Letters and Sounds: Phase 4

"Children entering Phase Four will be able to represent each of 42 phonemes by a grapheme, and be able to blend phonemes to read CVC words and segment CVC words for spelling. They will have some experience in reading simple two-syllable words and captions. They will know letter names and be able to read and spell some tricky words.

The purpose of this phase is to consolidate children's knowledge of graphemes in reading and spelling words containing adjacent consonants and polysyllabic words.

The teaching materials in this phase provide a selection of suitable words containing adjacent consonants. These words are for using in the activities – practising blending for reading and segmenting for spelling. This is not a list to be worked through slavishly but to be selected from as needed for an activity.

It must always be remembered that phonics is the step up to word recognition. Automatic reading of all words – decodable and tricky – is the ultimate goal..."

The Spellzone Starter Course teaches the basic phonic spelling rules using multi-sensory activities and tests.

Practise

• Practise blending and reading words with adjacent consonants: List 1, List 2, List 3.
• Practise segmentation and spelling words with adjacent consonants: phoneme frame 1, frame 2, frame 3.

Apply

Week 1

• Practise recognition and recall of Phase Two and Three graphemes and reading and spelling CVC words
• Teach and practise reading CVCC words
• Teach and practise spelling CVCC words: 
  List 1, List 2, List 3.
• Teach reading the tricky words said, so
• Teach spelling the tricky words he, she, we, me, be
• Practise reading and spelling high-frequency words
• Practise reading sentences
• Practise writing sentences

Week 2

• Practise recognition and recall of Phase Two and Three graphemes and reading and spelling CVC words
• Teach and practise reading CCVC words
• Teach and practise spelling CCVC words
• Teach reading the tricky words have, like, some, come
• Teach spelling the tricky words was, you
• Practise reading and spelling high-frequency words
• Practise reading sentences
• Practise writing sentences

Week 3

• Practise recognition and recall of Phase Two and Three graphemes
• Practise reading words containing adjacent consonants
• Practise spelling words containing adjacent consonants
• Teach reading the tricky words were, there, little, one
• Teach spelling the tricky words they, all, are
• Practise reading and spelling high-frequency words
• Practise reading sentences
• Practise writing sentences

Week 4

• Practise recognition and recall of Phase Two and Three graphemes
• Practise reading words containing adjacent consonants
• Practise spelling words containing adjacent consonants
• Teach reading the tricky words do, when, out, what
• Teach spelling the tricky words my, her
• Practise reading and spelling high-frequency words
• Practise reading sentences

Grapheme recognition
Flashcards
Resources:

• Set of cards, one for each grapheme (pdf)

It must always be remembered that phonics is the step up to fluent word recognition. Automatic and effortless reading of all words – decodable and tricky – is the ultimate goal.

By repeated sounding and blending of words, children get to know them, and once this happens, they should be encouraged to read them straight off in reading text, rather than continuing to sound and lend them aloud because they feel that this is what is required. They should continue, however, to use overt or silent phonics for those words which are unfamiliar.

CVCC words
Resources:

• tent, bend, mend, hump, bent, damp

CCVC words
Resources:

• spot, pot, spin, speck, stop, trip, track, twin, clap, glad, gran, glass (north), grip
  
  

CVCC words
Resources:

• List of words (visible only to the teacher)  – phoneme frame 1, frame 2, frame 3 (pdfs)
  

CCVC words
Follow the procedure for teaching segmenting CCVC words, accentuating the second consonant (e.g. bring).
Phoneme frame CCVC words, Words using Phase Three graphemes (pdfs)

Large group – What's in the box?
Resources:

Set of word cards giving words with adjacent consonants:

Words using sets 1–7 letters: List 1, List 2, List 3 and north of England (pdfs)
Words using Phase Three graphemes (pdf)
Polysyllabic words (pdfs)
See more Phase Four lists

Countdown
Resources:

• Use any Phase Four words

Sentence substitution
Resources:

• A number of prepared sentences at the children's current level.
• List of alternative words for each sentence:

towel, girl, milk, brings
pond, flag, jumps, dog
Stan, needed, meat, grill
grabs, desk, Krishnan, spoon
was, lamp, soft, cabinet
hand, wait, storm, truck
present, Vikram, sent, snail
winter, punch, this, go
Gretel, lost, lent, bricks
plums, slugs, picnic, took

Matching words and pictures
Resources:

• Word and picture cards (pdf)
  

Buried treasure
Resources:

• Set of nonsense word cards: skip, help, shelf, drep, plank, trunt (pdf)
  

Phoneme frame
Resources:

• List of words (for use by the teacher) phoneme frame CVCC words 1, CVCC words 2, CVCC words 3, CCVC words (pdfs)
  

Quick write words
Resources:

• Phoneme frame CVCC words 1, CVCC words 2, CVCC words 3, CCVC words (pdfs)
  

There are 100 common words that recur frequently in much of the written material young children read and that they need when they write. Most of these are decodable, by sounding and blending, assuming the grapheme–phoneme correspondences are known. By the end of Phase Two 26 of the high-frequency words are decodable, a further 12 are decodable by the end of Phase Three and six more are decodable at Phase Four. These are: went, it's, from, children, just and help. Reading a group of these words each day, by applying grapheme–phoneme knowledge as it is acquired, will help children recognise them quickly. However, in order to read simple sentences it is necessary also to know some words that have unusual or untaught GPCs ('tricky' words) and these need to be learned (see Notes of Guidance for Practitioners and Teachers, page 15).

Phase Three decodable words
Phase Four decodable words
Phase Three tricky words
Phase Four tricky words

Learning to read tricky words
Resources:
Tricky words with sentences
Note: Although ending in the letter e, some, come and have are not split digraph words. It is easiest to suggest that the last phoneme is represented by a consonant and the letter e. It is not possible to show the phonemes represented by graphemes in the word one.

Resources

• Between five and eight high-frequency words, including decodable and tricky words, written on individual cards (pdf).
  

Children should be able to read these words before being expected to learn to spell them.
Resources

• he, she, we, me, be, was, my, you, her, they, all, are

Reading two-syllable words
Resources:
Short list of two-syllable words (for use by the teacher)

Spelling two-syllable words
Resources:
List of two-syllable words (for use by the teacher)

'I can…' books
Resources:

• Action phrases on cards
• Zigzag book templates
  

Set word list as a homework task.

Yes/no questions
Resources:

• A number of prepared questions on card or on an interactive whiteboard (pdf)
• Cards with 'yes' on one side and 'no' on the other, one per pair of children (pdf printed back to back, then cut the A4 sheet in half).
  

Set word list as a homework task.

At the end of Phase Four children should:

• give the sound when shown any Phase Two and Phase Three grapheme;
• find any Phase Two and Phase Three grapheme, from a display, when given the sound;
• be able to blend and read words containing adjacent consonants;
• be able to segment and spell words containing adjacent consonants;
• be able to read the tricky words some, one, said, come, do, so, were, when, have, there, out, like, little, what;
• be able to spell the tricky words he, she, we, me, be, was, my, you, her, they, all, are;
• write each letter, usually correctly.

Wordlists for Phase Two, Phase Three

The words in this section are made up from the letters taught for use in blending for reading and segmentation for spelling. These lists are not for working through slavishly but to be selected from as needed for an activity (words in italics are from the list of 100 high frequency words).

CVCC words
Words using sets 1–7 letters:

went, it's, help, just, tent, belt, hump, band, dent, felt, gulp, lamp, wind, hump, land, nest, sink, link, hunt, best, tilt
lift, lost, tuft, damp, bust, camp, gift, kept, tusk, limp, soft, pond
husk, cost, bank, bunk, fond , gust, hand, next, milk, golf, jump, fact, melt

Additional words for the north of England*: ask, fast, last, daft, task

*In the North of England, where the letter a is pronounced /a/, these are appropriate as Phase Four words.

Words using Phase Three graphemes:
champ, chest, tenth, theft, Welsh, chimp, bench, sixth, punch, chunk, thank, shift, shelf, joint, boost, thump, paint, roast, toast, beast, think, burnt

Polysyllabic words:
children, helpdesk, sandpit, windmill, softest, pondweed, desktop, helper, handstand, melting, seventh, shampoo, Chester, giftbox, shelter, lunchbox, sandwich, shelving, Manchester, chimpanzee, champion, thundering

CCV and CCVC words
Words using Sets 1 – 7 letters
from, stop, spot, frog, step, plan, speck, trip, grab, track, spin, flag, grip, glad, twin, sniff, plum, gran, swim, clap, drop,

Additional words for the north of England*: glass, grass, brass

*In the North of England, where the letter a is pronounced /a/, these are appropriate as Phase Four words.

Words using Phase Three graphemes:
green, fresh, steep, tree, spear, smell, spoil, train, spoon, sport, thrush, trash, start, flair, trail, cream, clown, star, creep, brown
stair, spoil, spark, bring, crash, bleed, clear, train, swing, droop, spoon, float, smart, groan, brush, growl, scoop, sport, frown, speech, smear, thrill

Polysyllabic words:
treetop, starlight, floating, freshness

CCVCC, CCCVC and CCCVCC words
Words using Sets 1 – 7 letters:
stand, crisp, trend, trust, spend, glint, twist, brand, frost, cramp, plump, stamp, blend, stunt
crust, tramp, grunt, crept, drift, slept, skunk, think, thank, blink, drank, blank, trunk

Additional words for the north of England*:
graft, grant, blast, grasp, slant

*In the North of England, where the letter a is pronounced /a/, these are appropriate as Phase Four words.

Words using Phase Three graphemes:
crunch, drench, trench, Grinch, shrink, thrust, spring, strap, string, scrap, street, scrunch

Polysyllabic words
driftwood, twisting, printer

Sentences
Sentences and substitute words for 'Sentence substitution'
towel, girl, milk, brings
pond, flag, jumps, dog
Stan, needed, meat, grill
grabs, desk, Krishnan, spoon
was, lamp, soft, cabinet
hand, wait, storm, truck
present, Vikram, sent, snail
winter, punch, this, go
Gretel, lost, lent, bricks
plums, slugs, picnic, took
Yes/no questions
A number of prepared questions on card or on an interactive whiteboard.
Cards with 'yes' on one side and 'no' on the other.