Phonics and Early Reading
Earith Primary School
Introduction:
Early literacy is the development of young children’s skills in moving from learning to read, to reading to learn; these skills include word recognition and language comprehension – the essential components of reading.
Children do not automatically learn how to read and skills need to be specifically taught. Providing high-quality learning experiences creates the necessary foundation to help children master essential early literacy skills.
Reading intention:
The intention is that every child at Earith Primary School will:
- learn to read through a systematic and comprehensive approach
- engage with and enjoy reading across a range of subjects and for a range of purposes
- be curious and eager to read more
and thus, building the capacity for life-long learning and preparation for their next stage in education.
Earith’s approach to reading will:
- be rich in assessment for learning through establishing what every child knows and can do; identify those children who need more support; identify those children who need further challenge – and planning for every child in response to this
- provide rich reading experiences across the range of curriculum subjects
- ensure the provision of appropriate resources
- lead to positive outcomes in children’s learning in statutory assessments in both Phonics and Reading
- seek to involve parents
Implementation:
Phonics:
- Phonics is taught daily in Lemur Class (Reception & Year 1 mixed age class)
- Phonics teaching follows the Letters and Sounds Programme and this is used by class teachers to direct planning
- Key resources include Jolly Phonics and flashcards.
In Reception:
- a 20 minute daily lesson including the Jolly Phonics actions and sounds
- Phase 2, 3 & 4
- supports both reading and spelling
- whole class session with follow-on differentiated groups with matched activities
-activities planned for in enhanced provision to allow children to rehearse, embed and apply learning.
- formal assessment – November, February, April, June
Year 1:
- a 20-minute daily lesson
- a 5-minute follow-on lesson in the afternoon, e.g. flashcard and quick response
- Phase 4 (recap), 5 & 6 (if appropriate)
- supports both reading and spelling
- whole class session with follow-on differentiated groups with matched activities
- formal assessment – every half-term
- focussed intervention sessions with the teacher for those children who are working below age-related expectations
Year 2:
- focussed phonics session x4 weekly revising gaps in learning letters, sounds and words
-differentiated group sessions to match individual children’s needs (Phase 1 through to Phase 6 then moving on to Year 2 spelling rules)
-including rehearsal of tricky words
-sessions include review of previous sounds and opportunities for new sounds to be practised and applied in context
- supports both reading and spelling
- regular formative assessment in order to inform teaching
Guided reading (Teaching reading):
Reception:
- Sharing whole class texts through shared reading every day
- Individual reading using an appropriately pitched decodable book – each child listened to once a week by the teacher or teaching assistant recorded in a reading diary; those children who do not read at home have additional reading; books are changed regularly
- In addition to the decodable book, a reading book for pleasure is taken home from the classroom collection or the school library
Year 1:
- Sharing whole class text through shared reading every day
- Guided reading each morning – x4 sessions with text, comprehension and retrieval focus, x1 session individual words. Three pieces of recorded work in guided reading book each week.
- Individual reading for those targeted children with decodable text
- Children take home a decodable book and a library book from classroom stock; each child takes home a home reading diary
Year 2:
- guided reading session x 4 weekly. Whole class.
Storytime:
Reception and Year 1 daily at the end of the day – children’s choice
Reading across the curriculum:
Provided through Literacy Tree; books linked to current topics – strengthening the children’s phonics and comprehension skills
Word mats are going to be made for Year 1 linked to each topic and this will be transitioned into Reception
Home reading:
Year R – children take home phonics homework linked to the sounds learnt that week; children take home sets of words – next set given once previous set is learnt.
Year 1 – children take home phonics homework linked to the sounds learnt that week; children take home grids showing words/sounds that children need to learn
Action: following 1st half-term assessment children take home additional sounds/words to practise that are highlighted as gaps in learning from assessment
Phonics evening – October 2019 – teachers will explain how they can help including ‘overlearning’ sounds/words taught in class that address gaps
Resources:
- Phonics as above
- Decodable texts in Early Reading Library which are colour-coded banded
Phonics Lead: Jill Nicholls