Phase 3

Click on the below video clip to view Phase 3 sounds by West Acton teachers

Click the following links for downloadable resources:

Phase 3 Word List

Phase 3 Grapheme Cards

At West Acton Primary school we teach Phase 3 explicitly in Reception during the Spring term. Phonics is taught daily for 20 minutes to the whole class but may be followed up by small group or individual teaching. At the end of teaching the whole phase the children are assessed to see whether they need consolidation of Phase 3 or are ready to progress to Phase 4. Sometimes children are set by ability for phonics and may be taught by another adult than their regular class teacher.

Phonics is initially taught to help the children to read and decode words. As they progress the children then start to use the sounds they learn in phonics to write words. At first the words may be phonetically plausible and not spelt correctly but over time as children see more words spelt correctly and progress through the phonic phases they should begin to spell the words correctly.

By the time they reach Phase 3, children will already be able to blend and segment words containing the 19 letters taught in Phase 2.

Over the twelve weeks which Phase 3 is expected to last, twenty-five new graphemes are introduced (one at a time).

Set 6: j, v, w, x

Set 7: y, z, zz, qu

Consonant digraphs: ch, sh, th, ng

Vowel digraphs: ai, ee, igh, oa, oo, ar, or, ur, ow, oi, ear, air, ure, er

During Phase 3, children will also learn the letter names using an alphabet song, although they will continue to use the sounds when decoding words.

Words that are referred to as Tricky words are also taught: he, she, we, me, be, was, you, they, all, are, my and her. These are not decodable and children have to remember how to read and spell them.

Phase 3 Set 6: j, v, w, x

J: Jill, jam, jog, jet

v: vet, van, vat

w: will, win, web, wig

x: fox, box, mix

Phase 3 Set 7: y, z, zz, qu

y: yet, yes, yap

z: zip, zap, zig, zag

zz: fizz, buzz

qu: quiz, quit

Phase 3 Consonant digraphs: ch, sh, th, ng

ch: chin, chat, chum, chap

sh: shut, ship, shop

th: that, then, this

ng: song, ring, sing

Phase 3 Vowel digraphs: ai, ee, igh, oa, oo, ar, or, ur, ow, oi, ear, air, ure, er

ai : ran, pain, gain

ee: feet, meet, bee

igh: night, tight, sight

oa: goat, boat, coat

ar: car, park, tart, shark,

oo: moon, soon,       / book  look

ur : turn, burn

ow: cow, how, wow

oi: coin, join, soil

ear: near, hear, fear

air: hair, chair

ure: pure, sure

er: toaster, better, summer