When children start Phase Four of the Letters and Sounds phonics program, they will know a grapheme for each of the 42 phonemes. They will be able to blend phonemes to read CVC (consonant-vowel-consonant) words and segments to spell them. They are not taught any new phonemes or graphemes. Instead, they are trained to manipulate further the phonemes and graphemes they have already learned. Children explore more polysyllabic words (words containing more than one syllable).
Letters and Sounds in Phase 4 Phonics
The main aim of this phase is to consolidate the children’s knowledge and to help them learn to read and spell words that have adjacent consonants.
Here are some examples of the kinds of phonemes that children are expected to understand by this stage.
- Sk, lt, lp, if, and pt
- Scr, shr, thr, nch, and str
- Fr, nl, fl, gl, and pl
- Cl, sl, sp, st and tw
- Sm, pr, sc, sk, and sn
Phase 4 Tricky Words List
Following is a list of high frequency words for phase 4 of phonics teaching.
| I went | it’s | help | just |
| tent | belt | hump | band |
| dent | felt | gulp | lamp |
| wind | land | nest | sink |
| link | hunt | best | tilt |
| lift | lost | tuft | damp |
| bust | camp | gift | kept |
| tusk | limp | soft | pond |
| husk | cost | bank | bunk |
| fond | gust | Hand | next |
| milk | golf | jump | Fact |
| melt | Paint | roast | toast |
| beast | Think | Children | helpdesk |
| sandpit | windmill | softest | pondweed |
| desktop | hand sand | melting | gift box |
| seventh | shampoo | Chester | shelter |
| lunchbox | sandwich | shelving | Manchester |
| Chimpanzee | champion | thundering | from |
| Spot | Frog | Step | Stop |
| plan | speck | trip | grab |
| track | spin | flag | grip |
| glad | twin | sniff | plum |
| gran | swim | clap | drop |
| glass | Grass | brass | green |
| fresh | steep | tree | Spear |
| smell | spoon | train | sport |
| thrush | trash | start | fair |
| trail | cream | clown | star |
| creep | brown | stair | bring |
| crash | bleed | clear | swing |
| droop | float | smart | Groan |
| Brush | growl | scoop | crisp |
| frown | speech | smear | thrill |
| treetop | starlight | freshness | stand |
| trend | brand | plump | stamp |
| skunk | blink | drank | blank |
| trunk | Graft | blast | slant |
| strap | scrunch | Twisting | printer |
| welsh | sixth | boost | roast |
Keep exploring EnglishBix to find resources related to different stages of phonics.
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