The Lindo Phonics Blog
Plain answers about the scheme your child's school uses, the level they are on, and what they should actually be reading at home. Written by a parent, with a real book at every level.
38 articles
Phonics Phase 5: One Sound, Several Spellings
What Phase 5 phonics teaches in Year 1, what the split digraphs are, and six practical steps for helping at home without teaching ahead of school.
Read → For parentsPhonics Phase 4: The One With No New Sounds
Phase 4 teaches no new sounds, which worries parents every summer term. What it really covers, why it matters and the myths worth dropping.
Read → For parentsPhonics Phase 3: The Long Vowel Sounds
What Phase 3 phonics covers in the Reception spring, the full list of long vowel digraphs and trigraphs, and how to help your child blend them at home.
Read → For parentsPhonics Phase 2: What Your Child Learns First
What Phase 2 phonics covers in Reception, the sounds and tricky words taught, why blending is the hard part and how to help in ten calm minutes.
Read → Essential Letters and SoundsEssential Letters and Sounds Phase 5
What ELS Phase 5 teaches in Year 1, why split digraphs trip children up, how to say the sounds at home and what to do if it is not going well.
Read → Twinkl PhonicsTwinkl Phonics Level 5: Alternative Spellings
What Twinkl Phonics Level 5 teaches in Year 1, why alternative spellings slow children down, how it maps to Phase 5 and what actually helps at home.
Read → Twinkl PhonicsTwinkl Phonics Level 3: The Digraphs Arrive
Twinkl Phonics Level 3 explained: the digraphs sh, ch, th, ai, ee, igh and oa, why reading slows in Reception spring, and how to help your child at home.
Read → Sounds-WriteSounds-Write Extended Code: What Comes After the Initial Code
The Sounds-Write Extended Code explained for parents: about 49 units across Years 1 and 2, why no new sounds arrive, and how to help when reading slows.
Read → Jolly PhonicsJolly Phonics Actions: What They Are For
Why every Jolly Phonics sound has an action and a song, how long children need them, and what actually helps when your child knows sounds but cannot blend.
Read → Jolly PhonicsJolly Phonics Tricky Words, in the Order They Arrive
Jolly Phonics has no phase numbers, so tricky words arrive with the seven sound groups. Here is the order, what each group unlocks, and how to teach them.
Read → Bug ClubBug Club Green Band: Suffixes and Prefixes
What Bug Club Green band teaches, why no new sounds arrive in Phase 6, and how to help your child read longer words with prefixes and suffixes at home.
Read → Bug ClubBug Club Yellow Band: Why There Are No New Sounds
Bug Club Yellow band is Phase 4 and teaches no new sounds at all. What the band is really for, why it takes a term, and what helps at home.
Read → Bug ClubBug Club Red Band Explained
Bug Club Red band is Phase 3, where two letters start making one sound. The exact sounds in Red 1 and Red 2, and why it feels harder than Pink.
Read → Bug ClubBug Club Pink Band: What Your Child Is Reading
Bug Club Pink band explained for parents: the exact sounds in Pink 1 and Pink 2, why the books look so short, and what a good home read looks like.
Read → Read Write IncRead Write Inc Red Words and Green Words
What red words and green words mean in Read Write Inc, why one gets Fred Talk and the other does not, and exactly what to do when your child stalls.
Read → Read Write IncRead Write Inc Storybook Colours: Red Ditty to Grey
The full Read Write Inc storybook colour order from Sound Blending Books to Grey, which sounds sit behind each one, and what to do at home.
Read → Read Write IncRead Write Inc Book Bag Books Explained
Why the Read Write Inc Book Bag Book is a different story from the one read in school, what the colours mean and how to make the home read go well.
Read → Read Write IncRead Write Inc Set 3 Sounds
All seventeen Read Write Inc Set 3 sounds with example words, split digraphs explained, which storybooks use them and how to help your Year 1 child.
Read → Read Write IncRead Write Inc Set 2 Sounds
All twelve Read Write Inc Set 2 sounds with example words, which storybooks use them, why there are two oo sounds and how to help at home.
Read → Read Write IncRead Write Inc Set 1 Sounds, in Order
The full Read Write Inc Set 1 order, the seven special friends, what Fred Talk means and how to help your Reception child blend at home without pushing.
Read → Little WandleLittle Wandle Fluency Books: When Decodables Stop Being Enough
What parents mean by Little Wandle fluency books, when a child is ready to move past decodables, and how to build reading speed at home without pushing.
Read → Little WandleLittle Wandle Tricky Words, Term by Term
Every Little Wandle tricky word by Reception term, what tricky really means, and the one thing not to do when your child gets stuck on one.
Read → Little WandleLittle Wandle Phase 5: The Alternative Spellings
Little Wandle Phase 5 covers the whole of Year 1 and adds no new sounds. Nine things to know, plus the June phonics screening check explained.
Read → Little WandleLittle Wandle Phase 4: Blends, Not New Sounds
Little Wandle Phase 4 adds no new sounds. Here is what the Reception summer term is really doing, and seven steps that help at home in five minutes.
Read → Little WandleLittle Wandle Phase 3: The Sounds, and a Book Made Only From Them
The thirteen Little Wandle Phase 3 sounds, the Spring 1 tricky words, why Spring 2 adds nothing new, and how to help without turning it into a test.
Read → Little WandleLittle Wandle Phase 2: The First Sounds They Meet
What Little Wandle Phase 2 covers across the Reception autumn term, the exact sounds and tricky words, and how to help at home in five minutes.
Read → Essential Letters and SoundsEssential Letters and Sounds: A Parent's Guide
What ELS is, why it splits Phase 3 into consonants then vowels, and the one piece of its parent guidance that matters more than all the rest.
Read → Twinkl PhonicsTwinkl Phonics Levels Explained
All six Twinkl Phonics levels, how they line up with the Letters and Sounds phases, and why two of them introduce no new sounds at all.
Read → Sounds-WriteSounds-Write Initial Code: What Parents Need to Know
The eleven Initial Code units in order, why three of them teach no new sounds, and why Sounds-Write talks about spellings where other schemes talk about letters.
Read → Jolly PhonicsJolly Phonics: The Seven Letter Groups in Order
All 42 Jolly Phonics sounds by group, why the first six are s, a, t, i, p, n rather than A, B, C, and what the actions are actually for.
Read → For parentsWhen Reading Practice Turns Into a Fight Every Night
If the ten minutes has become an argument, the fix is to make it shorter rather than better. What is usually going on, and what actually changes it.
Read → For parentsHow to Find Out Which Phonics Scheme Your School Uses
Five ways to identify your school's phonics scheme, how to recognise each one from the book itself, and why the answer changes which books are fair to give your child.
Read → Letters and SoundsLetters and Sounds: The Six Phases
What each of the six phases teaches, why two of them introduce no new sounds, and why schools still say Phase 3 years after the framework left the validated list.
Read → For parentsPhonics Books for Year 1: What Level Should They Be On?
Year 1 means Phase 5 in every scheme, under eight different names. A cross-scheme table, a five-minute check you can do at home, and what the screening check really tests.
Read → Bug ClubBug Club Phonics Books: The Levels Explained
Every Bug Club Phonics band from Lilac to Lime, the sounds taught at each one, and why Yellow band introduces no new sounds at all.
Read → For parentsWhat Are Decodable Books? A Plain-English Guide
Decodable is not a reading level or a colour band. It describes the fit between a book and one particular child, and six common myths get in the way of seeing that.
Read → Read Write IncRead Write Inc Books at Home: A Parent's Guide to the Levels
The Read Write Inc colour levels in order, what sounds sit in Set 1, 2 and 3, and why the Book Bag Book that comes home is not the book they read in school.
Read → Little WandleLittle Wandle Books: What Your Child Reads at Each Phase
Which Little Wandle phase your child is on, the exact sounds taught in each one, and why the book that comes home looks easier than you expected.
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