READING WORKSHOP FOR PARENTS

Learning to read  Reading skills are like building blocks. To learn to read well, children need the blocks of knowing the sounds of letters (phonics) and the blocks of knowing the meanings of words (vocabulary), word parts (grammatical markers) and groups of words (overall meaning or semantics). To build these foundations of reading, children need effective reading instruction.  Interesting article ‘Howdo children learn to read’ at www. reading rockets.org

Phonics  A phonics approach focuses instruction on learning to associate printed letters and combinations of letters with their corresponding sounds. Phonics instruction gives children strategies to unlock or decode words.

Phonics and Early Reading  Follow the Bug Club Scheme from Foundation into KS1.  Learn and introduce new sounds in line with the scheme.  Practise knowing the sounds they make.  Apply the sounds knowledge to reading and writing words.  Learn spellings with phonic patterns.  Provide reading scheme material phonic and sight.

Bug Club  Introduces new sounds starting with s, a, t and p.  Learn the names and the sounds the letters make.  Practise blending these letters to make words.  Practise using these letters to make words.  Practise letter formation (small and capital).

Bug Club  As the scheme continues more sounds are introduced.  There is time to revise the skills using previously learnt sounds.  Continual practise recognising, reading, word building and letter formation with new sounds.  Apply knowledge in word games and in sentences.

Naming the letters  The alphabet song is sung at the start and end of each session.  This helps children to learn the names of the letters.  This also helps children to find the letters with ease for word building.  Clearly identifying a ‘letter name’ as opposed to a sound.

NOT At home please focus on the sounds the letters make and NOT the name.

This is essential for blending words. sh - o - p = shop l - ou - d = loud c - l - ow - n = clown

At home don’t be worried about giving a part of a word (like the ou in loud) and then letting the child sound and blend.

Examples from Bug Club:

Learning the sounds  All children are assessed on phonics and reading throughout the term.  Some children may receive sets of sounds to practise at home.  Home Support Booklet shows the progression of sound knowledge with red lettering used to identify key sound.

Visual learners  For visual learners, phonics may not be the most accessible approach to reading.  Word cards are used so that children can ‘memorise’ the word, by looking at the shape and position of the letters.

Reading tricky words (non phonic)  Some words are impossible for children to sound out.  These are learnt through visual recognition.  All children are assessed on sight words and reading throughout the term.  Some children may receive sets of HFW (high frequency words) and/or MFW (medium frequency words) throughout KS1.  Home Support Booklet shows the progression of sight word knowledge (reading and spelling).

Reading books  In Foundation, the class teacher listens to individual readers once per fortnight. Other adults supplement this.  There are two formal Communication and Listening lessons per week in which the children talk about books that are read with them.  Children read individually and in groups in KS1 and KS2 from the ‘guided reading’ scheme.  eBooks (on the whiteboard) and book sets from Phonic Bugs are used in Year 1 and 2.

Reading books  We will assess your child’s reading on a regular basis.  Each stage on the reading scheme is a set of National Curriculum levelled books.  Children can be moved up a level where necessary. No need to read every book!  In KS2, children change their own reading books and can self select within a colour level.

Reading books  We encourage children to read a range of different library books at home for variation including poems, non-fiction and comics.  It is also beneficial to read a range of books to your children to immerse them in different language and vocabulary.  The breadth of their reading helps them develop their speaking skills which also plays a key role in their ability to progress well with their writing.

Reading books  Use ‘Getting the best from your reading at Key Stage 1’ in the Home Support book to encourage comprehension, summarising and finding links between books.  Also relevant for books that have been read to your child or story tapes that they have listened to, TV programmes that they have watched.

Reading at home  For early readers, daily reading practise at home is vital.  Reading from child’s reading scheme book is important for progress.  It is also of great benefit to read to your child from a book that is at a higher level than their own reading ability.  Word games e.g. Scrabble, Boggle, Hangman.  BBC Bitesize.  Audio CDs.

Reading intervention  Reading is developmental.  Intervention programmes can be put into place at any time.  By KS2 fewer children have sustained issues with reading but individual reading plans and extra support are available.

New National Curriculum  Greater emphasis on cross curricular reading.  Topic related reading – find out what your child is studying at school and go to the library or use the internet to research.  Emphasis on whole reading – deriving meaning from texts (beyond decoding to higher order skills) and on reading for pleasure.  SPAG – formal work on spelling, grammar and punctuation.

SPAG  Example from Bug Club

All children start at different levels and will learn at different rates but your interest in their progress is pivotal to their motivation.