Phonics - Vowel Phonemes and beyond...
Once children move on to the end of Reception and into Key stage 1, most children are ready to begin learning a range of different 'vowel phonemes' (sounds). These are where two or more letters are matched together to make a new sound.
Now we are going to look at diagraphs, trigraphs and quadgraphs...
Here it is explained:
Monster Phonics uses different colours and monsters to explain this to children.
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Angry Red A
a, a-e, ay, ai, ei, eigh, ea, ey
There are 8 graphemes that make the long A sound. We colour them red.
Angry Red A is a memory cue for the long A sound because he makes this sound.
Angry Red A is a kind but crazy monster. He sometimes breaks objects without thinking. He loves driving his racing car and has a monster taxi service. On Fridays, his cave becomes the Rave Cave for the weekly monster disco.
Long vowel A Song
Here are a number of different ways you may seen the long vowel written, but they are less common:
ei
eigh
ea
ey
Yellow I
i, i-e, y, igh, ie
There are 5 graphemes that make the long I sound. We colour them yellow.
The Yellow I monster is a memory cue for the long I sound because he makes this sound.
Yellow I watches over the other monsters from his lighthouse. When there is trouble the lighthouse blinks and he jumps into action. Yellow I is a spy who goes on secret missions and loves gadgets like iPads and iPhones. He can fly when he wears his secret cloak.
Miss Oh no
o, o-e, oa, ow, oe
There are 5 graphemes that make the long O sound. We colour them pink.
Miss Oh No is a memory cue for the long O sound because she says ‘Oh No!’ when she bumps into things.
Miss Oh No loves to dance more than anything else in the world. She is a disco dance teacher giving lessons after school to all the monsters. She is enthusiastic but sometimes lacks coordination! Miss Oh No lives inside a pink-coated doughnut-shaped house.
Green Froggy
e, y, ee, ea, ie, ey, ei, i, e-e, i-e
There are 9 graphemes that make the long E sound. We colour them green.
Green Froggy is a memory cue for the long E sound because she makes this sound.
‘Green Froggy is happy to dream under the tree’
‘Green Froggy is a teacher at the teapot school house. She loves to drink tea and coffee and always looks forward to the weekend’
U-hoo
u, u-e, ew, ue, eu
There are 5 graphemes that make the long U sound. We colour them purple.
U-Hoo is a memory cue for the long U sound because he makes this sound.
U-Hoo lives in the outer universe. He calls ‘Yoo-hoo!’ and waves his U-shaped arms to his friends below him. He visits Monster Phonics Land by sliding down a purple tube that magically appears. U-hoo is a musician, playing the drums in the monsters band.
ue/eu (cue)
Cool Blue
u, o, u-e, oo, ew, ue, ou, ui, o-e, eu
There are 10 graphemes that make the long oo sound. We colour them blue.
Cool Blue is a memory cue for the long O sound because he makes this sound.
Cool Blue is a cool DJ and he also looks after the zoo. He adores animals especially kangaroos and cockatoos. Cool Blue lives in a blue moon house. His favourite DJ event is the Friday Monsters Disco. He also sings the ‘Ooh’ vocals in the monsters’ band.
'oo' family
Brown owl
ow, ou
There are 2 graphemes that make the ow sound. We colour them brown.
Brown Owl is a memory cue for the ow sound.
Brown Owl is a Mountain Rescue Owl. She lives in a brown treehouse at the top of Monster Mountain with Bounder, her St Bernard. If a monster is lost, she’ll save them. She loves comics and talks like a comic book… POW! WOW! OW! She excels at school.
Tricky Witch
Tricky letters show no grapheme-phoneme correspondence. They make a different sound to the one that has been taught. We colour them gold. For example, the ‘a’ in ‘want’ makes an ‘o’ sound. For Tricky letters, the cue is “Tricky Witch has cast a spell to change the sounds you know so well. Can I catch you out”?
Tricky Witch is naughty and casts ‘tricky’ spells in Monster Phonics Land often causing chaos. She lives in the haunted house with the ghosts and the black cats. Her nieces, the Little Witches come to visit. Tricky Witch loves jewellery and gold bling!
ur (nurse with a purse)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htpZax2kBnE
oi (spoil the boy)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFdTtKSEts4&t=4s
aw (yawn at dawn)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VtcSSju44JM
are (share and care)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibvoVLbVt3w
ear (hear with your ear)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7BCLw0E8X8
ure (sure it's pure)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJto_zIcdyE
ir (whirl and twirl)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2SsQgD1lvXc
oo (look at a book)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3AhuADL0qM8&t=7s
ar (start the car)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnA0lTx7YgQ
air (that's not fair)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cs5JQnFWlXw
ou (shout it out)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dP8DTfSqCk0
oy (toy for a boy)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fyMHm5EoAIc
Ghosts
The sound cue for silent letters is “Put your fingers to your lips. Ghost letters make no sound.” We colour them white. The ghosts help children to remember to write these letters in words, even though they have no sound.
The ghosts enjoy hiding and jumping out to scare the monsters. They make no sound! This is great for pretending that they are not there. They live in Tricky Witch’s house and help to look after the Black Cats. They feed them and play chase games.
Other phonic websites and apps...
Click here to see school resources on English, reading and writing:
https://www.teachyourmonstertoread.com/
