Phonics
Research shows that a child who reads every day does better at every stage of their education. We see this in school, where the children who read the most, make the most progress. We are very fortunate at our school to have the support of families and community partners who help promote the importance of regular reading. This is reflected in the results we achieve.
We are committed to teaching our children to become skilled readers who develop a comprehensive understanding of words, language and texts as they progress through school. We use a range of strategies to develop a love of reading so that children can read for purpose and pleasure.
It adds up
If you read for just 15 minutes per day, in one year you will have read over a million words!
PHONICS IN EARLY YEARS AND KEY STAGE 1
In class 1, children have daily phonics sessions. We follow the Little Wandle programme to support the systematic teaching of phonics. Children begin the programme at the start of Reception and continue throughout Key Stage 1.
Little Wandle is a systematic approach to teaching phonics. The programme teaches early readers:
- grapheme / phoneme correspondences in a clearly defined sequence
- the skill of blending phonemes in order toread increasingly complex words
- the skill of segmenting words into phonemes to spell increasingly complex words
- that blending and segmenting are reversible processes
- that some common words do not follow the usual patterns and have tobe learned “off by heart” in a clearly defined sequence
Lesson structure
Each lesson follows the same structure:
Revisit and review
- Practise recognition and recall of previously taught sounds
- Practise oral blending and segmentation
Teach and practise
- Teach a new sound
- Teach blending or segmenting with new sound
- Teach new tricky words
Practise and apply
- Practise reading OR spelling words using taught sound. Read or write a caption using high frequency and decodable words.
Recap key learning
Here is a link to a video that Miss Smith has made to provide information about how our Little Wandle phonics scheme is taught in school and what you as parents should expect. It also gives tips of how you can support your child during their journey into early reading:
PHONICS GLOSSARY
We hope the following glossary is useful to you when using our Little Wandle links. Always feel free to come in and talk to us if you require any further support.
- Phonemes
the smallest unit of sound, introduced one at a time - Grapheme
the way we write it down. - Adjacent consonants
Two or more consonants that come together in a word without any intervening vowel or vowels (for example, ‘d-r’ in ‘drop’, ‘s-t-r’ in ‘strap’) - Formation phrase
A memorable phrase used to support the children in forming the letter correctly using directional vocabulary. - Alternative pronunciation
A different way of pronouncing a grapheme. For example, the letters ‘ow’ can represent the sounds /ow/ as in ‘crown’ and /oa/ as in ‘snow’ - Digraph
A grapheme using two letters to represent one phoneme. With children, we frequently reinforce it with the mantra ‘two letters, one sound’ - Split vowel digraph
A digraph representing a vowel sound where its two letters are split by an intervening consonant (for example, ‘a_e’ in ‘take’). - Trigraph
A grapheme using three letters to represent one phoneme. With children, we frequently reinforce it with the mantra ‘three letters, one sound’ - “Grow the Code”
To systematically and incrementally teach additional GPCs so that the range of words children can read continually extends. - ”Shuffle Time”
To reorder words or sounds to assess children’s understanding - “Chunk it up”
To break up a longer word and read it one part (chunk) at a time, to avoid being overwhelmed and to ease the process of blending - Point and sweep
A technique for reinforcing the process of sounding and blending involving the teacher pointing to each phoneme in a word, in sequence from left to right, and then sweeping a finger below the word, again from left to right, to indicate the blending - Hand behind ear
A prompt to encourage children to repeat a word, phrase or sound
You will find links at the bottom of this page for more information with a selection of resources (word cards, games & record sheets) which you can use to support your child’s learning.
IF YOU REQUIRE ANY FURTHER SUPPORT, PLEASE COME INTO SCHOOL AND SPEAK WITH YOUR CHILD’S CLASS TEACHER.
AUTUMN 1 SOUNDS
Download a guide to how children are taught to say their sounds in Reception Autumn 1 Link
AUTUMN 2 SOUNDS
Download a guide to how children are taught to say their sounds in Reception Autumn 2 Link
HOW TO WRITE CAPITAL LETTERS
Download a guide to how children are taught to write capital letters Link
SPRING 1 SOUNDS
Download a guide to how children are taught to say their sounds in Reception Spring 1 Link
READING IN EARLY YEARS AND KEY STAGE 1
For a child to enjoy reading, they need to be able to access texts at their level. The books that children use are matched to their phonic knowledge, ensuring all words are decodable. We use the Big Cat books which match to our phonics scheme.
How reading sessions and phonics sessions work together:
Reception & Year 1
Little Wandle Letters & Sounds Revised phonics programme
- Daily
Small group reading sessions
90% fluency - 3 times a week
Individual reading books
95% fluency
The children will have three reading sessions a week based on their decodable book. Each session has a different focus: Decoding, prosody and comprehension.
Read 1
Decoding
- Pre-tutor specific phonic content of text
- Model decoding words and sentences and support children to try for themselves
- Move into independent reading with all children reading the text and adult “tuning” in to one child at a time
Read 2
Prosody
- Adult reads some of the text to the children modelling intonation, expression and emotion and children copy
- Move into independent reading with all children reading the text and adult “tuning” in to one child at a time
Read 3
Comprehension
- Read some of text children modelling thought processes leading to comprehension and asking pre-prepared questions linked to comprehension focus
- Move into independent reading with all children reading the text and adult “tuning” in to one child at a time to check / support fluent reading and accurate comprehension.
Once a child is showing the ability to segment and blend sounds they will be sent home an individual reading book. It is important that reading with your child is a positive experience, so please make sure this is done at a time when they are not too tired. It is a good idea to read the book more than once so that your child becomes more fluent at segmenting and blending sounds to form words.
Support for Children
If a child is struggling to keep up with the phonics taught in school they will have an opportunity to revisit the sound they are learning in an afternoon. This is a short session with the class teacher or teaching assistant to revise and practise the sound. Your child’s class teacher will keep you informed if your child is struggling to retain and apply the sounds so that you can practise some phonics games at home too.
How we teach phonics in school
RESOURCES
http://www.letters-and-sounds.com/