I have created 'Time to Read' Sheets to help support children and parents with phonics. The introduction page and contents page looks like this.

Each of the sheets in the booklet contains a digraph, split digraph or trigraph that has been taught in Reception or in Year 1. With each of these sheets, there are picture clues, 12 words, sentences and a tricky word.  You may notice on the 12 words that some have what we call “sound buttons” and some do not. This is to build the children’s confidence in recognising phonemes in words. There may also be some words that do not have the same sound as the one on the page. This is to test the children’s ability to recall previous sounds learned.

I wanted to provide this booklet to all parents as reading is a fundamental skill. If there are any gaps in a child’s phonemic knowledge, then practising these sheets at home regularly may help to improve your child’s recognition of certain sounds in their reading books. In June this year, the children will be having the Phonics Screening Check which will require the children to have a good understanding of the sounds taught so far to accurately decode real and unfamiliar words.

You can use these booklets in multiple ways and I do not want to prescribe how and when you use them. An idea could be that if you have 5 minutes, flip to a page, and if your child can read the words and sentences on the page accurately, fluently, and without blending, then you could move on to another sound. You could turn it into a timed game, a points game, or you could cut the words up and hide them around the kitchen – there are lots of ways! 

I am not setting this as homework and for children to bring in their booklets to prove they are using them, and I will not be checking either. It is just an idea I thought of that could help parents to work with their children on specific sounds that they struggle with.  If you feel that your child won't benefit from this, then you do not have to use them. If you do have any questions or need any support on how to use these, please do not hesitate to get in touch.

Many thanks and have a lovely Easter!

Mr Armishaw

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