Phonics

To teach phonics we use a scheme called 'Read Write Inc'.  Children in Year R, 1 and some children in Year 2 have been assessed and grouped according to their performance.  Teachers and staff who help deliver Phonics are receiving up to date training both in the school and with experienced Read Write Inc trainers at other schools.  Our aim is to deliver an even better phonics session each day that is fast paced and has a greater emphasis on Reading books in the Phonics lesson.

The priority, as before, is on reading skills – children should be able identify the sound that a letter (or letters) makes and use this knowledge to blend sounds to make words and to segment words into their component sounds.  Teaching children to write the letters that make the sounds is integrated into our daily phonics delivery.  Daily lessons incorporate a range of resources, media and interactive activities. Each day, the children will revise previous learning and steadily build their phonic knowledge.

Spellings for children in Phonics groups are learnt and practised at school.  There are spelling checks carried out in the children's RWI groups.

Year groups may send home 'Common exception words' for the children to learn.  Common exception words are called 'Red Words' in our Phonics lessons and are words which cannot usually be sounded out in the normal way. They are learnt by sight.

The set up for spellings in Key Stage 2 is different so please speak to class teachers in those year groups if you need any information.

Phonics is being taught in ability groups according to RWI Phonics assessments. Children are assessed each term and re grouped based on their progress. Children have daily speed sounds lessons and the RWI reading and writing section of the lesson.  Books are being given out each week to match the sounds children have learnt in their group.  If you would like to read more books there are some available on the Oxford Owl website.

Please find the Oxford Owl web address and class log in details below.

Parents.

What can you do to help at home?

Read daily together with your child. Sharing their school books with them and reading stories you have at home to them. 

Listen to your child read, encourage them to 'Fred Talk' (sound out words) if they cannot recognise a word. Read the same story multiple times to encourage confidence in their reading ability.

Play Fred Games with your child during their time at home. Such as 'Fred Says' (like Simon says - "Fred says touch your ch-i-n") or given them instructions using Fred Talk such as "can you put on your c-oa-t?"

Encourage a love of reading with your child by sharing special time reading together and talking about stories - making comparisons between stories and real life or other stories that you have read together. 

Practise writing words at the children's level.

E.g.

Beginning of Reception - forming single letters (see formation rhymes below)

Reception - simple 3/4 sound words e.g. cat, hat, dog, ship, fish, sand

Year 1 - 3/4/5 sound words using Set 1,2 & 3 sound words (as they learn them)  e.g.  boat, plank, slip, bright. And sentences using these sounds - often can be taken from their story from school.

Year 2 - build on Year 1 with multisyllabic words e.g.  fighting, sailboat, placemat, fisherman, travel.  Along with more complex sentencing from their storybook. 

Phonics Screen Check - Year 1

The phonics screen check takes place in June each year. All Year 1 children and those Year 2's who did not previously pass take the screening check. This consists of reading 40 real and nonsense words on a 1:1 basis with an adult. 

Each year a parent talk takes place in January. Please ensure you attend to support your child in the preparation for the check. 

Below are some past papers to use for practise and to understand the layout of the check. 

Phonics grouping:

Set 1 Group A - Learning first 16 sounds. Spelling using Fred Fingers. Blending books.

Set 1 - Group B - Learning first 25 sounds. Spelling using Fred Fingers. Blending books.

Set 1 - Group C - Reading 25 sounds speedily and blending independently. Spelling using Fred Fingers. Blending books.

Ditty Sheets - Learning Set 1 Special friend (sh, ch, th, qu, ng, nk) Reading words with special friends in. Reading nonsense words. Spelling using Fred Fingers. Ditty sheet stories daily. 

Red Ditties - Reviewing Set 1 sounds. Reading 3/4 sound words.  Reading nonsense words. Spelling using Fred Fingers. Red books - 3 stories per book. 

Green - Learning Set 2 sounds.  Reading nonsense words. Spelling using Fred Fingers. Green books. 

Pink - Reading Set 2 sounds and learning Set 3 sounds. Building speed reading Set 1 & 2 words. Reading nonsense words. Spelling using Fred Fingers (focus on Set 2) .Pink books.

Orange - Learning set 3 sounds. Reading set 1,2 & 3 words. Reading nonsense words. Spelling using Fred Fingers (focus on Set 2). Orange books.

Yellow - Learning set 3 sounds. Reading set 1,2 & 3 words with speed. Focus on fluency of reading. Reading nonsense words. Spelling using Fred Fingers (focus on Set 2&3). Yellow books.

Blue - Reading Set 1,2,3 sounds and words speedily. Focus on fluency in reading and comprehension. Spelling using Fred Fingers (focus on Set 2&3). Blue books.

Grey - Reading Set 1,2,3 sounds and multisyllabic words speedily. Focus on fluency in reading and comprehension. Spelling using Fred Fingers multisyllabic (focus on Set 2&3). Grey books.

Expectations:

Reception:

Autumn:

Group A - Ditty sheets

Spring:

Ditty sheets - Green

Summer:

Green - Pink

Year 1:

Autumn:

Pink - Orange

Spring:

Orange - Yellow

Summer:

Yellow - Blue

Year 2:

Autumn:

Blue - Grey

Spring:

Grey - Guided Reading  (finished phonics)

Summer:

Guided Reading (finished phonics)

How to correctly pronounce the phonemes (sounds) taught in phonics.

The video below shows how to correctly pronounce the different sounds that are used in English.  It is very important that these sounds are pronounced correctly and how these are taught has changed over time so we would strongly recommend watching the video to make sure that how you teach your children the sounds is the same as how we are teaching them.  A good tip is to think about how the sound is pronounced when it is at the end of a word.