EARLY READING
The ability to read opens the door to learning. Phonics (sounds made by a letter or groups of letters) is crucial in the development of reading and writing in the Early Years of schooling. This journey begins the Foundation Stage and continues into Key Stage One, with the aim of children becoming fluent readers by the age of seven.
At Stag Lane Primary School reading is taught in the following ways:
Phonics Lessons
Phonics is taught using a programme called Read, Write, Inc.
Children are taught sounds daily and apply these to word reading.
Sounds are taught using Fred the Frog
Fred the Frog is a character used in our lessons. Fred can only say sounds. We call sound talk, Fred Talk.
For example: S –K –I –P
Fred always needs our help to read the word by blending sounds together.
The importance of sounds
In order to read accurately we must say the sounds correctly. The link below shows how we pronounce these ‘pure’ sounds.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BqhXUW_v-1s
Children are taught the sounds in three sets.
Set 1
Set 1 includes single letter sounds, as well as some sounds that are made using two letters. We call these ‘special friends’ such as ‘qu’ ‘ch’
When your child is beginning to learn the Set 1 sounds they will take home a speed sounds book which will help you practise these at home. Teachers will date the sounds as each one is introduced.
After children have learnt all the Set 1 sounds we practise blending these together. We do this orally and call this Fred Talk. It’s fun and can be practised at home too!
Can you r-u-n?
Get your b-oo-k
Children then practise blending single letter sounds into words, such as
b e d= bed
Once children are confident reading Set 1 sounds and begin to blend these, they are ready to read short passages called Ditties.
Children will then progress to Red Ditty Books. A paper copy of this book will be sent home after being read at school. It therefore maybe more easily read than an unfamiliar book. We send these books home so children can practise reading familiar words quickly to improve their fluency.
Set 2
As children become increasingly confident with the sounds taught, they learn to read more complex sounds with speed and accuracy.
Children will begin to read the Green and Purple books
Once a book has been read in school, it will be sent home to practice. When sharing at home please make sure children reads accurately.
Your child will also receive a new speed sounds, linked to the new sounds they are learning.
Set 3
Children then move on to learn additional sounds from the complex set, including split digraphs for example a-e as in cake and o-e as in hole (we call these ‘chatty friends’.)
Children will start to read the following colour books:
Our Lessons
Children are grouped and taught according to their stage in reading development.
Therefore children will be mixed with others within their year group. Assessment is rigorous and is conducted every eight weeks to ensure children make expected progress.
For those children who are not on track, focused 1:1 reading sessions are planned for, to ensure that they are able to ‘keep up’ rather than ‘catch up’.
Once children are reading Grey Books fluently and accurately they no longer require Read, Write, Inc. lessons and will move onto different reading materials, linked to their reading age (Accelerated Reader.)
For further details on Early Reading in alternative languages please see below: