What is phonics?

The information below is taken directly  from the DfE ‘Learning to read through phonics - Information for parents' sheet:

Phonics is a way of teaching children to read skillfully. They are taught how to:

• recognise the sounds that each individual letter makes;
• identify the sounds that different combinations of letters make – such as ‘sh’ or ‘oo’; and
• blend those sounds together from left to right to make a word.

Children can then use this knowledge to ‘decode’ new words that they see or hear. This is the first important step in learning to read.

Research shows that when phonics is taught in a structured way – starting with the easiest sounds and progressing through to the most complex – it is the most effective way of teaching young children to read. It is particularly helpful for children aged 5 to 7. Almost all children who receive good teaching of phonics will learn the skills they need to tackle new words. They can then go on to read any kind of text fluently and confidently, and read for enjoyment.

Our Approach to the teaching of Phonics

At Loxley Primary School, we use Monster Phonics to support the teaching of phonics. 

 Monster Phonics is a highly-engaging, structured, synthetic phonics programme. It facilitates learning by allowing children to learn new graphemes by using monsters to group graphemes for recall and to provide an easy and fun memory cue for children. It also uses colour-coding to highlight the grapheme when teaching a new grapheme. Once taught and secure, the colour is removed.

  
Monster Phonics matches the Reception EYFS framework and KS1 Spelling Curriculum. It progresses from simple to more complex phonic knowledge and skills, and ensures that prior knowledge is built upon. The main principles of systematic synthetic phonics teaching are followed, allowing children to become confident and successful readers, spellers and writers from a very early stage in their school life.

Colour-coding

Monster Phonics teaches children to read by enabling them to identify the individual graphemes (letter combinations) and blend the sounds (phonemes) together to read the word. It is a fun way to teach phonics, since it is multi-sensory. Sounds are categorised into ten colour groups, and each colour has a corresponding monster character. Monster Phonics is a highly advanced multisensory scheme. This creates interest and engagement from the children.

Meet The Monsters

At Loxley, the children in Reception and KS1 have daily 20-30 minute teacher-led phonics sessions as well as independent activities to reinforce their phonics skills and knowledge.  In June, the children in Year 1 will usually then complete the statutory Year 1 Phonics Screening Check.

Reading Books

The Monster Phonics scheme ensures that the books which your child reads, directly relate to the sounds (phonics) which they learn in class. We will be reading a book over a week with your child in class. At the end of the week, we will then send that decodable Monster Phonics book home for you to read with them over the following week. This will allow them to practise what they have covered in school and develop the fluency and confidence in comprehension that are such important aspects of being a successful reader. While we will aim to send home a new Monster Phonics book each week, we may keep a child on the same book for longer if they need extra support with the learning involved.

Reading for Pleasure

Alongside the Monster Phonics book, we will be sending home a Reading Planets book for you to share with your child. This book is a sharing book as, while it does align with the phonics learning we will be covering in class in the main, there may be the occasional sound that they have not yet come across. We are sending this book to give them a broader range of reading material and also exposure to non-fiction books that will ensure that your child remains keen and interested in their reading.

It is important to prioritise the reading of the Monster Phonics book (at least 3 times in a week, more if they are finding it challenging) because it is directly linked to what your child is learning in school.

(For more about Early Reading, look at the curriculum section English)

Why we like Monster Phonics Books

The Key Features:

✅ Decodable Content: Each book is perfectly aligned with the phonics teaching sequence.

✅ Modern and Engaging Stories: Fresh, captivating narratives and illustrations that keep young readers eager to turn the page. A great achievement in decodable readers!

✅ Reinforced Learning: Repetition of HFW and CEW accelerates progress.

✅ Parent-Child interaction: There is text for children and adults. This helps develop interaction and interest. This “see-saw” approach is perfect for parents who need some structure for their reading sessions.

Parent Support

Monster Phonics holds regular parent webinars to support parents in helping their children. Follow the link below to sign up for a webinar.

https://ebooks.monsterphonics.com/parents-webinar/

What is the Year 1 Phonics Screening Check?

The Phonics Screening Check is meant to show how well your child can use the phonics skills they’ve learned up to the end of Year 1, and to identify children who need extra phonics help. The Department for Education defines the checks as “short, light-touch assessments” that take about four to nine minutes to complete.

The checks consist of 40 words and non-words that your child will be asked to read one-on-one with a teacher. Non-words (or nonsense words, or pseudo words) are a collection of letters that will follow phonics rules your child has been taught, but don’t mean anything – your child will need to read these with the correct sounds to show that they understand the phonics rules behind them.

The 40 words and non-words are divided into two sections – one with simple word structures of three or four letters, and one with more complex word structures of five or six letters. The teacher administering the check with your child will give them a few practice words to read first – including some non-words – so they understand more about what they have to do. Each of the non-words is presented with a picture of a monster/alien, as if the word were their name (and so your child doesn't think the word is a mistake because it doesn't make sense!).