Letters Overview

Letters and Sounds is the Government

programme for teaching phonics and high
and frequency words.
It is split into 6 phases with the different phases
Sounds being covered through Early Years and Key Stage
1.

Phase 1 Nursery/ Reception

Phase 2 Reception
Phase 3 Reception/ Year 1
Phase 4 Reception/ Year 1

Parents Phase 5- Year 1/ Year 2

Phase 6 Year 1/ Year 2
guide
This booklet will give you an idea of what is
expected at each level.
 Phase 1 Phase 2
By the end of phase 2, the children should know
Phase 1 focuses on the basic skills needed for read- 23 sounds
ing and writing and includes singing lots of nursery
s a t p i n m d
rhymes, playing listening games and using musical
instruments. g o c k ck e u r
Things to try at home:-
h b f ff l ll s s
I spy a c-u-p. and be able to read 5 tricky words
Sing sings and rhymes together. the to I no go
Make a junk band with pots and pans.
They should be bale to orally blend CVC words
Share lots of books together. e.g. when you sound out c-a-t, they can tell you
Hide toys and repeat the first sound. the word is cat, and also orally segment CVC
Simon say touch your ch-i-n. words e.g. when you say mam, they can pick out
the sounds m-a-m.
Things to try at home
Make up little words real or nonsense.
Finger action rhymes.
 Phase 3 Phase 4
Phase 3 builds on Phase 2 and the children learn
26 more sounds( including some where the same In Phase 4, children learn how to blend and segment
letters can make different sounds e.g. oo book, lots of different words e.g. CVCC, CCVC, CVCCC.
loop).
Also, 14 more tricky words are added too
J v w x y z zz qu ch Some come one said do so were
sh th ng ai ee igh oa oo When have there out like little what
The children should now be able to write the Phase 3
ar or ur ow oi ear air ure er words. During Phase 4, sounds with initial and final
And 12 more tricky words to read blends are taught e.g. bl, dr, dr, sc, ft, ct.
Things to try at home:-
he she we me be was my
Look for words in the environment and make up little
you her they all are captions.
Things to try at home
Matching pairs game.
Robot game for blending and segmenting.
 Phase 6 Phase 5

In Phase 6, the focus is on learning spelling rules In Phase 5, 13 more new sounds are taught
for word endings or suffixes.
They learn how words change when you add
ay oy wh ou ir ph
certain letters. There are 12 different suffixes
taught
Ie ue ew ea aw oe au
The children also learn 5 new sounds all with
spli digraphs. When the digraph is split, the
-s -es -ing -ed vowel sound is changed e.g came, Pete, rice

-er -est -y -en a_e e_e i_e o_e u_e

-ful -ly -ment -ness
The children are also expected to be able to read
and write the next 200 common words.
They should be able to read words such as
crayon, mountain, thirsty and dolphin using
their phonic knowledge.
They should also be able to read and write the
first 100 high frequency words.
 First 100 High Frequency words down dad big when
its see looked very
the and a to
look dont come will
said in he I
into back from children
of it was you
him Mr get just
they on she is
now came oh about
for at his but
got their people your
that with all we could
put house old
can her up had by
too day made
my are what there Im
time if help
out this have went
be like some so By the end of year 1, the children are expected
to be confidently reading all of these words and
not then were go
 Next 200 Common Words Next 200 common words continued

red door right sea

water away good want these began boy animals
over how did man never next first work
going where would or lots need thats baby
took school think home fish gave mouse something
who didnt ran know bed may still found
bear cant again cat soon night
live say
long things new after car couldnt
narrator small
wanted eat town
everyone our three head king
two has yes garden
play Ive around every
take thought dog jumped
well fast only many
find more Ill round suddenly
because even am before Next 200 common words continued

gran clothes tell key

miss most cold park
fun place mother sat
lived birds duck horse
boat window sleep feet
rabbit white coming hes
morning queen each book
river liked giant looks
its green different let
dragon
use along plants
girl which inside run
grow
pulled were fly
any under hat snow
ever
please thing stopped
air trees bad tea
top eyes fell friends
All of these words and sounds form the basis of
box dark grandad theres reading and writing.
looking end than best
 Useful Websites More Useful Websites

www.phonicsplay.co.uk/freeIndex
Below is a list of websites that can support you and your child Lots of free games for each phase, especially good for
with letters and sounds reading non-words. You can also subscribe to ac-
cess more games.

www.bbc.co.uk/school/wordsandpictures www.letters-and-sounds.com
Includes further information on each phase as well as
printable resources and links to online games.
Games mainly aimed at year 1 and year 2 looking at sounds
and high frequency words. Some printable activities too,
particularly for the phase 4 blends. www.ictgames.com/literacy
Wide range of games for sounds, words and rhyming.

www.bbc.co.uk/schools/ks1bitesize www.topmarks.co.uk
Search engine designed for schools where you can find
Games to practice key skills such as rhyming, punctuation and a wide range of resources and activities with a phonics
grammar. focus.