How on earth does phonics work? I'm struggling...

[lindsell]

I learnt to read as a child with 'look and say' and I know that the dc will learn through phonics. Ds1 is 3.5 (starts school sept 2013) and is really keen on letters and I want to make sure that I don't teach him the 'wrong' thing but I'm really struggling to understand how phonics works. Before he starts school I'd like to have been able to acquire a reasonable knowledge of how it works myself so I can help him.

I've got some books that talk about the main letter sounds (many of which seem v similar and hard to distinguish to me) but I just don't understand how they are combined to actually read. I was a very early & fluent reader but still at the age of 30 I can't work this out

Can anyone recommend a good parents guide/simple explanation/YouTube videos or similar to help me understand so I can help support ds1 properly (and not feel quite so stupid)

Thank you

If he's attempting books with trickier words like could and young etc that he can't sound out yet. I would just let him know that at this stage he hasn't yet learnt everything so just tell him the word.

I think it's very important that they realise FROM THE START that each letter can have different sounds. eg 'a' is not always just short 'a' like in c-a-t but can also be the long 'a' like in b-a-k-e or even a 'u' sound like in woman. You don't need to go into all the details of teaching these alternatives - phonics lessons should get through all this eventually, but the concept that there are different letter combinations to make the same sound (eg ay, a-e, ai etc) as well as being aware that some letters can make different sounds is helpful.

That way they won't think it's their 'fault' if they try and sound out a word eg could but come up with something that you then correct! I hope that makes sense.

Mrz
masha keeps making up her own graphemes
Which of the following is not one of the basic English graphemes?

A, a-e, ay (cat; plate, play) air/are (hair, care) ar (car); au, -aw, -all (all, sauce, saw, all);
b (bed);
C, ck, k (c/at/ot/ut, comic, crab/ clap; pick, pocket; kept/ kite, seek, risk)
Ch, -tch (chat, catch); d (dog);
E (end); ea/ ee, --y (eat, eel, funny), er/ir/ur (her, bird, turned),
F, G, H (fish, garden, house);
I, i-e, -ie, -igh, -y (ink, bite, tie, high, try);
J, -dge, -ge (jug, bridge, oblige); L, M, N, ng (lips, man, nose, ring) 38
O, wa, qua, (pot, want, quarrel), O-e, -o, ol (bone, so; old),
Oi, -oy (coin, toy), Oo (food, good),
Or, -ore, war, quar (order, more, wart, quarter),
Ou, -ow (out, now); P, Qu, R (pin, quick, run),
S, -ce, -cy (sun, face, emergency);
Sh, -ti-, -ci- (shop, station, cautious, facial, musician),
T, -te (tap, delicate), Th (this thing),
U, u-e, -ue, -ew (up, cube, cue, new)
V, -ve, -v- (van, have, river ? no doubling),
W, -x, Y- (window, fix, yes);
Z, -se (zip, wise),
-si-, -su- (vision, treasure)

Is anyone else even more confused after reading the posts from Mashabell? I was trying to source a definitive list of english Graphemes to put onto cards to help DS with his spelling, I thought I had them but Masha your posts have more than I have found elsewhere. Where do you get your lists from or is it something you have researched yourself? I find your posts difficult to follow as you list groups of letters as graphemes that don't appear to correspond to the phonemes.

eg. you have listed 'ol' as a grapheme in 'old' but I understood 'old' to have three sounds 'o' 'l' 'd'. Also are you sure 'tch' is an accepted grapheme it doesn't look like anything DS has brought home from school?

I thought I had a good grasp of this with a child in Y2 but apparently one of us is confused. I am happy to admit if this is me but I really would appreciate some clarification. Maybe your posts are to busy to be understood properly.

Mashabell devises her own idiosyncratic lists.

It may be useful to know that she has a spelling reform agenda and posts these lists all over the net.

She has never taught reading, and is a retired secondary school teacher.

No, AnotherUsefulName - it isn't you who is confused

Try this chart - it should make a lot more sense.

Thank You so much Feenie, that is perfect just what I needed.

Glad it's useful - I refer to it frequently

all is a rime not a grapheme
wa, qua, aren't graphemes,
war, quar aren't graphemes
Ou, -ow (out, now); P, Qu, R (pin, quick, run),
te isn't a grapheme,
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