LEARNING TO READ

Sounds… We learn sounds first but it’s very different to when you and I learned to read at school. The children are here to show you…

Fred Talk… We learn to decode words using ‘Fred Talk’ which mean to break it down into sounds then we blend it together to read the word. It sounds simple but it’s a tricky concept to grasp and takes a lot of practise.

What you can do at home to help… ◦ Read as many stories as you can to your child and explain the meaning of new words and most importantly show them how much fun reading can be. We want every child to have a love of reading and be excited to read. ◦ Practise the speed sounds like we do in school (don’t be adding ‘uh’ to the end of sounds; it’s ‘m’ not ‘muh’, it’s ‘s’ not ‘suh’) ◦ Practise sounding out (Fred Talk) as many words as possible. E.g. Let’s go to the sh-o-p today. ◦ You can buy or make some speed sound cards (they cost approximately £6 online). ◦ And remember, children learn much more rapidly if they are constantly praised.

Some activity ideas… ◦ Activity 1: Speed Sound cards – picture side Spread 5-10 cards out, picture side up. Say the name of each picture together. Ask your child to touch each card repeating the above. Increase the speed. ◦ Activity 2: Speed Sound cards – picture side Spread the same 5–10 cards out, picture side up. Say the name of each picture together, but this time bounce or stretch the beginning sound. (Look on the card to check which to do.) Ask your child to touch each card repeating the above. Increase the speed. ◦ Activity 3: Speed Sound cards – letter side Spread out the same 5-10 cards, letter side up. Say a sound, either stretching or bouncing it. See how quickly your child can point to the corresponding card. ◦ Activity 4: Speed Sound cards – letter side Spread out the same 5-10 cards, letter side up. Say a sound – no bouncing or stretching. See how quickly your child can point to the card. Now point to the card and ask your child to say the sound. ◦ Activity 5: Speed Sound pack Ask your child to decide the cards he wants to put in a ‘Speed Sound’ pack (the sounds that are known really well). Encourage your child to read these at speed, getting quicker and quicker. Try to increase the number of cards in the ‘Speed Sound’ pack until your child can read all 31 sounds quickly. ◦ Activity 6: Word clue Spread out the same 5-10 cards, letter side up. Say, for example, ‘monster, mirror, mouth’. (Emphasise the first sound.) See how quickly your child can say the first sound and then find the card.

Useful phonics websites… ◦ Here are a few websites that you might like to explore with your child: ◦ Alphablocks - lots of videos and games to help with recognising letters and reading. Alphablocks ◦ Phoneme pop! - the sounds/letters drift by on bubbles and your child has to pop the matching sound! Phoneme pop! ◦ Letters and sounds initial sound game - this game lets your child reveal a sound/letter and then try to find the picture that starts with the same sound. Letters and sounds initial sound game ◦ BBC bitesize - this game allows your child to listen to the sounds in a word and to pick the correct letter. Then they can see what word they have made with all of the sounds together. BBC bitesize ◦ Phonics play - there are several free games to play that will help your child with their blending and segmenting. Phonics play

‘Green’ and ‘Red’ words… Green words can be sounded out but red words have a tricky sound in them that doesn’t follow the usual pattern, below are an example of just some of them, the full list is in the children’s reading diaries… Green wordsRed words sat mat dad sad mad pin dig dog cat shop Chat I the you your said was are of to do does

Thank you! ◦ Thank you for spending the time to attend the session if you have any further questions please don’t hesitate to ask.