Phonic Zoom encourages the learning of phonemes and graphemes through play and supports the development of independent reading for children in a fun and exciting way.
A digraph is…
In UK phonics, a digraph refers to two letters that make a single sound when they appear together in a word. These letters work together to represent a specific sound. For example, in the word “ship”, the letters ‘s’ and ‘h’ form a digraph. When pronounced together, they create the “sh” sound.
How do we identify digraphs in words?
1. Break the word down into phonemes: Segment the word into its individual sounds (phonemes. For example, the word ‘ship’ would become “/sh/ – /i/ – /p/”.
2. Look for two adjacent letters: Scan the segmented word to find pairs of letters that are next to each other. In the segmented version of the word ‘ship’, this would be the ‘sh’ phoneme.
3. Listen for the combined sound: Say the letters together and listen to how they combine. Compare this with how the letters sound on their own. For example the letter ‘s’ on its own sounds like “sss”, but when combined with the letter ‘h’, we get the ‘sh’ sound.
4. Compare with phoneme chart or phonics rules: Refer to a phoneme chart or phonics rules to confirm if the sound created by the two letters is a common digraph.
5. Practice listening and identifying: With practice, recognising digraphs will become much easier!
Home learning task!
You can practice identifying digraphs in words with your child by following the steps above. Find their favourite book to read, pausing on a page and picking words that you know contain digraphs. Encourage them to segment the words to find the digraphs. Practicing this way not only makes it more engaging, but it will help solidify the different types of digraphs in your child’s memory!
Our blog post on ‘Pure Sounds’ will help you understand the importance of clear pronunciation when teaching phonics.
Pure sounds are important when learning about digraphs as they help us:
1. Hear clearly: They make each letter’s sound clear and distinct.
2. Tell sounds apart: This helps us tell the difference between individual letters and when two letters make one sound (like in a digraph).
3. Blend sounds: Pure sounds make it easier to put sounds together smoothly when reading words.
4. Understand sounds: By knowing pure sounds, it is easier to recognise and understand digraphs as special duos of letters that make one sound.
