Phase 4 phonics is an exciting time for children as they begin to blend and segment longer words and become more confident readers. It is usually taught towards the end of Reception and/or at the beginning of Year 1. As a parent or teacher, you can help your child develop their phonics skills by continuing to incorporate fun and engaging activities into their learning. In this blog post, we look at what is taught in phase 4 phonics and share some exciting activities for home or school!
What is Taught in Phase 4 Phonics?
Phase 4 phonics is the next step after mastering phase 3 and is taught over at least 4-6 weeks. During this phase, children will learn to blend and segment longer words with adjacent consonants, such as 'crisp' and 'toast'. Along with this, they will also learn to read and spell words with two syllables. The focus is on consolidating the knowledge they have gained in the previous phases and applying it to more complex words. Many new tricky words are also introduced in phase 4 phonics.
10 Fun Activities for Phase 4 Phonics
1. Musical Blending
Write sounds on stickers.
Stick the stickers on drums or a xylophone to make a word.
Hit each sound and say it aloud.
Blend to read the word.
2. Frog Hopping Phonics
Frog Hopping Phonics will have your child blending to read phase 4 words in no time! All you need is a toy frog or the printable frog from the pack.
Say the sounds as the frog hops across the lily pads.
Blend to read the phase 4 phonics words.
The perfect hands-on activity for beginner or struggling readers.
3. Finger Torch Blending
Write a phase 4 phonics word on paper or card, with or without sound buttons under each phoneme.
Shine a finger torch on each sound, saying them aloud.
Blend to read the word. This activity is even more fun in the dark! If you don’t have a finger torch, just use a normal torch.
4. Phase 4 Phonics Games
Teach the 20 phase 4 ‘Letters and Sounds’ high-frequency words with these fun games and activities. Simply laminate, cut out and have fun! A great addition to your phonics provision! The games and activities have a bright summery theme, as phase 4 phonics is generally taught during British summertime.
5. Spin and Read/Spell
Make reading and spelling tricky words more fun with a spinner!
Make a spinner using a circle of card, a split pin and a paper clip.
Write tricky words on the spinner and then ask children to read or spell the word they land on.
6. Drive and Decode Phonics
Teach children to read phase 4 words (including high-frequency words) with this fun phonics blending pack! Children should say the sounds as they drive their toy car past the trees and then blend them together to read the word. A must-have for children who love cars! Ideal for your continuous provision or as a fun activity to use at home.
7. Foil Spellings
Fed up with asking children to write their spellings out on paper? Make things more fun by creating some tricky word art! Provide some foil and paints to make those spellings really stand out.
8. Swat that Fly
Who said phonics was boring? Here's an engaging and active Swat That Fly game for teaching phase 4 phonics. Your class will learn their phase 4 high-frequency words in no time! Call out a word and see who can be the first to swat the correct fly. The perfect LOW-PREP activity for your small groups!
9. Phonics Phone Message
•Make a hole in the bottom of two cups and thread string though to make a telephone. Knot the string to stop it from slipping through the cups.
•One child chooses an object in front of them and says the word down the phone.
•The other child listens and breaks the word down into its phonemes. They write them down to spell the word.
10. Car Park Phonics
FUN phonics car park mats for teaching children to blend to read words with adjacent consonants. Your class will revise the phase 2 and 3 letters and sounds, plus blend to read phase 4 words (including high-frequency words) as they park their toy cars! Perfect for active, hands-on learning.
In conclusion, phase 4 phonics is an exciting time for children as they develop their reading and spelling skills. By incorporating fun and engaging activities into their learning, you can help your child consolidate their knowledge and become more confident readers. Try out these activities and see the progress your child makes!
Take a look at the following blog posts:
Check out these awesome learning resources:
Phase 4 phonics early reader books* (click on the images):
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