Welcome to the Reception and Year 1 Phonics, Reading and Maths Meeting.

What is phonics? Phonics is the way we teach children to read and write using individual letter sounds or groups of letters. Starting in Reception and continuing throughout school, children have a 20 minute phonics lesson every day.

How do we teach phonics? Phonics is split into ‘phases’. We use games, white boards, chalk, paint, letter tiles, magnetic letters, sorting objects etc. Children will be using their phonic knowledge throughout the day in other curriculum areas.

Phase 1 Listening games Describe and discriminate between sounds. Nursery Rhymes Listening to stories with rhyme and repetition.

Phase 2 Learning individual letter sounds (“t” not “tuh”) Putting these sounds together (blending) to read words e.g. c-a-t. Splitting a word into sounds (segmenting) to write a word. Learn some key words (high frequency) such as is, it, and. Learn some tricky words (words that cannot be sounded out) such as no, go, I. Start to read some captions.

Phase 3 Recap on all the letter sounds. Learn sounds made by 2 or 3 letters e.g. oa, ai, oo, igh, ear, air. Blend and segment using the new sounds e.g. fair: f-air, night: n-igh-t. Learn more high frequency and tricky words. Read and write captions and sentences.

Phase 4 Recap on the sounds learnt so far. Continue to blend and segment and do this with words containing more sounds e.g. spoon: s-p-oo-n, toast: t-oa-s-t Learn some more tricky and high frequency words.

Phase 5 Learn that sounds can be spelled in more than one way e.g. train: ai and play: ay. Learn new graphemes: ir (girl), oy (toy), ay (play), ou (out), ie (tie), ea (eat), ue (blue), aw (saw), wh (when), ph (phone), ew (new), oe (toe), au (Paul) Learn split digraphs: a-e (made), i-e (tile), o-e (pole), e-e (these), u-e (rule), Learn more tricky words and high frequency words. Learn to read and write sentences.

Phonics Screening Check In year 1 during the summer term children will do the phonics check. This involves them reading 40 words, half of which are real and half are pseudo words (not real) but all can be read by blending (sounding out).

How you can help at home Listen to your child read regularly. Share books at home with your child. Encourage your child to learn the sounds they have focusing on that week (letters from class). Help your child to complete their phonics homework.

Why Accelerated Reader? Reading well, but not understanding. Has an impact on all lessons. A lot of schemes only focus on reading. Highly recommended. Cliff Park High also using.

Children take a short star reader quiz. How does it work? Children take a short star reader quiz. Pupils take the star reader quiz every term. Pupils then choose a book at their level. They read the book and then take a quiz.

When will my child move up? Need to get 80% or more on 2 occasions. Teachers will use their discretion.

Pupils have either 5 or 10 questions. The Quiz Pupils have either 5 or 10 questions. The questions test comprehension. Pupils receive points for the books read.

What if my child is not on Accelerated Reader yet? Pupils will receive phonics lessons Looking at letters and sounds. Using phonic reading books.

Can my child read other books? Yes! We want them to love reading. Pupils can bring home a book from the library as well as from the scheme. Encourage them to finish accelerated reader book first.

Guided reading sessions daily. How do we help your children with reading in school? Guided reading sessions daily. Pupils read and are asked questions. Pupils have quiet reading time. Taught reading comprehension skills. Teachers read to their classes.

Listen to them read regularly. How can you help your child at home? Listen to them read regularly. Read to them regularly too. Ask them questions about the text. Ask their opinion.

How do we teach Maths? Daily maths sessions. Fun, practical activities using resources. Teaching of skills and activities to challenge children to use these skills. Problem solving, reasoning and fluency. Maths Cafes for parents.

Priorities in early maths Counting up and back Counting objects and actions Recognising numbers Ordering numbers Number Patterns Mathematical Vocabulary Calculation strategies

How you can help your child with maths Look for numbers around house / outdoors. Play number games and sing number songs. Cooking: measuring and counting ingredients. Money – count change in your purse, look at different coins. Shape hunt: find shapes around house / outdoors.

The most important thing you can do to help your child succeed in maths is to have a positive attitude towards it. DO NOT SAY: “I’ve never been good at maths” or “I’m rubbish at maths” or “I hate maths” Research has proven that this has a negative impact on your child’s progress in maths.

We want your children to be confident, resilient and succeed with maths. You can help with this by having a positive, encouraging attitude when supporting your child with their maths learning.

Useful resources Parent Guide to Calculations School Website: www.hopton.norfolk.sch.uk www.nnparenttoolkit.org.uk

Mathletics engages children and make maths learning fun competitive element – within school and international encourages parental involvement improves pupil progress in maths

Questions?