What is Phonics?

What is phonics?
 
Phonics is the beginning of reading. It is the systematic teaching of sounds. The aim is to teach children two main skills - blending and segmenting. Blending is when you put sounds together in order to read simple words. Segmenting is the opposite process and used to break a word back down into sounds for spelling. Phonemes are the sounds that letters make and Graphemes are what the letters actually looks like.
 
Please click on the link below to take you to the Oxford Owl website for a useful video providing an overview of Phonics for Parents from Ruth Miskin. (The video was also used in our Phonics presentation for parents - see Support for Parents section below)