Whitehill Street West, Stockport, Cheshire, SK4 1PB

0161 4802142

Whitehill Primary School

Together we Shine Academically, Personally & Socially

 

Early Reading and Phonics

 

How we teach Reading and Phonics

 

We want your child to love reading – and to want to read for themselves so we put as much energy as we possibly can into making sure that every single child learns to read as quickly as possible.  This is why we put our efforts into making sure they develop a love of books as well as learning to read.

At Whitehill Primary School, we use Read Write Inc Phonics/Reading.

 

Read, Write Inc is a tried and tested, highly successful phonics programme for children aged 4 to 7 who are learning to read and write. It teaches children how to both decode and understand written language to become confident and enthusiastic readers and writers. This is achieved by a dynamic approach to teaching phonics that is consistent across the school using the Read, Write Inc phonics resources and fully decodable reading books.

Children are grouped according to their ability in Foundation Stage and Key Stage 1 to ensure that teaching is matched to their level. Phonics in Foundation Stage and Key Stage 1 takes place on a daily basis. Children in Key Stage 2 that still require phonics teaching, continue with a specially tailored programme (RWInc) to meet their individual needs. 

 

 Shared Reading forms part of the daily phonics lessons and is led by the reading teachers. All texts are linked to the child's phonic ability. Children enjoy one focus text per week and learning activities support accurate and fluent reading to facilitate comprehension. In addition, children take fully decodable reading books home to further practise skills learnt at school. These books are matched to each child's phonics ability and are closly monitored by the reading teachers to ensure that children are reading books of an appropriate level. The home reading book is changed twice a week to ensure that to book has been read enough times to develop and speedy and fluent reading when read by the child, this enables them to spend less time segmenting and blending words and more time understanding what has been read, developing their comprehension skills. Each child visits the school library every week to select a book of their choice to share at home.  

 

We start by teaching phonics to the children in the Reception class. This means that they learn how to ‘read’ the (Phonemes) sounds in words and how those sounds can be written down (Graphemes). This is essential for reading, but it also helps children learn to spell well.

We teach the children simple ways of remembering these sounds and letters. Once the children have learnt to blend accurately, they start to read with fluency. This is achieved through speedy reading of individual words and repeated reads of their shared reading books. 'Tricky words' such as 'once' 'said' 'the' are not phonetically decodable and these are taught explicitly as part of the reading session.  To develop the child's love of stories, we have dedicated story time, across all Key Stages, daily. The teachers read to the children so that they get to know a variety of stories, poetry and information books. They acquire new vocabulary through our word aware teaching, which focuses on embedding new words into their authographic memory. 

 

Children who join the School throughout the year are quickly assessed in phonics and put in the correct group according to their phonics ability. Children progress from Read Write Inc. Phonics to the Read Write Inc. Comprehension in Year 2.

Read, Write Inc. has 5 underlying principles – the five Ps:

  1. PACE – no time is wasted during teaching sessions! Children are active and involved in a fun and creative way. The aim is for the children to complete the programme as quickly as possible.
    2. PRAISE – teachers praise the children constantly throughout the teaching sessions. Children learn more quickly when they are praised for what they do well, rather than nagged for what they do wrong. The children are encouraged to praise each other and as a school we have developed several ‘Praise Phrases’ and ‘Praise actions’. Ask your child to demonstrate!
    3. PURPOSE – each activity has a very clear purpose. The teacher will set this purpose at the beginning of the lesson so that the children know exactly what they will be learning.
    4. PARTICIPATION – all children take part in all parts of the lesson. Full participation is gained through partner work and choral response.
    5. PASSION – as a staff we are passionate about our teaching and the benefits of the Read, Write Inc. programme! We love teaching the sessions and this enthusiasm rubs off onto the children.

 

Children will be taught how to read as follows:

Before you start to teach your child, practise saying the sounds below. These are the sounds we use to speak in English.

 

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.

 

The following video is an example of blending sounds with Fred. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEzfpod5w_Q

 

The children are taught the sounds in 3 sets.

 

Step 1:

Set 1 Sounds are taught in the following order together with rhymes to help children form the letters correctly and instantly recognise sounds ready for blending.

 

Set 1

Sound

Rhyme

m

Down Maisie then over the two mountains. Maisie, mountain, mountain.

a

Round the apple, down the leaf.

s

Slide around the snake

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.

n

Down Nobby and over the net.

p

Down the plait, up and over the pirates face.

g

Round the girls face, down her hair and give her a curl

o

All around the orange

c

Curl around the caterpillar

k

Down the kangaroos body, tail and leg

u

Down and under the umbrella, up to the top and down to the puddle

b

Down the laces, over the toe and touch the heel

f

Down the stem and draw the leaves

e

Slice into the egg, go over the top, then under the egg

l

Down the long leg

h

Down the horse's head to the hooves and over his back

sh

Slither down the snake, then down the horse's head to the hooves and over his back

r

Down the robot's back, then up and curl

j

Down his body, curl and dot

v

Down a wing, up a wing

y

Down a horn, up a horn and under the yak's head.

w

Down, up, down, up the worm.

th

Down the tower, across the tower, then down the horse’s head to the hooves and over his back

z

Zig-zag-zig, down the zip.

ch

Curl around the caterpillar, , then down the horse's head to the hooves and over his back

qu

Round the queen’s head, up to her crown, down her hair and curl

x

Cross down the arm and leg and cross the other way

ng

A thing on a string

nk

I think I stink

Please do not use letter names at this early stage.

Click here to hear how to pronounce sounds correctly.

 

Children will also use pictures for each sound to help recognise the sound and then form the shape of the sound.

 

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

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

oo

oo: look at a book

 

 

ar

ar: start the car

 

 

or

or: shut the door

aw: yawn at dawn

 

air

air: that’s not fair

are: share and care

 

ir

ir: whirl and twirl

ur: nurse for a purse

er: a better letter

ou

ou: shout it out

ow: brown cow

 

oy

oy: toy for a boy

oi: spoil the boy

 

ire

 

ire: fire fire!

 

ear

 

ear: hear with your ear

 

ure

 

ure: sure it’s pure?

 

 

Nonsense words (Alien words)          

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. Click here for further information on the Screening check.

 

Step 3:

Children will be introduced to ‘Ditty books’ when they successfully begin to read single words. The short vowels should be kept short and sharp:

Children use sound-blending (Fred Talk) to read short ditties. They will bring these home once they have read and discussed the book in class. Children will then be challenged to use their developing phonic knowledge to write short sentences.

Within all the books children will have 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.

 

       

 

Dots and dashes represent the sound each letter makes

Useful Links

http://www.oxfordowl.co.uk 
Oxford Owl is a free website built to support you with your child’s learning.  You’ll find age-specific reading and maths tips and activities, eBooks, and lots of fun ideas to really bring your child’s learning to life.  You will also find support and advice on a range of questions you may have – including helping your child with their phonics, motivating boys to read and ensuring your child is doing their best in maths.

www.bookstart.co.uk
This website provides information about the national Bookstart scheme and the Bookstart packs that your child will receive as a baby, a toddler and at age three to four. It also gives information about sharing books with your child. You can find out about Bookstart events in your area, which you can attend with your child.

 

Read Write Inc - E-books Links

Sound Blending Book 1

Sound Blending Book 2

Sound Blending Book 3

Sound Blending Book 6

Sound Blending Book10

 

Red Ditty Book - Nog in the fog

Red Ditty Book - I can hop

Red Ditty Book - Get Up!

Red Ditty Book - Sun Hat Fun

Red Ditty Book - Fat Frog

 

Green Book - Hands!

Green Book - Nip and Chip

Green Book - Rag the Rat

Green Book - The Get Fit Club

Green Book - Will's Net

Green Book - Skateboard Sid

Green Book - Jan's Pancake

 

Purple Book - Skateboard Sid and the hat

Purple Book - A pet goldfish

Purple Book - Red Ned

Purple Book - Run, run, run!

Purple Book - Popcorn

Purple Book - Stop!

Purple Book - Tom's Tricks

Purple Book - The Chest in the Sand

 

Pink Book - The Big Match

Pink Book - A Greedy Tiger

Pink Book - A Map in the Attic

Pink Book - The Troll in the Pond

Pink Book - High on a Hill

Pink Book - Light and Shadow

 

Orange Book - We can Play!

Orange Book - Can you see me?

Orange Book - A Bag Mood

Orange Book - Fright Night

Orange Book - A Vet's Week

Orange Book - A Pet Tortoise

Orange Book - Jim's House in 1874

Orange Book - Horses

Orange Book - Up in the Air

Orange Book - Jam Tarts

Orange Book - Good Old Grandad

 

Yellow Book - What can Baby do?

Yellow Book - Fun at Night

Yellow Book - No Way!

Yellow Book - Bushcraft

Yellow Book - A Hungry Fox

Yellow Book - What's in the Woods?

Yellow Book - The Radish Contest

Yellow Book - A mouse in the house

 

Blue Book - Our Incredible

Blue Book - At the Seaside

Blue Book - How to Make a Peach Treat

Blue Book - Save the Whale

Blue Book - On Your Bike

 

Grey Book - Nancy Roman's Space Telescope

Grey Book - A Job for Jordan

Grey Book - The Stone Age

Grey Book - A place in space: the moon

Grey Book - Silly Games

Grey Book - A pet or a pest?

Grey Book - Clothes

Grey Book - Dinosaur Times

Grey Book - Planets

Grey Book - Carrion Creatures

Grey Book - A flight to New York

Grey Book - Mythical Monsters

 

 

 

 

What can I do to help?

Reading stories to your child

1. Read the same stories aloud again and again
2. Read with enthusiasm – love each story
3. Use a range of vocabulary with your child.

Listening to your child read

1. Listen to your child read the same Read Write Inc. Storybook again and again.
2. Encourage them to use ’Special Friends’, ‘Fred Talk’, ‘read the word’.
3. Discuss the story and encourage their storyteller voice.

 

Files to download

Name
 handwriting-phrases.pdfDownload
 top-ten-tips-for-sharing-books-at-home.pdfDownload
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Below are some videos that may be useful. They model pronunciation, how we teach blending and how we teach complex words.

Information about Phonics for parents from the DfE can be downloaded here.

DfE phonics for parents information

Year 1 Phonics Screening Check

The phonics screening check is statutory and comprises of a short and simple assessment of phonic decoding. It consists of a list of 40 words, half real words and half non-words, which Year 1 children read to a teacher. Administering the assessment usually takes between four and nine minutes per child.

The check is designed to confirm whether individual pupils have learnt phonic decoding to an appropriate standard and have grasped the essential skills that underpin good reading.

Pupils who have not reached the standard at the end of Year 1 receive extra support to ensure they can improve their phonic decoding skills. They have the opportunity to retake the screening check in Year 2.