Phonics
Reading opens the door to learning. A child who reads a lot will become a good reader. A good reader will be able to read more challenging material. A child who reads challenging material is a child who will learn. The more a child learns, the more he or she will want to find out.
Aims:
The national curriculum aims for English are:
- read easily, fluently and with good understanding
- develop the habit of reading widely and often, both for pleasure and information
- acquire a wide vocabulary, an understanding of grammar and knowledge of linguistic conventions for reading, writing and spoken language
- appreciate our rich and varied literary heritage
- write clearly, accurately and coherently, adapting their language and style in and for a range of contexts, purposes and audiences
- use discussion in order to learn; they should be able to elaborate and explain clearly their understanding and ideas
- are competent in the arts of speaking and listening, making formal presentations, demonstrating to others and participating in debate.
To achieve these aims, at St Mary’s Catholic Primary School we will aim to:
- ensure a consistent approach, to the teaching of phonics, across the school.
- ensure that children have direct phonics teaching daily, from Reception to Year 2.
- ensure that children are given opportunities to use and apply their phonics learning.
- ensure that all children use phonics, as their first approach, when reading and writing.
- ensure that all children entering KS2 are secure at decoding unfamiliar texts.
Intent
To create an inclusive, inspired and challenging curriculum, which develops children’s knowledge of phonics, enabling them to become successful readers who develop a life-long love of reading.
To ensure children in KS1 are given the best opportunity to achieve expected progress, or more, in reading.
Implementation:
At St Mary’s Catholic Primary School we use the Read Write Inc (RWI) programme to get children off to a flying start with their literacy. RWI is a method of learning centred round letter sounds and phonics, and we use it to aid children in their reading and writing.
Using RWI, the children learn to read effortlessly so that they can put all their energy into comprehending what they read. It also allows them to spell effortlessly so that they can put all their energy into composing what they write.
How will RWI be taught?
All children are assessed regularly by our RWI lead teacher. Children are grouped into stages, where they work with peers on the same stage.
When using RWI to read the children will:
- learn 44 sounds and the corresponding letter/letter groups using simple picture prompts
- learn to read words using Fred Talk
- read lively stories featuring words they have learned to sound out
- show that they comprehend the stories by answering questions.
When using RWI to write the children will:
- learn to write the letters/letter groups which represent 44 sounds.
- learn to write words by saying the sounds in Fred Talk
- write simple sentences
- compose stories based on picture strips
Reading
The children will:
- Learn 44 sounds and the corresponding letters/letter groups using simple picture prompts – see below
- Learn to read words using Fred Talk and sound blending
- Read from a range of storybooks and non-fictions books matched to their phonic knowledge
- Work well with partners
- Develop comprehension skills in stories by answering 'Find It' and 'Prove It' discussion questions
Writing
The children:
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Learn to write and form the letters/letter groups which represent the 44 sounds with the help of fun phrases
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Learn to write words by using Fred Talk
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Learn to build sentences by practising sentences out loud before they write
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Develop ambitious vocabulary
Progressing through the stages
Children follow the same format as Early Years but will work on complex sounds and read books appropriate to their reading level. Daily sessions of RWI phonics last 30 minutes.
Five key principles underpin the teaching in all Read Write Inc. sessions:
Purpose – know the purpose of every activity and share it with the children, so they know the one thing they should be thinking about
Participation – ensure every child participates throughout the lesson. Partnership work is fundamental to learning
Praise – ensure children are praised for effort and learning, not ability
Pace – teach at an effective pace and devote every moment to teaching and learning
Passion – be passionate about teaching so children can be engaged emotionally.
Children will be taught how to read as follows:
Before you start to teach your child, practice saying the sounds below.These are the sounds we use to speak in English. Children initially begin using pictures for each sound, this will help children recognise the sound and then form the shape of the sound.
Fred Talk
We use pure sounds (‘m’ not’ muh’,’s’ not ‘suh’, etc.) so that your child will be able to blend the sounds into words more easily.
At school we use a puppet called Fred who is an expert on sounding out words! we call it, ‘Fred Talk’. E.g. m-o-p, c-a-t, m-a-n, sh-o-p, b-l-a-ck.
Below are videos demonstrating how to Fred Talk and pronounce speed sounds.
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|
Sound |
Rhyme |
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m |
Down Maisie then over the two mountains. Maisie, mountain, mountain. |
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a |
Round the apple, down the leaf. |
|
s |
Slide around the snake |
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d |
Round the dinosaur's back, up his neck and down to his feet. |
|
t |
Down the tower, across the tower, |
|
i |
Down the insects body, dot for the head. |
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n |
Down Nobby and over the net. |
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p |
Down the plait, up and over the pirates face. |
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g |
Round the girls face, down her hair and give her a curl |
|
o |
All around the orange |
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c |
Curl around the caterpillar |
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k |
Down the kangaroos body, tail and leg |
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u |
Down and under the umbrella, up to the top and down to the puddle |
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b |
Down the laces, over the toe and touch the heel |
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f |
Down the stem and draw the leaves |
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e |
Slice into the egg, go over the top, then under the egg |
|
l |
Down the long leg |
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h |
Down the horse's head to the hooves and over his back |
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sh |
Slither down the snake, then down the horse's head to the hooves and over his back |
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r |
Down the robot's back, then up and curl |
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j |
Down his body, curl and dot |
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v |
Down a wing, up a wing |
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y |
Down a horn, up a horn and under the yak's head. |
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w |
Down, up, down, up the worm. |
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th |
Down the tower, across the tower, then down the horse’s head to the hooves and over his back |
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z |
Zig-zag-zig, down the zip. |
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ch |
Curl around the caterpillar, , then down the horse's head to the hooves and over his back |
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qu |
Round the queen’s head, up to her crown, down her hair and curl |
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x |
Cross down the arm and leg and cross the other way |
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ng |
A thing on a string |
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nk |
I think I stink |
At this stage we do not use the letter names.
Step 2:
The children are then taught Set 2 Sounds - the long vowels. When they are very confident with all of set 1 and 2 they are taught Set 3 Sounds.
|
Long vowel sound |
Set 2 Speed Sound cards Teach these first |
Set 3 Speed Sound cards |
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ay |
ay: may I play |
a-e: make a cake |
ai: snail in the rain |
|
ee |
ee: what can you see |
ea: cup of tea |
e: he me we she be |
|
igh |
igh: fly high |
i-e: nice smile |
|
|
ow |
ow: blow the snow |
o-e: phone home |
ao: goat in a boat |
|
oo |
oo: poo at the zoo |
u-e: huge brute |
ew: chew the stew |
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oo |
oo: look at a book |
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|
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ar |
ar: start the car |
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|
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or |
or: shut the door |
aw: yawn at dawn |
|
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air |
air: that’s not fair |
are: share and care |
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|
ir |
ir: whirl and twirl |
ur: nurse for a purse |
er: a better letter |
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ou |
ou: shout it out |
ow: brown cow |
|
|
oy |
oy: toy for a boy |
oi: spoil the boy |
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|
ire |
|
ire: fire fire! |
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|
ear |
|
ear: hear with your ear |
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ure |
|
ure: sure it’s pure? |
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Nonsense words (Alien words)- What 'a load' or nonsense!
As well as learning to read and blend real words children will have plenty of opportunities to apply their sound recognition skills on reading ‘Nonsense words’. These words will also feature heavily in the Year One Phonics Screening check in the summer term. These words provide endless opportunities for children to apply and practice their thinking in a range of different contexts.
Step 3:
Within all the RWI sessions/books children will be exposed to red and green words to learn to help them to become speedy readers. Red words are words that are not easily decodable and challenge words to extend children’s vocabulary. Green words are linked to the sounds they have been learning and are easily decodable.
During the RWI session children will read the book three times and at each new reading they will have plenty of opportunities to practise using their developing comprehension skills. You may have heard your child talking about ‘hold, edit or build a sentence’.
Hold a sentence is an activity that encourages children to remember a whole sentence while focusing on spelling and punctuation.
To help at home:
Your child will start to bring books home when they are confident readers, relating to their reading stage. You will find they will bring home a phonics based book, this will aid application, speed and fluency- developing speedy reading! Following on from this, they will bring a comprehension based book which will begin to enrich their reading, which will require decoding skills. Only then, children will bring home enriched reading books which will enhance their understanding via inspirational language promoting depth to their understanding.