How to teach reading with synthetic phonics – a simple step by step guide for parents.

Step 1 | Step 2 | Step 3 | Step 4 | Step 5

Step 1

Teach the following letter sounds: s, a, t, i, p, n,

c, k, e, h, r, m, d,

g, o, u, l, f, b

• Write regular words that use these letter sounds on small pieces of card for your child to read, such as pen, nut, rag, etc.



• Blend these words with your child.



• Say the sounds together and then say the word. For example, r-e-d … red, h-a-t … hat etc. Encourage your child to blend words on his or her own when you see your child can do it.



• 10 words a day is plenty.



• The secret is never to spend too long on an activity.

The following words are regular and suitable for blending:

sat	cat	sad	pic	pop	pot
tap	net	map	top	gap	dip
nip	hat	pet	sun	hum	nut
pit	rat	cap	leg	log	ham
at	man	ten	fat	fun	gas
pat	dad	hit	bad	bin	up
tan	can	mat	peg	dig	lip
sip	pen	kid	cup	let	mud
ant	hen	red	lap	hug	fog
tin	ran	hid	cut	if	bed

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Step 2

Teach the next set of letter sounds: ai, j, oa, ie, ee, or,

z, w, ng, v, oo,

y, x, ch, sh, th,

qu, ou, oi, ue, er, ar

• Continue by blending words that use the new letter sounds, such as rain, jet, toad, pie, see, corn etc.



• Always do it together until your child gets the knack and can do it on his/her own.



• Sometimes 2 letters are used for a letter sound, such as /ai/ as in pain, /oa/ as in coat. Your child has to say the one sound for the 2 letters, for example p-ai-n … pain, l-oa-d … load, p-ie … pie etc.



• If there are two letters together that have the same sound your child only needs to say one sound when blending. For example, 'rabbit' should be blended as r-a-bb-i-t and not r-a-b-b-i-t. Similarly, 'duck' should be blended as d-u-ck and not d-u-c-k.



• The letter sound 'oo' has two sounds; /oo/ as in book or an /oo/ as in moon. The children have to try one of the sounds and if that does not work they try the other one.



• In a similar way the letter sound 'th' has two sounds; /th/ as in that or /th/ as in thin. By trying both sounds the children can read words with the 'th' letter sound.

The following words are regular and suitable for blending:

sail	zip	yes	chill	quick	queen
jam	web	fox	shell	loud	shout
goat	sing	chips	with	boil	join
tie	van	shop	thick	due	painter
bee	wood	this	cheer	her	jar
torn	zoo	moth	shock	arm	quilt
tail	buzz	box	yet	sister	found
soap	wind	chop	went	out	spoil
seed	bang	ship	song	rescue	summer
cork	moon	thing	vest	butter	shark

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Step 3

Start Step 3 when your child knows the letter sounds in Steps 1 & 2 and can blend regular words that use those letter sounds.

• Now the tricky words need to be introduced. Although these words are very common they are not so easy to work out by blending the letter sounds. Either because they are irregular or because they contain letter sounds that have not been taught yet.



• Encourage your child to blend them and then learn how they are really pronounced. Basically look with your child at what is awkward in each word, and then encourage your child to learn it. For example, in the word 'was' the letter 'a' has an /o/ sound.



• Introduce only a few at a time for your child to learn.



• Write them on pieces of card.



• Once they are known, go on to the next 2 or 3 and build up steadily.

Start with the following ten tricky words:

1. I	6. we
2. the	7. be
3. he	8. was
4. she	9. to
5. me	10. do

• Also show your child capital letters and explain that they have sounds, too.
• When your child can read the first 10 tricky words then he/she can read sentences that use those tricky words and regular words from Steps 1 & 2. You can make up these sentences yourself, write them on card or paper, and ask your child to read them.

The following sentences are examples that you could start with:

The summer is hot.	It is a good park.
I sleep in a bunk bed.	His jacket was torn.
We run about in the cubs.	Can he do it up?
It is a big swimming pool.	The bus is red.
The shop is shut.	His sister is ten.
He had a big pain in his leg.	The farmer had three pigs.
I will run to the shops.	We went to the zoo.
Our dog has a long tail.	It is the best book ever.
We brush our teeth.	Bring the cloth next week.
A bee can sting.	He was quick to get off the roof.
The car is speeding.	Hang the coats on the hooks.
Our boat is on the river.	The king is rich.
Do not moan or groan.	Do not shout.
He can tie his tie.	He is proud to be in the scouts.
The dog barks.	This soil is hard.

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Step 4

In Steps 1 & 2 the children were introduced to one way of writing the sounds of English. Later, in Steps 4 & 5, they need to be introduced to the other most common ways of writing those sounds. For example the /ai/ sound can also be written as 'ay' as in 'play' or 'a-e' as in 'came' etc.

Now it is a matter of continuing to introduce the alternatives in the same step-by-step manner, at the pace your child can cope with. The important thing is to practise blending words that use these letter sounds.

The letter 'y' has an /ee/ sound at the end of many words, such as mummy, daddy, funny, happy etc. Some people, especially in the north, pronounce this letter sound more as an /i/. Use the one that suits your accent. In the end you want your child to be able to blend the sounds and read the word.

The following are more examples:

poppy	bunny	silly	jolly	dolly
puppy	nanny	fussy	rocky	jelly
holly	runny	sunny	tummy	lorry
dummy	dusty	frosty	lucky	rusty
penny	teddy	berry	nappy	cherry
foggy	muddy	frothy	floppy	body
buddy	buggy	granny	spotty	story
dizzy	family	filthy	ugly	very
greedy	grubby	grumpy	handy	hurry
windy	obbly	lucky	lumpy	marry
potty	merry	milky	misty	party
pity	plenty	sadly	sandy	yummy
sleepy	slippery	soapy	soggy	sorry
sticky	telly	tricky	storybook	carry
copy	creepy	curry	empty	skinny
spooky	stormy	stuffy

Some letter sounds have a consonant between the two vowels, as in

a-e (late),
e-e (these),
i-e (line),
o-e (hope),
u-e (cube or rule).

The letter 'e' on the end changes the first vowel sound from /a/ to /ai/, from /e/ to /ee/, from /i/ to /ie/, from /o/ to /oa/ and from /u/ to /ue/ or /oo/.

The following examples need to be practised:

ate	rake		eve		ride	time		bone	pole		use
tale	safe		even		hide	side		home	woke		mule
game	wave		Pete		nine	wipe		rope	note		cube
save	came		Steve		ripe	bike		hope	stone		tune
made	bake		theme		life	bite		hose	drove		tube
name	grape		here		five	hive		rose	smoke		cute
lane	flame				line	kite		nose	slope		rude
ape	plate				pipe	wide		joke	close		June
cake	snake				mile	smile		mole	choke		duke
hate	brave				pile	slide		hole	throne		rule

Note that there are very few simple e-e and u-e words

New tricky words to be learnt:

11. are	21. go	31. only
12. all	22. no	32. old
13. you	23. so	33. little
14. your	24. my	34. down
15. come	25. one	35. what
16. some	26. by	36. when
17. said	27. like	37. why
18. here	28. have	38. where
19. there	29. live	39. who
20. they	30. give	40. Which

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Step 5

To be introduced in previous steps	To be introduced in Step 5
ai a-e	ay (day)
ee e-e y	ea (heat)
ie i-e	igh (night) y (my)
oa o-e	ow (snow)
ue u-e	ew (new)
er	ir (bird) ur (burn)
or	au (fault) aw (saw) al (talk)
oi	oy (boy)
ou	ow (cow)

Samples of words using the new letter sounds:

day		eat	real		high		by		low
hay		tea	hear		light		my		mow
lay		meat	dear		right		try		own
way		read	year		sight		fly		slow
play		each	beach		bright		dry		blow
tray		heap	teach		fight		fry		show
clay		leaf	clean		tight		shy		throw
stay		heat	cream		fright		sty		window
pray		seat	dream		flight		sky		yellow
Sunday		team	stream		might		cry		shadow

few	girl	turn	Paul	paw	talk
new	dirt	fur	haunt	jaw	walk
view	dirty	hur	faulty	thaw	chalk
dew	stir	curl	August	lawn	all
stew	first	burst	haul	draw	hall
blew	shirt	church	launch	straw	fall
grew	birth	burger	laundry	prawn	ball
chew	third	yogurt	astronaut	crawl	wall
drew	skirt	burnt	automatic	yawn	call
threw	thirsty	Thursday	taunt	jigsaw	small

boy	owl	clown
toy	how	crowd
joy	now	frown
enjoy	down	growl
Roy	town	shower
annoy	howl	flower
employ	brown	powder
ahoy	drown	tower
employ	crown	sunflower

New tricky words to be learnt:

41. any	51. could	61. once
42. many	52. should	62. upon
43. more	53. would	63. always
44. before	54. right	64. als
45. other	55. two	65. of
46. were	56. four	66. eight
47. because	57. goes	67. love
48. want	58. does	68. cover
49. saw	59. made	69. mother
50. put	60. their	70. father

Learning at home should be fun and interesting. If your child is not keen then leave it for a while.

Think of all learning as a bonus. The aim of this guide is to help you understand how synthetic phonics works. It teaches the alphabetic code from the simplest to the more complex aspects. There are other ways of writing the vowels but children take these on board quite easily when they have the above knowledge and they can work out the words by blending the letter sounds.

Reading with Synthetic Phonics | Back to School | Reading – How to Make it Fun | Why You Should Bother | What To Do if Your Child Has Reading Difficulties | Parents Rights and Responsibilities

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