How to Introduce Phonics to Children

Hundreds of years ago people didn’t read silently. Each word they read was spoken aloud.

Most people couldn’t read or write at all, so imagine how it must have looked back then to watch somebody staring at symbols and ‘speaking the words’. It must have seemed like magic!

Children learn to speak naturally because they’ve been listening to people speak around them since they were born.

Children learn to recognise symbols on things like vehicles, shops and clothes long before they’ve learned to read alphabetic letters and many children quickly recognise the letters in their name.

When children start phonics they learn to connect the symbols we use for written letters with the sounds we use in speech.

Wizzy Word Phonics simplifies how children understand the process of connecting written symbols to spoken sounds by breaking the symbols down into simple shapes. Children trace the shapes with their ‘word wands’ and combine them together into letters. With each new letter they explore the sounds of language including the mouth shapes we use to create spoken words.

You can use these free slides to explain to children how we use phonics to help them learn to read.

If you need to help parents and staff understand phonics you can use the Spelling Guide for Parents and Staff.

Help your children to learn to create magic spells!