A Guide to Early Reading - Week 1

Working in partnership with Carter's Yard Phonics, these weekly guides are for parents & carers who wish to support their child with phonics at home.

Queens Park Rangers: A Guide to Early Reading

Ask your child if they know any words that start with the sound 's':

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Tip: keep repeating the sound as they collect their thoughts

Today, children in schools up and down the country are taught to read using phonics. Phonics is a tried and tested method of learning to read where learners link letters (graphemes) to corresponding sounds (phonemes) and combine them to produce words. Sound confusing? It can be! Working in partnership with Carter's Yard Phonics, this weekly guide is for parents and carers who wish to support their children with phonics at home. Consisting of daily 20 minute sessions, each day will introduce a new grapheme and phoneme with supportive materials to help support you and your child.

Apples and ants one, two, three, Apples for lunch, Ants for tea.

Ants big, Apples small, Apple trees tiny, Ants grow tall.

Apples sour, Ants sweet, Apples and ants are a tasty treat.

Tip: when reading the poem, be sure to emphasise the 'a' sound throughout. When finished, read again but ask your child to stop you every time they hear the 'a' sound.

"Working with Carter's Yard Phonics has allowed us to enhance our delivery as part of our Premier League Primary Stars programme. The cards have supported coaches' interventions with the children &amp; have been a real hit with teachers &amp; parents/carers."

Paul Mitchell QPR Community Trust Education Manager

"Hahaha," cackled _(name beginning with 't')_ the Witch, "never again will you see the light of day." The battle for _(name beginning with 't')_ Forest was almost over and _(name)_ felt as though all hope was lost. At that moment, _(name beginning with 't')_ the Brave flew over the darkened skies. Circling around _(name beginning with 't')_ the Witch, he/ she dropped a _(noun beginning with 't')_ onto her head. _(name beginning with 't')_ the Witch fell to the floor, in a puff of smoke; when the smoke cleared, she was gone!

Tip: allow your child to finish the story. Doing so can empower them, make them feel in control and increase motivation.

Tip: if your child is finding some sounds tricky when blending, be sure to go back and practise that again.

Create an action or a movement that represents the sound 'p'.

Tip: remembering all the sounds is tricky - actions can help children to recall the sounds

Tip: be patient - blending is tricky. Remember that every child learns at a different pace.

Gather six common items from your home and place them into a bag/ box. 3 items should begin with the sound 't'; the other 3 not.  

Without your child looking, ask them to pick one of the items out of the bag to see whether it starts the sound 't'. Repeat until all items have been used.

Tip: with the remaining 3 objects, try to collect items that start with the sounds 's' and 'a'. 

“My son starts school in September and I have no idea what phonics is, but the cards are great. It’s like having a teacher in your home. It’s reassuring to know that they are created by teachers.”

Joanne Knowles Parent

Start by scanning the zap code on the previous page. Take it in turns to repeat the sound 5 times to each other. Finally, ask your child again: what letter is this and what sound does it make?

Tip: remember not to use 'uh' at the end of each sound

Create an action or a movement that represents the sound 's'.

Can you remember yesterday's letter and the sound it makes? Can you remember the action?

Ask your child if they know any words that start with the sound 't':

Tip: continue to model putting your finger under each sound before sounding them out.

Ask your child if they know any words that start with the sound 'a':

There are many technical terms used as we move through this booklet. Where necessary, we will define these terms on the page. For now, here are a few to get us started:

a written letter or group of letters that represent one sound, like ‘d’, ‘s’, ‘igh’ or ‘are’. Some graphemes are single letters like ‘f’; others are digraphs like ‘ay’.

using your phonic knowledge to sound out and read words.

two letters that make one sound together, like ‘sh’, ‘ay’, ‘oo’.

combining the individual sounds in the word together to read the whole word, e.g. ‘r-e-d, red’, ‘c-a-t, cat’.

Ask your child if they know any words that start with the sound 'p':

During each session, you will notice a 'zap code' that appears on the bottom right of each page. This 'zap code' is an interactive code that can be brought to life using the free to download Zappar app.

When scanned, the page in the book will be brought to life with an interactive menu that will help you and your child with the pronunciation of the new phoneme and blending sounds together to form a word.

Which of the following images start with the sound 'a'?

Which image does not have the 'a' sound in the word?

Tip: try sounding out each word so your child can hear which word does not have the 'a' sound. If not, write down the words and show them visually.

Give your child five minutes to find as many items they can that start with the sound 's'. Here's one to get them started:

Tip: avoid collecting items such as 'shorts' as this begins with the 'sh' sound.

Limited Edition QPR Talking Phonics Flashcards

Available to purchase exclusively from the QPR Superstore for £9.99, with all proceeds going to the QPR Community Trust

Where possible be mindful of your pronunciation of the sounds - the zap codes within this guide will help. Many people pronounce 'm' as 'muh' instead of 'mmm' or 't' as 'tuh'. This can end with blending difficulties. Think of the word: ‘mat’ if you sound it out as ’muh-a-tuh’ and then blend them together you get ‘muhatuh’ a long way off from ‘m-a-t’ and then ‘mat’.

Read, read and read some more!

Children who are read to, exposed to lots of chat and language at home are more likely to succeed at school. This is particularly true of early reading. Although you may not be a teacher, your role at home is vital. Books are not the only type of print that can be read and discussed. Use your child's interests and tap into them. Comics, magazines and matchday programmes are all types of environmental print that can be used.

Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers; A peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked. If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers, Where's the peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked?

Tip: tongue twisters are fun rhymes to say to practise speaking clearly. Make mistakes together and have fun!

Blending: combining the individual sounds in the word together to read the whole word, e.g. ‘r-e-d, red’, ‘c-a-t, cat’.

1. Point to each grapheme (letter) in order before saying the sound. 2. Go back to the beginning and run your finger under the letters as you say the word.

Tip: encourage your child to speed up saying the sounds to help form the word. 

Tip: if your child is finding some sounds tricky when blending, be sure to go back and practise them again.

How many sounds can you hear? Who or what does the sound belong to? Can you copy each sound?

Carter’s Yard Phonics Flashcards are a set of 64, interactive ‘talking’ flashcards that are used in classrooms throughout the UK. The fun, engaging, multi-sensory cards are the perfect phonics accessory for home and school.

Created by two passionate and experienced primary teachers, Carter’s Yard Phonics Flashcards are&nbsp;proven&nbsp;to support children as they progress from producing individual sounds to reading words and allow them to learn at their own pace, with or without input from an adult.

During each session, you will notice a 'zap code' that appears on the 'Today's new sound...' page. This 'zap code' is an interactive code that can be brought to life using the free to download Zappar app.

When scanned, the page in the book will be brought to life with an interactive menu that will help you and your child with the pronunciation of the new phoneme and with blending sounds together to form a word.

Keeping active is important. In this activity, children will need to complete three short tasks: 1. How many 'p'enalties can they score in 1 minute? 2. How many 'p'unches can they throw in 1 minute? 3. How many 'p'ush ups can they complete in 1 minute? Each time a penalty, punch or push up is complete, ask your child to make the 'p' sound.

Tip: memorable experiences help children to recall information.

Create an action or a movement that represents the sound 't'.

It's now your child's turn to attempt reading these words independently. Point to any word &amp; listen to them read.

Tip: reading independently for first time is a huge challenge and children will make mistakes. Be sure to praise both effort and achievement. 

Create an action or a movement that represents the sound 'a'.

If your child has progressed from blending sounds to form words, now try reading sentences together. 

Let your child read the circled words. Remind them to use their phonic skills (decoding) to read them.

Tip: enjoy this activity. This may well be the first time your child has read with you.

As he slithered across the slimy forest, Sam the snake saw a sneaky snail slide towards him. "Stop!" yelled Sam. The snail stood silently still. Not one sound could be heard. Suddenly, the sun broke through the clouds and struck Sam between the eyes, "Ssssstop sun!" Sam sought after his sunglasses; as he put them on he noticed that the snail had simply vanished.

Tip: when reading the story, be sure to emphasise the 's' sound throughout. When finished, don't forget to ask your child some simple questions. Where did the snail go? Why did it go there?

AN INTERACTIVE PHONICS GUIDE

Learning to read is tricky and supporting the process at home is a great way to speed up the journey of getting children to read whatever they like! The sections below offer guidance and support about how to move through this booklet.

Before you embark on the process of learning to read together, it is vitally important to note that every child learns to read at a different pace. Every child's starting point begins with them learning to develop their speaking and listening skills - known as Phase 1 of Phonics. Phase 1 is divided up into 7 aspects and largely focuses on children being able to listen to the sounds around them, separate the sounds and copy them. Before proceeding through this booklet, we thoroughly recommend you take time to familiarise yourself with this phase.

Use your child's interests to keep each 20 minute session fun! Sing songs, create silly rhymes, use instruments and the world around you to bring learning to life!

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