Reading and Phonics

Phonics

We use Read, Write Inc as our phonics / reading scheme in Foundation Stage and Key Stage 1.
For more information on Read, Write Inc. click here and here.

You may have heard your child using the term ‘Reading VIPERS’ and wondered what
snakes have to do with reading! You can read more information about it here

Please click here for Phonics
Please click here for Reading

 

Phonics and early reading

At Hallam Fields we believe that reading is an important thing that children learn at school. Reading is the key to future success.

We start teaching the children to read from their very first day of their school journey. Children are taught the sounds through the Read Write Inc phonics scheme.

Read Write Inc. teaches synthetic phonics in a structured exciting way. Children will start the scheme when they join the school in EYFS and will work through the scheme until they can read confidently with good understanding. The scheme also supports children’s writing, giving them the tools to spell and compose.

When the children are learning to read there are two crucial things to learn:
– the sounds represented by written letters
– how to blend the sounds together to make words. Synthetic Phonics is a way of teaching reading.

Children are taught to read letters or groups of letters by saying the sound(s) they represent – so, they are taught that the letter l sounds like llllll when we say it. Children can then start to read words by blending (synthesising) the sounds together to make a word.

Some words cannot be ‘sounded-out’ as they do not follow the phonics rule. Examples of these are ‘the’, ‘into’, ‘magic’, ‘come’. Therefore, these are taught as Red words within Read, Write, Inc. We teach them as sight words and the more children are exposed to them, the more they are instilled in their working memory.

The children are assessed every 6 weeks and are regrouped using that assessment. Here is a table of the different coloured groups within Read Write Inc,

 

Reading

Reading is at the heart of our school curriculum. At Hallam Fields Primary School we use reading to expand our children’s horizons, build their creativity and imagination as well as teach them new knowledge and skills. We firmly believe that reading unlocks all areas of the curriculum and is a core skill that children need to learn and that reading is the key to future success.

The skills of reading are taught within phonics and whole class reading and children are immersed in literature through English lessons and foundation subjects.

The skills of reading are taught throughout our curriculum. These include, daily phonics lessons (EYFS- Year 1), whole class reading lessons (Year 2-Year 6), listening to a class novel, 1:1 reading with teachers and support staff. You may have heard your child speak about VIPERS- Find the KS1/ KS2 VIPERs guide below.

Children are also excited by the opportunity to share their recommended reads, or favourite books in our weekly book club sessions in class. We also explore different authors and books genres throughout the year and recommend other books from the same author with teachers sharing their recommendations or why they enjoyed reading a particular child’s book.

Books:   From Year 2 to Year 6 children are given individual reading books from the UK book banded system. Please see below the colour banded system. Children also take home a reading for pleasure book. All reading for pleasure books are labelled with a gold star and for children, parents/ carers to enjoy and share with their child at home.

Bookbag Books

At Hallam Fields Primary School we have invested in the bookbag books which relate to the Read, Write, Inc scheme we teach. This means that the book the children take home contain sounds and words they have already been taught in school so at home they can practise them confidently. This helps with consolidation and retaining phonics learning, making the children masters of reading!

Here are examples of the books that are sent home with the children.