Phonics and Reading Scheme
Phonics and Reading Scheme
Phonics
Information for Parents
At Moor Nook Primary School, we are following Little Wandle Letters and Sounds phonics scheme. The resources on this page will help you support your child with saying the sounds and writing their letters. There are also some useful videos so you can see how they are taught at school and feel confident about supporting reading at home. If you have any questions, please ask your child's class teacher who will be happy to help.
https://www.littlewandlelettersandsounds.org.uk/resources/for-parents/
We provide a balance of child-led and adult-led experiences for all children that meet the curriculum expectations for ‘Communication and language’ and ‘Literacy’. These include:
o sharing high-quality stories and poems
o learning a range of nursery rhymes and action rhymes o activities that develop focused listening and attention, including oral blending
o attention to high-quality language.
We ensure Nursery children are well prepared to begin learning grapheme-phoneme correspondences (GPCs) and blending in Reception.
Daily phonics lessons in Reception and Year 1
We teach phonics for 30 minutes a day. In Reception, we build from 10-minute lessons, with additional daily oral blending games, to the full-length lesson as quickly as possible. Each Friday, we review the week’s teaching to help children become fluent readers.
Children make a strong start in Reception: teaching begins in Week 2 of the Autumn term.
We follow the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised expectations of progress:
o Children in Reception are taught to read and spell words using Phase 2 and 3 GPCs, and words with adjacent consonants (Phase 4) with fluency and accuracy.
o Children in Year 1 review Phase 3 and 4 and are taught to read and spell words using Phase 5 GPCs with fluency and accuracy.
Daily Keep-up lessons ensure every child learns to read
Any child who needs additional practice has daily Keep-up support.
We timetable daily phonics lessons for any child in Year 2 or 3 who is not fully fluent at reading or has not passed the Phonics screening check.
If any child in Year 3 to 6 has gaps in their phonic knowledge when reading or writing, we plan phonics ‘catch-up’ lessons to address specific reading/writing gaps.
Guided Reading
We teach children to read through reading practice sessions three times a week. These:
o are taught in small groups of approximately six children
o use books matched to the children’s secure phonic knowledge
Each reading practice session has a clear focus, and has been designed to focus on three key reading skills:
o decoding
o prosody: teaching children to read with understanding and expression
o comprehension: teaching children to understand the text.
In Reception these sessions start in Week 4. Children who are not yet decoding have daily additional blending practice in small groups, so that they quickly learn to blend and can begin to read books.
In Year 2 and 3, we continue to teach reading in this way for any children who still need to practise reading with decodable books.
Teaching Reading in Key Stage 2
In Key Stage 2, pupils are taught as a class. During the week pupils are given plenty of opportunities to read text independently to ensure their reading fluency continues to develop. Key reading skills are explicitly taught.
o I do, We do, You do, is our 3 step process for the teacher to model the skill. Pupils work in groups or pairs and then apply this learning to an independent activity.
Home reading
All children are provided with reading books to take home and read with parents. A reading record accompanies each book, which acts as a communication tool between staff and parents.
Some suggested prompts for parents are included in their home reading record book.
A decodable reading book is taken home by children still working on their phonics as well as a reading for pleasure book for parents to share and read to their child.
Additional reading support for vulnerable children
Across the school, the lowest 20% of readers in each class are identified and are heard read every day by an adult in school to ensure that they become confident and fluent readers. The lowest 20% are reviewed every half-term, and may change, depending on progress.
Lancashire Reading Partners - Lancashire Reading Partners is a targeted, time-limited, one-to-one intervention over a 10-week period. It is designed to improve the way children read, enabling them to be independent problem solvers who read with understanding and enjoyment.
Reading for Pleasure
Library – the library is available to all pupils across the school. Children are able to borrow books to take home to read. Lancashire School’s Library Service – project loan boxes are borrowed from the library service. Children are able to read these books in school. Class novel – each class should have a class novel which is read on a regular basis.
For more information about the Reading Scheme, Phonics or School Curriculum please contact Mrs Paterson (Deputy Head & English Subject Leader).