Do you know how your child is learning to read?

Is the word 'phoneme' completely foreign to you? Do you think a digraph is some kind of carnivorous plant? If so, then you're just one of many parents struggling to support their Foundation or Key Stage One child with the 'Letters and Sounds' approach to literacy. Though it is not universally taught, this strategy is becoming more and more popular.

The idea behind this approach is that through daily 20 minute phonics sessions our children are taught listening skills, and the 44 sounds, before moving on to make words.  The focus is on the 'pure sounds' rather than on individual letters.

The best explanation for parents that I have found online is the BBC News report Letters and Sounds Approach to Phonics. It outlines the strategy and explains the five phases children progress through. I strongly advise you to read it, but before you do, below is a brief glossary of the main terms your child will be learning up to Year Two and beyond:

1. Phoneme:  The smallest identifiable unit of sound in a word. It can be one, two, three or four letters
   e.g.  'cat' has three phonemes  c-a-t.  
            'shelf' has four phonemes sh-e-l-f because sh is learnt as one sound

2. Digraph:  Two letters making one sound, e.g. sh, ch, ng

3. Blending:  We 'blend' phonemes together in order to read

4. Segmenting:  We 'segment' a word into phonemes in order to spell

5. Tricky Words:  These are words that don't stick to the rules. A lot of them are words we use every day and your child will become familiar with them through phonics sessions e.g. 'the', 'why', 'were', 'people'.

Although there are more, phonemes and digraphs are the terms your children will use most.  At first I found it all a bit mind blowing, but having observed two phonics sessions I can assure you this approach truly works and is brilliant to see. My little girl knows so much more than I realised and I feel confident that I can support her learning. 

Why not ask your six year old how many phonemes are in the word 'ship', or have a go at answering it yourself.  I'd love to know how many of you get it right.

Useful Sites:

Department for Education (New site set up 12 May 2010)
Department for Children, Schools and Families
Family Learning Phonics Games
BBC Bitesize Key Stage One Literacy Games
Reading For Life
The Literacy Trust
Also see our own Rosie Scribble's post about online educational resources