Stoke Climsland and Calstock Phonics Presentation 01/11/18 Stoke Climsland and Calstock Phonics Presentation Welcome

Being able to read is the most important skill children will learn during their early schooling. It has far reaching implications for lifelong confidence and well being.

Aims This afternoon our aim is to Share an understanding of reading development with you Introduce the way we teach phonics reading and writing in school Share strategies to support you at home with your child’s reading development

Learning to read Before your child can start to read s/he Needs to learn to: Say the sound that is represented by each letter or group of letters c-a-t, sh-o-p, s-t-r-ee-t Blend those sounds together to form a word

How hard can it be? The English language is a complex code ay igh play right eight pie cake kite straight fly If you are English, very hard! Spanish English letters 26 Speech sounds 24 44 graphemes 29 140+ There are 9 different ways to write ‘or’!

So how do we teach phonics in Stoke and Calstock schools? We use the RWI programme to deliver a daily, systematic and structured approach to teaching phonics across the schools. The structure of the lessons will vary slightly between foundation and year 1 and between the schools but the key elements are the same.

Speed Sounds In RWI each sound has a picture and phrase to go with it. This helps the children to remember it and to discriminate between different spelling patterns for the same sound. Every lesson starts with going through the speed sounds we know and then introducing the new speed sound for the day.

Special Friends When two or three letters make one sound it is known as a digraph or trigraph, e.g. sh, th, ai, igh. In RWI we call these ‘special friends’. When we are reading or spelling words we identify which ‘special friends’ we will be using.

Word Time When the children have learnt a group of sounds, they practice saying, reading and spelling words with them in. This is called word time. This is Fred. He helps us learn to read. Fred can only talk in sounds, he cannot blend. He can say c-a-t but not cat. We call this Fred Talk. If children can understand Fred, they can blend.

Green words are words that we can decode with sounds. Red words cannot be decoded and need to be learnt by sight.

Spelling Fred helps us learn to spell as well. It is important that children can segment a word into its component sounds in order to spell it. We call this using our Fred Fingers. Let’s try!

Writing time In RWI we spend two days on each new sound. On day 1, we will introduce the new sound during speed sounds time. Next, we will read green words containing that specific sound during word time and finally, we will use our Fred Fingers to spell and write words containing today’s sound during writing time.

Writing time On day 2 we revise the new sound during speed sounds time. We will then mix green words containing the new sound in, with previously learnt green words, during word time. During writing time we will segment and spell words containing the new sound as well as other previously learnt sounds. Finally, on day 2, we will read and write a sentence containing words using the new sound.

Dots and dashes When the children move up into Year 2 and through the juniors they continue to use RWI but it becomes a spelling programme, rather than phonics. The Fred Fingers become known as dots and dashes Lets try!

Phonic Screening In June, Year 1 pupils will sit a phonics screening check. This a statutory test that must be completed. They have to decode 40 words, some of which are pseudo-words. The pass rate has always been 32/40. Results of your child's test will be provided as part of their end of year report.

Remember keep the sounds clean, no ‘fuh’ and ‘luh’! How can you help your child at home? Have fun with Fred Talk! “What a tidy r-oo-m!” “Where’s your c-oa-t?” “Time for b-e-d!” Practise pronouncing the sounds… Remember keep the sounds clean, no ‘fuh’ and ‘luh’! Reading stories at home Read favourite stories over and over again Read some stories at a higher level than they can read themselves. Listen to them reading their take home reading book. Use the same terminology as we do in school. Special friends Fred fingers

Resources Parent booklets Ruth Mishkin parent leaflets RWI flashcards can be purchased from Amazon.

Thank You! Jacqui Payne