Letters and Sounds Structured programme Six phases Fast pace, lots of consolidation Blending for reading Segmenting for writing Tricky words

Phase 1 Speaking and listening are vital skills children need to develop in order to live successful lives in society. They are key skills for children developing their ability to read and write.

Phase 1- what does this look like in school? Sound games- hear and recognise the sounds- animal, everyday sounds. Listening and playing musical instruments. Following a beat. Sound walk around school/local environment. Explore sounds different objects make. Exciting role play areas. Body percussion

Phase 2 Learning specific letters and sounds Reading tricky words: I go no to the Blending and segmenting vc and cvc words, and in captions and sentences

Phase 2- what does this look like in school? We use Jolly phonics to introduce new sounds. - Children learn actions and songs to help them remember the sounds. IWB games Sound bingo Sorting objects that begin with different sounds Phonics puzzles and games Letter fans Practising letter formation through; -Painting letters -Forming letters in the sand -Writing letters in the air -Paintbrush and water -Chalk Magnetic letters Flashcards Sound hunt 20 minutes daily phonics lesson

Sounds covered in phase 2 s a t p i n m d g o c k ck e u r h b f,ff l,ll ss

Phase 3 All other sounds are taught. Alphabet names are important to describe the sounds made by more than one letter More tricky words for reading Writing I go no to the Blending, segmenting, reading, writing words, captions and sentences

Phase 3- what does this look like in school? Tricky word bingo Sentence building Reading simple captions IWB games Phonics games- Buried treasure Writing simple cvc and cvcc words using; -chalk -Whiteboards and pens -Different writing materials. 20 minutes daily phonics lesson

Sounds covered in phase 3 Letters j,v,w,x y,z,zz qu Digraphs ch, sh, th, ng, ai, ee, igh, oa, oo ar, or, ur, ow, oi, ear, air, ure, er

Phase 4 Adjacent consonants introduced cvcc words – ten-t mil-k jum-p ccvc words – d-rum p-lop s- poon Ccvcc words – pl-a-nk Further tricky words introduced eg said, have, like, so. Along with decodable words such as: went, from, just.

20 minutes daily phonics lesson IWB Games Reading/ Speaking Robot Talk word/ sentence cards Writing ccvc and cvcc words Pens/ paper Whiteboards Phoneme Frames Phonics games: Buried Treasure Countdown Bingo Loop Cards Phase 4- what does this look like in school?

Phase 5 Phase Five runs throughout most of Year One. New Graphemes for reading. Eg: ay, ou, ie, ea, oy, ue, ir, aw, wh, ph, ew, oe, au, ey, a-e, e-e, i-e o-e u-e. Alternative pronunciations of known graphemes. Eg: a as in hat, bacon, path, was. Alternative spellings for each phoneme. Eg: picture and catch or listen and house.

2o Minute Phonics lesson Phonics skills practised in guided reading and IWB Games writing lessons Phonics Games Spellings to learn at home Sentence Substitution Phoneme Spotter Phase 5- what does this look like in school?

Phonics Screening Check At the end of Year One all children take part in the national phonics screening check. The check takes place in the Summer Term and parents will be informed of the date nearer the time. The check requires children to be able to use all of the sounds learnt up to Phase 5. The check uses real and pseudo words to assess children's ability to decode. The results are fed back to parents in the end of year report.

Phase 6 Children gaining independence. Learning and practising spellings including long words. Application of spelling in writing. Adding suffixes. Eg: s and es, ed and ing, ful, er, est, ly, ment, ness, y. Using a dictionary/ spell checker. Using the past tense.

Phase 6 What does this look like in school? 20 minute focused Application of phonic skills phonics lesson. and of knowledge. Retell a story in the past/present tense Find compound words in a story book/ find a partner to make a Phonics Games: compound word Past tense plurals writing silly sentences ICT/IWB Games Act out the adverb Spellings to learn at home/ spelling dictation Joined up writing beginning with digraphs and high frequency words.

Useful websites ent/games/literacy_menu.html neE&feature=related

A New Vocabulary! Phonics – the learning of letters and sounds Phoneme – the sound a letter makes Grapheme – the written letter Blending – running sounds together to make a word Segmenting – breaking a word up into its component sounds Tricky words – words that cannot be decoded using phonics cvc – c = consonant (b/c/d/f), v = vowel (a/e/ee) Digraph - a sound made with two letters eg. sh ai oi Phonetically plausible – written phonetically that it can still be read although it is spelt incorrectly eg. torl werk cabij

Handwriting  EYFS- practical and fun activities include - Writing with chalk/paint - Paintbrushes and water, whiteboards, air writing. - Funky fingers- tweezers, using scissors, weaving, play dough. - Handwriting patterns to follow. KS1- Handwriting 2 times a week. Still very practical. Writing in handwriting books and handwriting folders. Links to different handwriting families- curly caterpillars, one armed robot etc.

Cursive writing

Curriculum expectations in year 1 Grammar and Punctuation: Regular Plural Noun Suffixes Suffixes and Prefixes Verbs Adjectives Connectives Singular and Plural Capital letters, full stops, question marks and exclamation marks.

Curriculum expectations in year 2 Grammar and Punctuation: Nouns using suffixes Adjectives using suffixes Adverbs Subordination and coordination connectives Expanded Noun Phrases Sentences with different forms Present/Past/Continuous Tense Capital letters, full stops, question marks, exclamation marks, commas and apostrophes.

Adjective Alphabet A couple of activities to warm us up.

Please choose 3 of the pictures and use these to help you tell a story. You can work in small groups to do this.

The big write It is a philosophy about writing which was originally devised by Ros Wilson. (A former teacher and Ofsted Inspector). It is based on the idea that to write well children need to feel confident and motivated. Children need to be able to talk. They need to ‘have a go’. If a child can say it a child can write it. It is a way to assess children’s writing and provide next steps.

Children are encouraged to… - Talk about what they will write. - Find exciting wow words and use them in their writing. - ‘Borrow ’ exciting words and phrases from other writers. - Have a go at using interesting punctuation. - Re-read their own writing and find ways to make it better. - Understand what they need to do next to improve.

What is the big write? Every fortnight the children concentrate on the four main elements of Big writing V- Vocabulary C- Connectives O- Openers P- Punctuation VCOP

Vocabulary Every class has a 'Wow Words' board where new and impressive words that the children have used and have found in good quality texts, are shared with everyone. The children are encouraged to use these words where appropriate in their writing.

Openers Every class displays and discusses good sentence ‘openers’ (sentence starters) that the children can use in their writing to make their sentences and overall texts more interesting. Teach ways of improving a basic sentence by changing how it begins e.g. ‘She opened the door’ to a better sentence, 'Cautiously, she opened the door.'.

Choose an opener. What is the most interesting way to finish the sentence? Nervously… To my great surprise… Laughing…If only I… I’ll never forget the day that… Reluctantly… Sleepily… I couldn't believe my eyes when… Earlier…

Connectives Every class displays examples of powerful connectives. The children are encouraged to use these in their writing to join sentences and paragraphs, therefore improving the organisation of their writing.

so becaus e althoug h as well however but until unless whilst or then and then whenever as meanwhile whereas despite even thoug h 2. If you use it correctly, move to a connective in the next column. 1. Start from the left of the board and try to use any of the connectives in the first column. 4. The aim of the game is to move all the way acros s the board. 3. If you use a connective incorrectly then you can no longer use this word and must find an alternative route across the board.

Punctuation The teaching of punctuation is based on the ‘Punctuation Pyramid.’ Children start by using full stops, then question marks followed by commas and an exclamation mark. Eventually they should use the higher order punctuation such as ( ) ; : etc.

Level 1. Level 2. ? Level 3. ?, ! Level 4. ?, ! … ’ “” Level 5. ?, … - ! ’ “” : ; ( ) The Punctuation Pyramid

When does it happen? Big writing happens once a fortnight on a Friday morning with children being encouraged to write at length using all the skills they have learnt. The lighting is sometimes changed and music is played softly in the background. In this way they will be building their writing stamina and experimenting with a variety of genre from reports, persuasive text and instructions, to character descriptions, creative writing, poetry and story writing.

EYFS children have a large focus on talk for writing and shared writing as a whole class during the autumn and spring term. In the summer term children will have a ‘Big Talk’ session and generate ideas then write with minimal support. Year 1 have a ‘Big Talk’ session, where ideas are generated and built with the teacher’s support. By the end of year one the children will talk and then write for 30 minutes. Year 2 talk and plan for 30 minutes and write for 30 minutes. This will build towards 45 minutes by the end of year two. KS2 talk and plan for 30minutes (20minutes VCOP, 10 minutes planning). Throughout KS2, children will continue to write independently for 45 minutes. Big writing progression

What can you do to help at home? Big Talk Homework Talk! Ask them to describe everything and anything. Take it in turns to tell a story. One person starts it, the other says what happens next etc. Look at a picture or photo together. Use it to tell a story. Think of a title for your story. What would the opening 10 words be? Encourage your children to spot WOW words and perhaps write them down in a book at home or on a piece of paper. Encourage your children to borrow words or phrases which they like from books, magazines, television programmes.

Encourage them to: - write letters - write a diary - take notes about a walk, a trip etc… - make lists – to do lists, shopping lists, lists of favourite music, games, characters, books etc. Use games to help develop vocabulary such as puzzles, crosswords, word games, anagrams etc. Write- make it real.

The library is now up and running and children will be able to take two books home a week. Letters will be going home this week with more information about this. Each class will have one library session a week which will allow the opportunity to explore the library and choose their new books. Please encourage your child to complete the online reviews either by writing them or sending in a video. Junior Librarian system

The most important thing to remember is to make literacy fun. If you ever need any new ideas please come and ask your child’s teacher.