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Reading

"The more that you read, the more things you will know.
The more that you learn, the more places you will go."   
- Dr. Seuss

 

Phonics  

The teaching of phonics begins within the first three weeks of children starting school in Reception. As a school, we follow the progression of sounds from Letters and Sounds and have created our own phonics programme around this.  

Once a child is blending (e.g. reading c-a-t = cat) they are able to take home their first reading book. Our school reading books are fully decodable and the progression of sounds follows the order in which they are taught. Children receive one school reading book per week and are encouraged to read their book three times (1. Decoding of words, 2. Comprehension and fluency, 3. Prosody). In addition to their reading book, children will have access to a variety of books on Bug Club which they can access through a computer or tablet. Children have their own unique login details to access their Bug Club account, so please speak to your child’s class teacher if you are having difficulties logging in. 

Tricky words (common exception words) are words which children cannot sound out using their knowledge of phonics, e.g.  the, to, we, come, etc. We teach one tricky word a week and you will be notified of this word in your child’s reading record. Please practise reading and writing the word, spotting it in stories or signs, making up sentences using the word.  

Our aim is for all children to keep up with phonics from the start. Therefore, we are quick to put in place support for children who are struggling to pick up the sounds and keep up with the pace of the lessons.  

It is important for children to be taught the correct pronunciation of sounds both in school and at home. To hear the correct pronunciation of sounds, please follow the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCI2mu7URBc

Phonics: How to pronounce pure sounds | Oxford Owl

Learn how to pronounce all 44 phonics sounds, or phonemes, used in the English language with these helpful examples from Suzy Ditchburn and her daughter. Find more phonics help on Oxford Owl: https://www.oxfordowl.co.uk/for-home/reading/phonics-made-easy/ Help your child learn to read with books and flashcards from Read with Oxford: https://www ...

www.youtube.com

Reading for Pleasure 

We understand the importance of reading for pleasure and provide a range of opportunities for children to develop this love of reading. We do this by: 

  • Sharing stories as a class on a daily basis. 
  • Regular sessions in our school library – children can choose one library book a week to take home. 
  • Mystery reader sessions. 
  • Whole school events such as World Book Day and author visits. 
  • Classroom bookshelves stocked with high quality fiction and non-fiction texts.  

Useful apps/websites to use at home 

  • Teach your monster to read 
  • Hairy letters  
  • Alphablocks 
  • Phonics play  
  • Bug Club