Phonic Phase 3
In Phase 3 Letters and Sounds introduces :
(i) the rest of the letters of the alphabet. These are: 'j, q, v, w, x, y, z,
(ii) the consonant digraphs (two letters combined to make one sound) 'ch, sh, th, ng, qu',
(iii) and one spelling for each of the vowel sounds of the English language. These are: ai (rain), ee (deep), igh (light), oa (boat), oo (moon), oo (good), ow (down) ar (star), er (under), or (for), ur (burn), oi (boil), air (hair), ear (year), ure (pure).
There is also a list of high-frequency irregular words to be learnt. These are 'he, she, we, me, be, was, my, you, they, her, all, are'.
Our early phase 3 books do not include all the sounds and their spellings described in Letters and Sounds. We use two spellings of |ai|, in 'play' and 'laid', two spellings of |ee|, in 'see' and 'Bean', two spellings of |ow|, in 'down' and 'out', one spelling of |oo| in 'look' and one spelling of |or| in 'for'.
When children are comfortable with these sounds and their spellings we move onto 'oo' in 'too' in the Pig Family Blends Series and 'ie' in 'tried', 'y' in 'fly', 'oa' in 'float', and 'er' in 'water' in the Early Vowel Combinations Series.
The letter 'y'.
This letter has at least three different roles in the English language.
One of its roles is as a consonant at the beginning of a word, e.g. in the words 'yes, you, yacht, yoghurt'. Children usually learn this role as the first sound/symbol correspondence of 'y' in Phonic Phase 3.
They also learn the word 'my' as a phonically irregular word in this Phonic Phase 3 also. This role of 'y', as an alternative spelling of the long vowel phoneme |igh|, is the sound at the end of the words 'sky, try, by, fly, cry, why, spy' and is not introduced in Letters and Sounds until Phonic Phase 5.
Also 'y' is commonly used at the end of words such as 'mummy, daddy, sorry, happy, dizzy, penny, funny, jolly, hobby, jelly, fizzy, silly'. This role is not introduced in Letters and Sounds until Phonic Phase 5.
But the Shy 'i', Toughy 'y' Rule provides a good explanation for young children to use 'y' in this role prior to phase 5. We say that 'i' is a shy little letter who does not like to be at the end of a word, and 'y' is a big tough letter who helps him out by replacing him.
****READING BOOKS****
The following series provide practice for this phase:
The Phase 3 A Series, books 5-10, and Phase 3 B Series, books 5-10, use all letters of the alphabet, the irregular words 'no, me, my' and the vowel spellings 'ay' (play), 'ee' (see), 'ea' (Bean), 'oo' (look).
The A Extra Series and B Extra Series introduce the high-frequency words 'to, go, we, you, are, said' and the vowel spellings 'ou' (out), 'ow' (down), 'or' (for).
The A Digraphs Series introduces the digraphs 'sh, th, ch', the high-frequency words 'he, she, was, they, all, come' and the vowel spelling 'ai' (laid).
The Pig Family Series reinforces all the phonics and high-frequency words in the books listed above as well as 'have' and 'one'.
The Rhyming CVC Series reinforces all the above and introduces the high-frequency words 'her, so, eyes, yellow, blue'.
The Pig Family Blends Series reinforces all the above work and introduces the vowel spelling 'oo' (too).
The Early Vowel Combinations Series introduces the vowel spellings 'ie (pie), y (sky), oa (boat), er (after)' and the phonically irregular high-frequency words 'water, again'.
All the reading books described above also contain some adjacent consonants to blend as described in phonic phase 4.
The rest of the vowel combinations for phonic phase 3, and also phonic phase 5, are introduced in Follifoot Farm Series 1, Follifoot Farm Series 2, Follifoot Farm Series 3, the Long Vowel Series and the English Vowels Series.
****WRITING ACTIVITIES*****
Phase 3 Consonants Worksheets. This photocopiable volume has activity sheets for the letters 'j, v, w, x, y, z, ff, ll, ss, ck, th, sh, ch, ng' in decodable words, plus activities for the all the irregular high-frequency words of Phase 3.
Worksheets Volume 2 provides reading and writing practice for the books 5-10 in the Phase 3 A Series and the Phase 3 B Series.
Worksheets Volume 3 provides reading and writing practice for books 11-20 of the A Extra Series and the A Digraphs Series
Phase 3 Graphemes Worksheets are on a CD. They are PDF files to print from your own computer. They cover the writing of the vowel combinations 'ai, ay, ee, ea, oo, (moon), oo (good), oa, ar, er, or, ow (town), ou, igh, oi, ur, air, ear, ure'. The activities on this CD are a taken from the photocopiable volumes of Long Vowel Worksheets and English Vowel Worksheets.
****GRAPHEME and WORD CARDS****
Alphabet Cards These 42 cards are for the letters of the alphabet and the consonant digraphs.
Grapheme Cards These 42 cards are for all the vowel spellings for this phase.
Word Cards Set 5 are for the irregular high-frequency words of Phonic Phase 3.