Phonics

At Lynch Hill Primary Academy, we use a programme called Read Write Inc to teach phonics. This uses a process to ensure that all children are taught to read. Partner work is key to the process, ensuring all children are learning.

Step 1: Children are assessed and grouped according to their phonics knowledge.

Step 2: The sounds are taught systematically to the children

Step 3: Children read and spell out decodable words

Step 4: Children use ‘ditties’ to practice early reading and writing. They continue learning sound: letter matches.

Step 5: Children read levelled, decodable texts and do integrated writing activities. They continue learning sound: letter matches.

 

Step 1: Children are assessed and grouped according to their phonics knowledge.

Assessment is done half termly.

Groups are flexible; children often move around depending on what they need at that time.

Step 2: The sounds are taught systematically to the children

The sounds are taught in sets.

Set 1 sounds

Your child will learn these sounds first. They will also learn how to blend them together (e.g. c-a-t > cat).

m, a, s, d, t, i, n, p, g, o, c, k, u, b, f, e, l, h, r, j, v, y, w, th, z, x, sh, ch, qu,  ng, nk

Set 2 sounds

These are the long vowel sounds. These are often made up of 2 or more letters (called special friends) e.g. ay as in play, ee as in tree. To help learn these sounds, your child will learn rhymes containing these letters.

Set 3 sounds

Your children will learn these sounds once they have learnt all of their set 1 and set 2 sounds. Please be guided by the school when to start these. The set 3 sounds are different ways that the long vowels are written e.g., ea as in tea and ee as in tree. Like in set 2, these are made up of 2 or more letters.

Word time:

This is the first part of learning to read. We teach the children the sounds in a specific order (please see above). When they know the first 5 sounds, we start teaching them how to blend these into simple words (e.g., mat, mad, dad). To do this, we use magnetic letters and show them how letters combine into words.

All letters have a picture to go with them, to help the children remember the sound and to help with letter formation.

Step 3: Children read and spell out decodable words

Children learn to read ‘green words’ – these use the sounds they have been learning.

We sound out each sound and then blend. This is called ‘Fred talk’.

Alongside reading words, we practise spelling the same words. Teaching the skills concurrently allows the children to understand how words are made up and enhances their understanding. We encourage the children to pinch the sounds using “Fred Fingers”.

Step 4: Children use ‘ditties’ to practice early reading and writing. They continue learning letter sound correspondences.

The children are now reading simple stories! Each day they will read a different story. These will contain green words, and introduce the children to red words. Red words cannot be decoded.

They will continue to learn set 1 sounds, with particular focus on sh, th, ch, ng and nk.

Each day they will perform different writing tasks, aimed at building up their confidence at writing simple sentences.

Step 5: Children read levelled, decodable texts and do integrated writing activities. They continue learning letter sound correspondences.

Children move onto the other books when they begin to read words without sound them out first. This ensures fluency when reading.

Children begin to learn the set 2 and set 3 sounds. They will revisit these sounds until they are secure in their understanding, reading these in single syllable and multisyllabic words.

Children will come across new green and red words, being to learn more about punctuation and read with expression and understanding.

Throughout this time, we support the children in building their fluency by practising reading these are speed.

What can you do at home?

Read stories to them! It is vital that the children are exposed to as much language as possible. We understand that you are incredibly busy, but it really does make a difference.

Read the books that the school send home with the children. These may contain words your child will find difficult, but they should be at an appropriate level for them.

Sometimes your child might bring home a book that they can read easily. Please do not say “This is too easy”, but instead encourage them to change their voice as they read, adding expression. You can also ask them questions about things that happen, or what they think about parts of the story.

Within the reading books, there are a variety of activities. These can be used as your reading activity for the day. For example:

Day 1 – practise reading the sounds speedily

Day 2 - practise the story words and red words - these are found near the front

Day 3 – read the story. Your child should be able to read this independently, but you can take it turns to read pages.

Day 4 – practise reading the speedy words at the back. Set a timer, and see how many they can read in a minute.

Day 5 – read the book bag book that is an engaging story that links to the book that they have read in school. Alternatively, use the “questions to talk about” at the back of the book to support comprehension.

Encourage them to read anything and everything. Get books from your local library, use comic books, encourage them to read things when you are out and about. We have a small library full of books outside the Year 1 block that you are welcome to visit and take or leave books in. We also highly recommend https://storylineonline.net/ or CBeebies Bedtime Stories.

When helping your child with writing, encourage the correct letter formation, but do not rub out their work. Model how letters should be formed and allow your child to copy these.

Watch http://www.ruthmiskin.com/en/resources/sound-pronunciation-guide/ to help understand how to pronounce the different sounds. It is vital that your child is pronouncing them in a ‘pure’ way, and not adding an –uh sound to the end (e.g., muh, cuh) as this will not help them with blending.

Each week, we send home virtual classroom videos to children in Nursery, Reception, Year 1 and Year 2. Please do take the time to watch these; they are an invaluable resource.

Go over the high frequency words with your child. These words appear repeatedly throughout the English language, and unfortunately these are words they cannot sound out and just need to know!

High frequency words for Year 1:

 

High frequency words for Year 2:

 

Phonics Screening Check – what is it?

At the end of Year 1, all children are required to take the phonics screening check. It is a statutory Government assessment to analyse children’s individual phonetic knowledge. This will help the school assess whether your child has learnt phonetic decoding to an appropriate standard, and will help identify sounds your child may need further consolidation on in Year 2.

What does it involve?

Children will be asked to read 40 words. 20 of these will be real words, 20 will be pseudo words (alien words e.g. blum)

How is it administered?

Children complete the check individually in a quiet place with a member of the Year 1 team. There is no time limit, but the average time taken is less than 10 minutes.

What is included?

The sounds included are ones your child has learnt throughout their phonics teaching so far.

Some example real words are:

feet                     shed                   park                    for

Some example alien words are:

sabe                    mouch               vert                     jight

If the word is an ‘alien word’ there will be a picture of an alien next to it, to ensure your child is aware that this isn’t a real word.

How will we prepare your child for the phonics screening check?

We expose your child to all the sounds that may come up in the test, using games that include real and alien words.

We will send home real and alien words for your child to read as part of our homework.

We assess your children every half term using real and pseudo words, so we are confident that the screening check won’t cause any distress.

We will send home some sample materials to enable you to practice with your child.

Things to consider:

Your child’s score will be included in their end of year report.

If they do not pass the phonics screening check, they will be re-tested at the end of Year 2 to check their progress.

In previous years, the pass rate was 32/40. This is subject to change.

The test is administered in June.

 

The Teaching of Phonics at Lynch Hill

We ensure that all staff in Reception and Year 1 are regularly trained and supported with their teaching of phonics to ensure that it is the highest quality. This was highlighted in our most recent Ofsted report that says “Leaders have invested significantly in the professional development of all staff to teach phonics. This has resulted in a staff team who are experts in teaching children to learn to read. Teachers make sure that pupils read books that match precisely to current reading ability. Pupils practise their reading successfully. Pupils who need further help to keep up receive targeted support to improve their reading, fluency and vocabulary.”

If your child is finding learning to read difficult, please know that we are doing everything we can to support them. We may move them into a different group, we may provide them with additional support in school. If we have any concerns about your child’s reading, we will talk to you about this.