Phonics and Early Reading
What is Phonics?
At Gorringe Park Primary, we teach phonics using the Sounds-Write programme throughout the school. It is a structured phonics programme that we currently use daily for whole class phonics sessions and catch up interventions.
It teaches the three essential skills of:
- Segmenting - breaking a word into sounds;
- Blending – putting sounds together to make a word;
- Phoneme manipulation - swapping a sound in a word to make a different word e. mat, pat, cat.
To become a fluent reader and speller, a child needs to grasp 4 areas of conceptual understanding. Letters are symbols that represent sounds.
- Each sound may be spelt with one or more letters.
- Sounds may be written in more than one way e.g. mail, tray, cake, great have the same sound /ae/ however it is spelt differently.
- Many spellings can be used for one sound.
In KS1, children build onto this skill by learning that words may have the same sounds but are spelt differently.
For example:
snow coat so home toe
Early Reading
At Gorringe Park, our intention is for all children, regardless of background, will become fluent readers and develop a life-long love of reading.
In the Early Years and Key Stage One, children have the opportunity to read books that are in line with their developing phonics knowledge within a whole class setting, in small groups and one to one with an adult.
We use the Dandelion Reading scheme which is closely linked to the structure of the Sounds-Write phonics programme. The books are designed to engage and enthuse beginner readers and encourages reading success and building of confidence from the very beginning.
We believe in a strong partnership with parents and carers as the first educators of children and therefore strongly encourage reading at home. Children are encouraged to take home two books; one that is closely linked to their phonics ability from the Dandelion Reading Scheme and another of their choice from the class library to share with their adults that promotes a love of reading.
Tips for parents:
- It is very important to say the letter sound and not the letter name.
- Write letters in lower case and not capitals.
- Start with words known as CVC words (consonant, vowel, consonant e.g. mat).
- To progress onto CVCC (went) CCVC (tram)
https://sounds-write.co.uk/support-for-parents-and-carers/
https://www.topmarks.co.uk/english-games/3-5-years/letters-and-sounds
For further support on early reading please use the links below:
https://www.phonicbooks.co.uk/advice-and-resources/advice-and-resources-for-parents/
An introduction to Dandelion Books - https://youtu.be/AVve7Pt1Jxw