She Said ‘Phoneme’ and I Had to Pretend I Knew What That Meant…

My daughter’s been coming home from nursery talking about “phonemes.”
Not colours. Not dolls. Not what her snack was.
Phonemes.

And while I’m lucky enough to be a teacher and understand what she means, I couldn’t help but think — what if I didn’t?

Because, let’s face it, when we were kids, we were just told, “this is what this word looks like — learn it.” Maybe we had a word bank each week. Maybe we learned by sight. It worked alright for us. But it’s changed — and for good reason.

Today’s schools follow a much more structured approach to teaching reading, and it all starts with phonics.

What Is Phonics?

At its heart, phonics is all about teaching children to match sounds to letters (or groups of letters). Instead of memorising whole words, Page Masters learn how to decode them — sound by sound, chunk by chunk.

Phonics gives children the tools to read anything, not just the words they've memorised.

Here’s a simple breakdown:

• Phoneme – The smallest unit of sound (e.g. /s/, /a/, /t/).

• Grapheme – The letter (or group of letters) that represent a sound.

• Digraph – Two letters making one sound (e.g. ‘sh’ in ship).

• Trigraph – Three letters making one sound (e.g. ‘igh’ in night).

• Blending – Putting sounds together to read a word.

• Segmenting – Breaking a word apart into its individual sounds.

• Split digraph – Two letters that make a sound, but are split by another letter (e.g. ‘a_e’ in cake).

If any of those were new to you — you’re not alone. That’s why ReadUp is here. We Page Keepers don’t need to be perfect. We just need to stay curious and involved.

The Phonics Screening Check: What You Need to Know

My daughter’s fascination with phonics got me thinking about something important down the line:
The Phonics Screening Check — a one-to-one assessment all children take in Year 1.

It sounds intimidating, but it’s really just a way for teachers to check if children are on track with decoding.

Here’s what it involves:

• 40 words in total:

  • 20 real words (like ship, tree)

  • 20 nonsense words (like shup, zorp)
    These are included to check whether children are decoding properly, not just relying on memory.

• The pass mark is usually 32 out of 40 (though it can vary slightly).

• If a child doesn’t meet the standard, they’ll retake it in Year 2 — no pressure, just support.

In future blog posts, I’ll be sharing downloadable practice versions of these tests so you can see how your Page Master is doing and help build confidence — in them and in you.

Why This Matters for Me Now

My daughter isn’t even in Reception yet — but already, phonics has started shaping the way she sees letters and words. That’s the power of early exposure.

Right now, I’m not trying to teach her to read.
I’m just helping her fall in love with sounds, letters, and the idea that words can be broken down and understood.

We play sound games. We look at signs. We talk about the first letter of everything. I use words like phoneme now — and, surprisingly, so does she.

And for those of you who feel like this is all a little overwhelming — I get it.
But don’t worry. Below, I’ve created a simple Phonics Terminology Guide for you to save, print or screenshot. Keep it handy when your child brings something home that sounds like a code you weren’t trained to crack.

📄 [Download the Phonics Terminology Guide for Page Keepers]
(A quick reference for Reception & Year 1 parents.)

This isn’t about becoming a phonics expert overnight. It’s about showing up.
It’s about being the Page Keeper who says,
“I may not know everything — but I’m right here with you.”

And really, that’s the kind of support every Page Master needs.