It is that time of year again and the Year 1 Phonics Check is looming. It will take place this year during the week commencing June 12th.
There had been a lot of criticism about the check in general but specifically about the nonsense, ‘alien words’ in the check that children are asked to decode. So why are the ‘alien words’ there? What is their purpose? Do they tell us anything more about the reading skills of the child than a real word would?
Here is a post that I wrote some time ago which explains why the ‘alien words’ are in the Year 1 Phonics Check.
What are non-words and why they should be part of the Y1 Phonics Check
Here is a lovely alien from our ‘Name an Alien’ competition.
