Early Reading and Writing in Reception

Aims for this meeting To explain what we do to teach children to read and write. To explain what you can do to help your child. To introduce home reading books and homework. To answer your questions.

Why is reading and writing so important? Stimulates communication Learning Enjoyment and entertainment Progress in school Progress in future life

Learning to Read and Write As parents and carers you are your child’s most influential teacher with an incredibly important role to play in helping your child to read and write You are a vital role model – your children need to see you reading and writing Be enthusiastic, try to enjoy it and make it fun!

It all starts from day one……. Communication is the foundation for just about every aspect of a child’s development Helping build good speech and language skills is one of the most important things you can do as a parent Paying attention and listening Understanding what is said Learning new words Saying longer sentences Talking socially

Reading Children need to see adults reading to develop a desire to read – newspapers, signs, books etc They are generally aware of the concept of reading and will already have some strategies for reading. Children will often read their own and others names/ words without knowing the sounds they are reading.

What is phonics? Phonics is all about using……. Skills for reading and spelling plus…….. ….knowledge of the alphabet. Learning phonics will help your child to become a good reader and writer. We teach phonics daily for 20 minutes.

Phase 1 Phonics This has already started in Nursery It is all about tuning into sounds and words Voice sounds and shapes Sounds around them Rhyming Alliteration Gross and fine motor control

Phase 2 Phonics Children will be learning 4 sounds each week. Each sound has an action and a rhyme to remember the letter formation s a t p i n m d g o c k ck e u r h b f,ff l,ll s,ss

ch sh th ng ai ee igh oa ar or Phase 3 Phonics Once children are secure with the first 19 phonemes (sounds) and can read and spell CVC words e.g. hat, they will then learn the next set of phonemes – j v w x y z zz qu ch sh th ng ai ee igh oa ar or ur ow oi ear air ure er

Segmenting and Blending To teach the children to read and spell words we teach them to – Blend – children need to be able to HEAR the separate sounds in a word and then blend them together to SAY the whole word /b/ /e/ /d/ /m/ /u/ /g/ We use our ‘blending arm’ to read a word Segment – children need to be able to HEAR a whole word and SAY every sound that they hear boat  /b/ /oa/ /t/ We use our ‘robot arms’ to spell a word

Pure sounds Explanation of how to make the sounds. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwJx1NSineE&safe=active m- a –n

What can you do to help? Support your children in learning their individual letter sounds and RWI rhymes. Games and puzzles using 3 letter words/ initial sounds. Flashcards Matching sounds to objects Letter hunts Once children know some letter sounds, they start developing their understanding of segmenting and blending verbally. You could show them a cat, ask what sounds can they hear or sound out c - a – t, ask what word might that make. Use three letter cvc words to do this. The children know the words’ Fred Fingers’ to support this – if you model this for them it helps. Play ‘Eye Spy’ using initial and final sounds, or giving the 3 sounds but not blending them, e.g. Eye spy with my little eye a b – u – s.

Reading at Home

Skills to develop as a reader Guessing Using illustrations Noticing patterns Recognising and remembering symbols Focusing on sounds Using contextual clues Looking at word length and shape Recognising whole words Over their Foundation Stage year, they will be taught these skills and will be supported in their development at a speed which is appropriate for them.

What we do in school Daily activities to support the development of reading skills - Book areas in classrooms allowing children to explore and enjoy investigating books. - Modelling reading , encouraging children to engage with the book, (predicting, recognising letters or words, questioning, big books). -Labels and signs around the classroom and school - Use of computers, ipads and listening stations

Guided Reading Your child will have a weekly guided reading session. This will be in a small group. This is an opportunity for us to discuss a shared book with the children and work out strategies for reading. This will be recorded with a stamp in the Reading Record Book.

Reading books (Examples) Picture books develop awareness that pictures give us the clues to the story and help to encourage the children to engage with the characters. First word books have simple key words, picture clues and repetition. This can lead to memory reading ... Phonic linked books encourage the children to use their knowledge of sounds to read cvc words and key words. Story books and non fiction are the next step and these will develop the children’s sight vocabulary and their understanding of the text. These books will help the children’s confidence to really grow.

Reading - What to talk about? It is just as important that a child understands what is happening in the story as the importance of reading itself Talk about – Emotions and feelings of characters The weather and clothing worn by the characters Likes and dislikes of reading materials Predict what might happen next Their experiences, past, present and future events Who are the characters? (names, description, place in the family and where they live) Where does the story take place?

Reading at home Children who read regularly at home really do make more progress with their reading than those who do not. Aim for 4 times a week – this can be reading books, library books, Phonics Cubes etc. Read anything – shopping lists, road names, letters, library books, they all count! Find a good time to read – first thing in the morning, after bath etc.

What your child will bring home to support their reading and writing in school - Reading books A library book Reading record Sounds and words of the week sheet

What can you do to help? Provide your child with a regular quality reading time and make it important for both of you. Visit the library or bookshop regularly to give them a variety of books to look at/ be read to them. Sing or say nursery rhymes regularly. Allow your child to learn to read at their own speed. Especially with younger children, think how they learned to crawl, walk and talk at different speeds to peers, reading is the same. Allow them to make mistakes, guessing is a huge part of reading e.g. When using picture clues to help read words, them may mistake lorry for a truck. Encourage them to use picture clues and look at the letters in the word. Don’t tell them it is wrong, tell them it was a good guess, then show them how they can read the word correctly. Don’t worry if it takes them time to learn to read!

Writing Children start writing by making marks on a paper, some of which they can explain. Once they start to grasp the concept of letters through their phonics, they will experiment with writing them, usually they will want to write their name first. Children who have started to segment and blend sounds, will use this to help them with writing, e.g. Rhyming books. Emergent writing is the first form of writing. Research has shown that children will hear the first consonant in a word, then the last consonant, and finally the middle sound.

What we do in school Phonics daily, encouraging the children to use sound cards to have a try at writing. Emergent writing in independent work – role play, writing corners, drawing, tracing… White boards for both focused and child initiated activities, allowing they to explore trying letter without fear of getting it wrong. Big movements – Water painting, chalking, painting etc. to develop their muscles ready for writing. Opportunities to try writing for different purposes e.g. little books, labelling, writing about own activities, cards.

As your child develops as a writer they will move through different stages of pencil grip. We will be supporting your child to develop the correct grip. Grip 1- the first stage of writing. Grip 2 Grip 3 Grip 4 – the ideal grip for writing.

What you can do to help Use alphabet flash cards, to help children know correct formation of lower case letters. If children are forming letters incorrectly praise their attempts, and show them the correct way. You could make flashcards from the phonic letters we send home each week. Give children opportunities to explore with mark making and writing, e.g. writing shopping lists, making books, postcards to grandparents, diaries, scrapbooks etc. Please feel free to bring them into show! Find things they are interested in to inspire them to want to act out characters and stories and then write about them e.g. super heroes, princesses, fairytales.

Any Questions?