phonemes

[ELAINEBROWN]

please can someone explain what a phoneme is in plain english. my 9yr old son has these for homework and we do not know what they are. so are unable to help him. some of his words are
memorise
purify
invention
terrorise
he has to break them done, can you help ?
thank you
e brown

[Hawkwalk]

try this, it might help explain in a fun way.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/wordsandpictures/ phonics/sandcastle/index.shtml

[sunflower23]

Hi,
Basically, a phoneme is just a technical word to describe each sound in a word. For example, if you sounded out the word sunshine it contains six sounds or phonemes being s-u-n-sh-i-ne.
Try this link below. It may give you a clearer explanation of what a phoneme is. Hope this helps!

[sunflower23]

Hi
Sorry the link is: http://reading.uoregon.edu/pa/pa_what.php

[alfieboo]

A phoneme is just a technical way of saying the smallest unit of sound in a word. It can be represented by 1, 2, 3 or 4 letters. You could try the National Literacy Strategy site for more info