Digraphs & Trigraphs
A digraph is a pair of letters which make one
phoneme (sound).
A trigraph is 3 letters that make one phoneme.
For example;
ai - snail
oa – boat
or – born
air - chair
If your child sounds out these words, make sure
they say the digraph/ trigraph as one sound.
Sounding out digraphs when
reading.
Sound out these words:
t/ r/ ai/ n
s/ l / ee / p
ch/ ur/ ch
How many sounds/ phonemes?
How many letters?
Blend them together to make the word.
How would you break up these
words?
light
sound
haunted
How would you break up these
words?
l / igh / t
s / ou / n / d
h / au / n / t / e / d
Split digraphs
 If a word contains a ‘vowel / consonant / e’ pattern the vowel
and the ‘e’ are a split digraph.
 For example,
like
cake
flute
complete
rope
The ‘e’ on the end of the word makes the vowel say its ‘letter name’
but doesn’t make a sound itself.
This used to be referred to as
‘Magic E’.
However, it is more helpful to call it a
‘split digraph’ because there are many
words that end in ‘e’ which are not
split digraphs.
E.g. Here, before, there, were.
Letter patterns
When reading it is easier to break down long
words into sections. Cover up the part of the
word you are not trying to read before
blending.
butt/er/fly
chim/pan/zee
Sep/tem/ber
Year 1 Phonics
Screening Check
This takes place early in the summer term.
Children are expected to read both real and
pseudo (nonsense) words.
It is simply a test of their phonic knowledge and
blending skills, rather than a general reading
test.
Effective Questioning
What do you think this book will be about?
How is this character feeling?
What is the character doing?
What do you think will happen next?
How would you like the story to end?
What happened on this page?
What was your favourite part of the story?
High Frequency Words
By the end of year 1, children should be
able to read and spell the first 100
high frequency words.
Lots of these will need to be learnt by
sight as they cannot be sounded out.
How many words can you think
of with the long ‘i’ sound?
How many different ways do
you think there are of spelling
this phoneme?
Did you get all of these
graphemes?
igh
i
i_e
y
ie
eye
light
kind
line
fly
denied
eyes
night
find
fine
sly
cried
eyesight
fight
blind
describe
why
replied
We move on to teaching children
alternative spelling for phonemes they are
familiar with.
ow
oe
oa
ough
o_e
a-e
ay
ai
eigh
a
ey
ee
e
y
ea
o
ey
ea
ie
Strategies for spellings
i_e
igh
Strategies for spellings
Spotting words containing alternative
spellings (reading, out and about…)
Sound talking words (segmenting)
e.g. f/r/igh/t
 Speed write
 Kinaesthetic learning strategies
(air writing, playdough, string words,
finger writing on someone’s back)
Air writing
said
The reading diet in school
Shared reading
Guided reading
Individual reading/Paired reading
Focused reading tasks
Reading for purpose
Supporting comprehension
Retelling the main points in the story
Retrieving facts from the text
Comparing books by the same author
Considering an author’s choice of language
(‘Floppy raced up the stairs.’)
Making predictions
Making deductions (thoughts, feelings, actions)
Why wasn’t he worried?
Commenting on the layout of texts
Paper 1
Paper 2
Sections of text and
corresponding questions on the
same page
Text booklet and separate
question and answer booklet
Focus on fact retrieval
Focus on inferring meaning and
making deductions
‘What’
‘Who’
‘Why’
‘How do you know that…’
‘What tells us that…’
50% of total marks
50 % of total marks
How can you help at home?
Use your local library
Let your child read for enjoyment (not just
books…..comics, annuals, signs, football
magazines)
Listen to audio books or create your own
Read to your child (modelled reading)
A range of reading material e.g. recipes,
instructions, guide books
Non-fiction and fiction
Reading news (First News, Newsround)
Any questions?