What is decoding?

By Ava Jones

Decoding in phonics is about figuring out the sounds that letters and groups of letters make, then blending them together to say the whole word out loud.

When children learn phonics, they are learning how to decode words by understanding the sounds (phonemes) that the letters (graphemes) represent. This helps them to read new words they haven’t seen before. It’s like learning a special skill to unlock the meaning of written words.

How quickly should decoding be taught?

Children should be able to start decoding words after they know 4-8 sounds.

Phase 1 of phonics teaching is learning the alphabet sounds. Phase 2 of phonics teaching is when children start to learn the sounds of the letters. For example, the alphabet letter ‘s’ is pronounced ‘es’, whereas the sound ‘s’ is pronounced ‘sss’.

Phase 2 phonics teaching works systematically. In schools, children learn ‘s’, ‘a’, ‘t’, ‘p’, followed by ‘i’, ‘n’, ‘m’, ‘d’. Here, they will start to decode basic words like ‘pin’, ‘sat’ and ‘tap’.

Every phase and set of sounds they learn from there on will add extra words to their vocabulary. As new sounds get introduced, children are able to build up the complexity of the words they decode.

Why are sound buttons so important when decoding?

Sound buttons are visual aids used when learning phonics. These small circles/lines underneath the individual letters/groups of letters in words help children see where the different sounds are within the words they are decoding.

Sound buttons promote phonemic awareness, help children to blend sounds when reading words and provide visual support for understanding letter-sound relationships. Sound buttons help children to decode words systematically which improves their reading skills!

How can I help my child with decoding at home?

There are plenty of games that you can play at home to help your child fly!

Scavenger Hunt

Write words on small pieces of folded up paper and hide them around the house. Give your child a list of words to find and decode. As they find each word, they can read it aloud. Write sound buttons underneath the words to encourage them to decode!

Rhyme Time

Create a list of rhyming words and encourage your child to add more words that also rhyme. This helps them to decode the words to then think of further words that rhyme with the sounds they can hear!

I Spy

You can play this game anywhere! Start by saying “I spy with my little eye, something beginning with….”. Your child then has to look for objects around you that begin with the chosen sound. This helps them to decode the names of things they can see (objects, people, clothes etc) as they are looking for that particular sound.

Only Change One Letter

Create a gridded sheet of paper (4×4 for example). Add images to each square in a consecutive order. The names of these images must only change one letter from the previous image. For example – image 1 = ‘pen’, image 2 = ‘pet’, image 3 = ‘pot’, image 4 = ‘hot’ etc. Then, create small cards with each sound on that features in the words you have chosen. Your child can then go through the images, laying out the sound cards in front of them, changing one card for each image they focus on!

Check out our pre-made version of this game: