Read with an adult. Take your time. You can say, point, draw or write your answer.
1 Let's look together
This is the letter m. It has a name: em. It can show the sound at the start of mat.
We use sounds to help read a word. We use letter names when we talk about its spelling. Listen to your adult say both.
m Ms Sa At T
Look, point and talk with your adult.
2 Watch how I do it
My adult points to m and says its sound, without adding 'uh'. I copy. Then we say the letter name, em.
3 Your turn
Find the matching capital for m: M or S. Say the sound at the start of mat with your adult.
Have a go before opening the answer.
Let's check together
M matches m. Mat starts with the /m/ sound.
4 Try it away from the page
Sing the alphabet with an adult. Match three lower-case letters to their capitals. Add more over several days.
Open your writing and drawing pad
Write, draw or show your working. Use a mouse, pen or finger. This pad is not a submitted answer.
Not saved to your account. Download your drawing as PNG and your typed notes as TXT before leaving or refreshing. They are separate files. Do not enter private information.
Open a picture saved on this device to draw on it again. Opening replaces the drawing, but Undo can restore it. PNG only, up to 4 MB and 4096 × 4096 pixels. The picture stays in this browser; it is not uploaded. Paper lines in a saved picture become part of that picture.
Clear the drawing? Your typed notes will stay. You can undo this action.
Your pad is empty.
Open a UTF-8 TXT file from this device, up to 40 KB and 10,000 characters. It stays in this browser. Opening can be undone until you type again. Downloads keep a new copy; they do not change the file you opened.
Replace the notes on this page with the opened file? Download the current notes first if you want to keep them.
Typed notes are not submitted answers.
Explore and practise freely. Opening this lesson or using the writing pad does not save completion or a score.
Adult notes · prerequisites, safety and coverage
Start with the child's known grapheme–phoneme correspondences. Model pure sounds; letter names are not a substitute for blending. This course does not provide recorded phonics audio.
Read instructions aloud. Word-reading practice must match the child's taught sounds. The phonics pages support, but do not replace, the school's systematic synthetic phonics programme. Shared stories are adult-read unless the child can decode them. Re-read and practise daily.