Phase 2 Phonics

How is Phonics Taught?

Phonics is taught in phases, starting in the preschool setting and continuing until year 2.

• Phase 1 is usually covered in the preschool setting as well as in Reception and is all about speaking and listening.
• Following on from this, Phase 2 begins to introduce children to single letter sounds, such as a followed by simple digraph phonemes, such as ck.
• Phase 3 looks at trickier digraphs, such as ai and oa and trigraphs such as igh.
• Phase 4 is a consolidation of all phonemes learned so far, especially within CCVC (consonant, consonant, vowel, consonant) words such as slip, and CVCC words such as tent. Furthermore, children will be taught to segment and blend polysyllabic words.
• Phase 5 is about broadening their knowledge of graphemes and phonemes for use in reading and spelling. They will learn new graphemes and alternative pronunciations for these and graphemes they already know.
• Phase 6 is about reading words and teaching spelling; introducing and teaching the past tense; suffixes; longer words and the application of this spelling within writing. This is covered in year 1 and 2. 

This blog post looks at all things relating to Phase 2 Phonics.

A Parents’ Guide to Phonics

If you haven’t already done so, watch our webinar, ‘A Parents’ Guide to Phonics’. It is free and will give you a great introduction to phonics and how it all works.

Phase 2 Phonics

The aim of this phase is to introduce children to letter sounds. They will learn to blend and segment consonant, vowel, consonant (CVC) words and learn some tricky words. They will likely learn the following sounds, in the following order:

s, a, t, p

i, n, m, d

g, o, c, k

ck, e, u, r

h, b, f, ff, l, ll, ss

What are Tricky Words?

Alongside the phonemes that your child will be learning, they will also learn tricky words. Many of these words cannot be sounded out so children just have to learn them by sight. The phase 2 tricky words are: 

I

no

the

to

go

into

Activities and Games for Phase 2 Phonics

• Phonics Bingo: Create bingo cards with pictures representing Phase 2 words (e.g., cat, dog, sun) and call out phase 2 sounds. Children mark the pictures that start with that sound.

• Sound Sorting: Provide a variety of objects or picture cards and have children sort them into groups based on their initial sounds.

• Swat the sound: With a fly swat or other utensil, call out a sound and your child has to swat the right sound!

• Flashcard Relay: Prepare a set of flashcards with Phase 2 sounds. Place them at one end of the room. When you call out a sound, the child has to run to the corresponding flashcard.

• Phonics Memory: Create pairs of cards with pictures or words. Flip them face down and have the child turn over two cards at a time, trying to find matching pairs.

• Sound Hunt: Give children a list of Phase 2 sounds and have them go on a ‘sound hunt’ around the house to find objects that begin with those sounds.

• Musical Chairs with Sounds: Place pictures or cards with Phase 2 words on chairs. Play music and have children walk around. When the music stops, they sit on a chair and say the sound.

• Phonics Twister: Create a Twister-style game with coloured circles on the floor, each labelled with a Phase 2 sound. Call out a sound, and children have to place their hands or feet on the corresponding circle.

• Phonics Hopscotch: Draw a hopscotch grid and write Phase 2 sounds in the squares. Call out a sound, and the child must hop to the correct square.

• Phonics Puzzles: Create simple jigsaw puzzles with pictures and the corresponding Phase 2 words. Children have to match them up.

• Real vs Nonsense Words: Set up a ‘real word, nonsense word’ game where children have to put the ‘nonsense’ words in the bin and the real words are treasure to keep! Examples of nonsense words are: sot, pim, hin, meck and blan. You can make up your own!

• Online Phonics Games: There are various educational websites and apps that offer interactive games focused on Phase 2 phonics sounds.

Useful Resources for Phase 2 Phonics

• A whiteboard and magnetic letters are a great way for children to learn to recognise these sounds as well as to learn how to segment simple CVC words to spell them.
• Printing off flashcards of the sounds are an ideal way to consolidate the learning of these sounds – stick them on the fridge or in their room to encourage recognition.
• Use playdough to try and ‘make’ the sound they are learning.
• Use ‘sound buttons’ underneath each sound and ‘press’ the buttons as you say the sounds. Encourage your children to do the same.
• Use a phoneme frame to help them segment a word (shown here with sound buttons):

• Invest in different writing implements (chalk for outside, paint, crayons, pens etc) and encourage your child to practise forming their sounds. Don’t forget to show them the correct letter formation! Our blog post on Encouraging an Avid Writer from the Early Days has lots of ideas on how to do this.
• Download and use our Phase 2 Sound Mat (link above): 

Bright Light Phonics Books!

Watching your child learn to read and write can be a wonderfully exciting time! As mothers ourselves, we have seen first-hand the joy children get from being able to recognise their first sounds, words and sentences. Structured in a weekly format, we hope our workbooks will provide a straightforward and enjoyable way in which to guide your child on their phonics journey!

Our books are ideal in supporting and reinforcing phonics for Reception children in England. Reception children are those entering the first year of primary school (4-5 year olds). Children now follow a structured phonics-based programme. Whilst schools can choose their own programme, it is often taught in six phases which starts in nursery and ends in Year 2 and our books do the same, so they will fit well with your child’s own school teaching of phonics.

For some children, they may be ready to start their phonics journey from preschool age (3 years old) and some nursery settings teach the Phase 2 sounds in the year before children begin school. Bright Light Phonics Book 1 can help to support these children.

For those children not in a school environment in England but who speak English, the books are suitable for children as they start learning to read and write, typically 4-6 year olds.

Our books are also perfect for non-English speaking children of all ages who are learning to read and write English.

Bright Light Phonics Programme

If you are looking for a structured programme, we offer a 12-week pre-recorded programme which is ideal for children who are just starting to read and write English. It works alongside our book, Bright Light Phonics: Book 1, which can be purchased separately via Amazon.