

  • Any good quality story books and non-fiction books are great - you don't need to buy any special books about Phonics!

  • Stuck on a word? If your child is stuck on a word, say it to yourself slowly to work out the phonemes (the individual sounds). For example: Racing > R a c i ng then write the word on a piece of paper and put sound buttons under it. Then your child has been supported to segment the sounds and should be able to blend them appropriately.

  • A tricky word? Difficult to blend? Ask your child to read the rest of the sentence and predict the missing word – look at the picture to predict the word. With many tricky words, the initial sound is correct e.g. there are lots of p___ (people)

  • Display an alphabet poster or chart in the kitchen.

  • Have magnetic letters on the fridge.

  • A set of Flashcards of sounds for using in games.

  • Use Sound mats when writing (see below)

Phonics sound mats

Phonics sound mats can be used in many ways:

  • during writing to assist with spelling

  • during reading to assist with segmenting and blending sounds

  • as revision (play BINGO)

  • find things around around the house or garden that has the phoneme

You can download the sound mats below to your device or print them as a resource for your child to use at home.