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• Learning Overview
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Placement Test

When first playing the Phonics Hero games, you will be given the option to start at the beginning (for new readers) or to take our Placement Test.

Our Placement Test asks children to read nonsense words to
assess their phonics knowledge.

What We Teach:

Although it’s 3 years of content, it’s a better educational approach to place your child on a level by ability, rather than age.

Phonics Hero has two orders of sounds. Depending on where you live, you’re automatically assigned the best order (this is based on your country’s curriculum and the predominate accent). View your order:

• Australia, Canada, HK and USA
• Rest of the World

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Australia, Canada, HK and USA

Playing With Sounds Order

Download a PDF of the order.

Part 1 – Basic Code – Beginning Reader & Speller
Level	Target Sounds and Spelling Choices	Example Words
1	s m c t g p a o	sat, mop, tap, cog
2	r l d b f h i u	rag, fib, hid, lug
3	v w y z j n k e	vat, win, zip, ink, men, yum
4	ll ss ff zz	bell, huff, buzz, mass
5	sh ch th wh	shall, then, chum, which
6	ck ng qu x	pack, sung, quick, flex

What They’ll Learn:

• A great foundation: the first 29 of the 44 sounds.
• A sound for each letter of the alphabet and the concept that a sound can be represented by more than one letter, for example: ‘sh’ or ‘ch’.
• To read and spell over 350 words.
• To read over 150 sentences.
• 36 camera/tricky words, which are so essential to get children reading and writing passages of text.

Part 2 – Advanced Code – Emerging Reader & Speller
Level	Target Sounds and Spelling Choices	Example Words
7	Words with a more complicated pattern VCC (Vowel, Consonant, Consonant) CCVC and CVCC words	ash, stop, drum, gift, dress
8	ee ea y e	cheek, beach, merry, being
9	i igh y ie i_e	blind, thigh, spy, tried, drive
10	o oa ow o_e	hotel, boast, pillow, alone
11	a ai ay a_e	lady, chain, fray, grape
12	oo ew ue u_e	spoon, grew, blue, fluke

What They’ll Learn:

• The 5 critical vowel digraphs.
• Watch spelling fly with all the ways these vowel digraphs can be spelled.
• 248 fun, lively, unique games.
• Read and spell over 250 new words.
• Read over 150 new sentences.
• 36 new camera/tricky words.

Part 3 – Complete the Code – Advancing Reader & Speller
Level	Target Sounds and Spelling Choices	Example Words
13	r rr wr	risky, carrot, wrung
14	oi oy	point, toilet, employ, royal
15	ph f ff	dolphin, shelf, offend
16	ow ou	drowsy, allow, crouch, ground
17	c ce s se ss	pencil, fence, sixty, rinse, stress
18	u oo oul	full, bully, shook, should
19	ar a	sharp, parcel, grasp, chant
20	ir er ear ur or	squirt, berth, early, blurb, world
21	or au aw al ore	horse, pause, scrawl, stalk, swore
22	air ear are ere	hairy, parent, there
23	j dge ge g	wedge, fridge, surgeon, giraffe
24	ch tch tu	child, charm, blotch, fracture
25	sh ci ti	splash, shrunk, gracious, direction
26	s si	unusual, leisure, illusion, abrasion

What They’ll Learn:

• The last remaining sounds needed to complete the phonics code.
• Read and spell over 456 new words.
• Read over 376 new sentences.
• And your child will now be off on their own reading and spelling adventures!

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Rest of the World

Letters and Sounds Order

Download a PDF of the order.

Part 1 – Basic Code

Phase 2
Level	Target Sounds and Spelling Choices	Example Words
1a	s a t p	sat, pat, tap sap
1b	i n m d	sit, nip, man, din
2a	g o c k	tag, cop, kid, kit
2b	ck e u r	rack, rug, sock, deck
3a	h b f l	him, back, fan, log
3b	ff ll ss	huff, hiss, hill, kiss

Phase 3
Level	Target Sounds and Spelling Choices	Example Words
4a	j v w x	jam, van, wet, fox
4b	y z zz qu	yell, zip, buzz, quick
5a	ch sh th ng	much, shell, them, sing
5b	ai ee igh oa	rain, queen, light, toast
6a	oo (zoo) oo (book) ar or	shoot, hook, shark, pork
6b	ur ow oi ear	blur, clown, point, beard
6c	air ure er	chair, mature, flower

Part 2 – Advanced Code

Phase 4
Level	Target Sounds and Spelling Choices	Example Words
7a	CVCC & CCVC words	help, speech, moist, thump
7b	Polysyllabic words	treetop, driftwood, starlight, shelving

Phase 5 – New Graphemes For Reading:
Level	Target Sounds Only for Reading	Example Words
8a	ay ou ie ea	play, ground, dried, speak
8b	oy ir ue aw	destroy, thirty, true, straw
8c	wh ph ew oe au	whisper, elephant, threw, tomatoes, August
8d	a_e e_e i_e o_e u_e	brake, concrete, smile, joke, prune

Phase 5- Alternative Pronunciations:
Level	Target Sounds Only for Reading	Example Words
9a	i (fin vs find) o (hot vs cold) c (cat vs cent) g (got vs giant)	quit, wild pocket, frozen picnic, fireplace dragon, magic
9b	u (but vs put) ow (cow vs blow) ie (tie vs field) ea (eat vs bread)	drummer, octopus power, yellow magpie, cookie dream, meadow
9c	er (farmer vs her) a (hat vs what) y (yes vs vy vs very) ch (chin vs school vs chef) ou (out vs shoulder vs could vs you)	tower, herb cashew, wander yoyo, cloudy coach, chemist, drench

Phase 5 – Alternative Spellings:
Level	Target Sounds and Spelling Choices	Example Words
10a	ch tu tch	cherub, picture, switch
10b	f ff ph	fish fluff dolphin
11a	j dge ge g	jazz, bridge, cabbage, giant
11b	r rr wr	robot, carrot, wrench
12	s c ce ss se	socks, pencil, bounce, kiss, house

Part 3 – Complete the Code
Level	Target Sounds and Spelling Choices	Example Words
13	sh ci ti	brush, special, station
14	ai a ay a_e	stain, apron, tray, whale
15	ee ea y e	sleep, dream, twenty, she
16	igh i y ie i_e	bright, blind, fly, fried, smile
17	oa o ow o_e	groan, hotel, crow, joke
18	oo ew ue u_e	tooth, threw, glue, prune
19	u oo oul	helpful, firewood, should
20	ar a	market, banana
21	or au aw al ore	report, launch, draw, seashore
22	ur ir er ear or	burst, birthday, germ, heard, artwork
23	ow ou	crown, ground
24	oi oy	boiling, destroy
25	air ear are ere	airship, pear, scarecrow, where
26	s si (zh)	treasure, television

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