Phonics is the way we teach children to start to read. They need to learn sounds (phonemes) and how sounds are written down (graphemes). They then need to learn to join (blend) sounds together to read whole words.

Your child started their phonics journey as soon as they started school at St Michael's. They began by listening to the different sounds around them and developed their speaking and listening skills. We practised tuning into sounds, listening and remembering sounds and talking about sounds. 

They are now learning 4 new sounds a week: how to say the sounds, write the sounds and finding objects that begin with the sounds. In time we will start to blend the sounds. 

 There are approximately 44 sounds in English. These have been split into 2 'Phases'. Below are links to all of the sounds taught in each Phase. We will send you a video through Tapestry each week to update you in which sounds are being taught at each point.

Phase 2 Sounds

Phase 3 Sounds

To learn more about phonics, including how you can support your child to blend, have a look at the Oxford Owl website:

Oxford Owl