Reading and Spelling Information for Parents Key Stage 1

General information about our Literacy curriculum We use the Primary Literacy Framework It is organised into 12 strands Speaking, listening and responding, group discussion & interaction, Drama, word recognition, word structure and spelling, understanding and interpreting text, engaging and responding and shaping texts, text structure and organisation, sentence structure and punctuation and presentation.

Our literacy week We share a class text or texts - fact or fiction and our Literacy work is based on this text for a week or over several weeks Speaking and listening, reading and writing tasks will be based on this text The text is often linked to our topic Your child will also take part in focused guided reading activiities individually or part of a small group where a specific reading skill is addressed Each week we focus on an English Language structure for our English foreign language learners – this is incorporated into our daily routines and class work In addition we have specific phonics, spelling (Year 2) and handwriting sessions based on the Letters and Sounds document explained in detail in our Letters and Sounds powerpoint – we use the Jolly Phonics and Rigby Star Fast phonics schemes

Reading and spelling at home in Year 1 Autumn Term weekly: Children Bring home English library book share Phase 2 of the Letters and Sounds programme focusing on 19 letters of the alphabet – letters will be sent home each week to practise recognition and handwriting Further into the term children will bring home decodable and tricky words to practise reading and writing at home Spring & Summer Term weekly: Bring home guided reading book for children to read at their level Revision of Phase 2 and introduction of Phase 3 of Letters and Sounds programme which focuses on the remaining seven letters of the alphabet and graphemes to begin to cover multi-letter phonemes such as sh, ch and th Children will continue to bring home decodable and tricky words to practise reading and writing at home

Reading and spelling at home in Year 2 Weekly homework: 2 guided reading books and 1 English free choice book to share Decodable and tricky words to practise until they are fluent readers Weekly spelling lists are stuck in the front of their spelling book -children need to practise spelling these words (using the look say cover write check method) and putting them into a sentence The test will be completed at school in the back of the book Autumn – Letters and Sounds for spelling Phase 2 decodable and tricky key words Spring – Letters and sounds for spelling Phase 3 decodable and tricky key words Summer – Introduce Phase 4

How can I help my child with reading? As a parent, you can play an important role in helping your child learn to read. Research shows that children who are helped at home make better progress in school. Find a quiet, relaxing place away from distractions such as the TV. Read for about 10 minutes every day. Talk about the cover and title. Talk about what the story might be about. Look at the pictures and ask them to tell you where the story takes place and who they can see in the pictures. Read the first page or two together until your child is ready to continue alone or read the story together. Encourage your child to point to each word as they read aloud.

Ask your child to find key words they have learnt. Where possible wait for your child to puzzle out words. If they get stuck on a word, you could:   Point to a picture if it will help them guess the meaning. Ask them to sound the first letter of the word or give them the first and last sound of the word. Let them read on so they can work out the word themselves. Model blending and segmenting the word e.g. l-oo-k/ c-a-t. Read the word for them especially if it is a tricky word e.g. he/me/was. Remember Practise, with praise, makes perfect.

How can I help my child with spellings? With letters and sounds reading and spelling are taught hand in hand: Make letters and words out of plasticine. Help your child build words with the letters they already know - using magnetic letters, letter cards, cut out letters e.g. s-a-t = sat In Year 2 help the children practise their spellings using this method: Look -at the word Say - -the word Cover -the word Write -the word Check -the word; is it correct? If not, start again.

Working in partnership with the school & the teacher is the best way to help your child progress in Literacy.