Level one is all about recognising the sounds that each letter makes. Children meet the letters in an order that allows them to start making words straight away − using sounding out and blending skills: saying the sounds that each letter makes and blending them together to make words. This level also helps children master the key skill of segmenting, breaking words they hear down into letter sounds.
Level two introduces the less common letters and rounds out the alphabet. Once your child knows all their letters and letter sounds, they can enjoy making and reading lots of simple words. They'll also meet the capital letters and letter names.
Level three introduces children to letter teams − two letters that join to make one sound, such as sh and ch, oo and ee. These are also known as digraphs. And they meet three-letter teams, such as igh and air − also known as trigraphs.
Level four is all about letter blends − two consonants that make both of their sounds when they appear together (instead of a new single sound). Blends can be at the start of a word (such as st-, bl- or tr-) or at the end (such as -nd, -mp and -sk ). And there are three letter blends too: (such as spl- and str-) They are also known as consonant clusters.
Level five is a big step − time to discover that there are different ways to make the long vowel sounds. We meet Magic E, who shows how split digraphs work: a vowel and e combine to make the long vowel sound (such as a-e in cake and o-e in home). And children complete their journey from meeting the alphabet to reading words like 'alphabet' with confidence.