Phonics is a way of learning to read by linking letters to the sounds they make. You do not need to be an expert to help at home. A few small habits go a long way: saying sounds clearly, playing with words out loud, and sharing books every day.
A few phonics words, explained
You may hear these words from your child or their teacher:
- A sound is the smallest bit of sound in a word. “Cat” has three sounds: c-a-t.
- A digraph is two letters that make one sound, like sh in ship or ee in feet. Some sounds are written with three letters, like igh in night.
- Blending means pushing sounds together to hear the whole word, so s-u-n becomes “sun”. This is how your child reads a new word.
- Segmenting means breaking a word into its sounds, so “ship” becomes sh-i-p. This is how your child works out a spelling.
- Tricky words are words with a part that does not match the sounds your child knows yet, like “the”, “said” and “was”.
Saying pure sounds
A pure sound is a letter sound said on its own, with no extra “uh” on the end. It matters because extra sounds get in the way of blending. If you say “muh-a-tuh”, it is hard to hear “mat”. If you say “mmm-a-t”, the word is much easier to find.