Reading / Phonics

Reading 
In Key Stage 1, we use the Oxford Reading Tree scheme for reading. It is recognised that children who read regularly at home make the most progress in reading. We would therefore encourage all children to read at home each evening from a variety of books and sources, and would ask that the reading record books are completed.  

In Key Stage 2, children increasingly move from the Oxford Reading Tree scheme on to Pandora Banded Books. With the Pandora Book collection, children can select a book of their choice from an allocated level book band. Children's choice of books are closely monitored by the class teacher to ensure pupils are choosing appropriate books that they will understand and enjoy. Juniors are asked to read for a minimum of 20 minutes each evening. We recognise that as they get older, many children like to read independently, however, periodic reading aloud enables parents to ask their child questions about their chosen book and so still share in the experience. We also encourage children to regularly use Reading Plus at home to further enhance reading and develop comprehsion skills. Site code - rpeccle.

KS1 Phonics
Our programme of study includes the systematic teaching of synthetic phonics. Phonics is a way of teaching children how to read and write. It helps children to hear, identify and use different sounds that distinguish one word from another.

Children are taught to:

• Recognise the sounds that individual letters make.
• Identify the sounds different combinations of letters make.
• Blend those sounds together to make a word.

Read Write Inc is adopted throughout KS1 and has been adapted to include elements from ‘Letters and Sounds’ where it is appropriate. Phonics is currently taught daily across Reception, Year 1 and Year 2. Across KS1, children are grouped according to reading ability which is regularly assessed and changed accordingly. In KS2, children will access phonics teaching where required. To find out more information about phonics, please watch the video below.

We follow the Read Write Inc phonics program and the sounds are taught in the following order.

• Initial alphabet sounds
   
• Set 1 sounds:
  sh - shop
  ch – chip,
  th – with/them
  qu – queen
  nk -bank
  ng - sing
   
• Set 2 sounds:
  ay- play
  ee- tree
  igh – night
  ow – slow
  oo – cool
  oo – took
  ar- car
  or – sport
  air – chair
  ir – twirl
  ou – shout
  oy – boy
   
• Set 3 sounds:
  ea – tea
  oi – coin
  a_e – make
  i_e – time
  o_e – home
  u_e – flute
  aw – paw
  are – care
  ur – nurse
  er – letter
  ow – brown
  ai – snail
  oa – goat
  ew – blew
  ire – fire
  ear – hear
  ure – sure
  tion – information
  cious/tious precious, cautious.

The following extra sounds will also be taught:

• au – autumn
• ie – pie
• ue – blue
• oe – toe
• ph – phone
• c – nice
• wh – when,
• ey – donkey
• g – giraffe

Children will be taught to sound out and blend multisyllabic words. e.g. midnight, modern, twilight, charming, delay, saucers, brighter, wishing, forest, arrow, chapter, person, model, reptiles.
 

Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar.

At all levels, there is an emphasis on spelling, punctuation and grammar as well as vocabulary development. In order to develop vocabulary, we have a focus on raising the profile of reading for pleasure and have regular reading challenges as well as celebrating events such as World Book Day and Pyjamarama.

Vocabulary
We also use Tiered vocabulary to build children’s understanding of written texts.

Tier 1 - High Frequency Words that are used repeatedly in the course of general conversation. E.g. table, happy, baby, chair etc

Tier 2 - Cross curricular words appearing frequently across topics and content areas. They are not common words used in conversation. Tier 2 words may have multiple meanings making them an important component of reading comprehension. Tier 2 words are also used to extend Tier 1 vocabulary by providing synonyms for common words e.g. happy becomes ecstatic, shocked becomes astonished.

Tier 3 - Subject specific words which children need in specific subject areas e.g. in science they will learn the words opaque, magnetic, condensation etc.

Year 1 Phonics Screening
At the end of Year 1, your child will sit a Phonics Screening test to check their understanding of sounds through their ability to decode and blend real and pseudo (made up) words. The pass rate for this test changes each year and is not given to school until the Phonics Screening is completed. If your child does not pass the Phonics Screening check, they will continue with Read, Write Inc. in Year 2 and will sit the check again at the end of Year 2.