2. What we will cover A quick recap of reading development of preschool, Reception and Year 1 children and what is done in school. How we support reading for our older, more fluent readers at school How you can help at home

3. What do you remember?

4. Early Reading - phonics In school we follow the ‘Letters and Sounds’ program. (A phonics resource published by the Department for Education and Skills) The document highlights the importance of developing, from the earliest stages, children’s speaking and listening skills So they can build a good stock of words and vocabulary learn to listen attentively speak clearly and confidently Speaking and listening are the roots of reading and writing.

5. In Reception children begin to: Learn the link between letters and the sounds they make Hear separate sounds within words Blend sounds together Read tricky words Identify digraph and trigraph sounds

6. Early Reading Phonics continues in Year One – towards the end of the year children undertake phonic screening to ensure they have a good basis on which to build reading and writing skills They continue to learn: Tricky words Alternative digraph sounds Split digraphs The children’s phonic understanding at this stage will greatly effect their writing.

7. Developing understanding Initially children get information from pictures but increasingly we need to encourage them to listen to what they are reading. Remember – recalling facts Where did they go? What did they do? Understand – interpreting, predicting, explaining Why did dad have to go? What might happen next?

8. Initial Sounds/Rhyming sounds: Encourage your child to listen for the first sound in a word or find a rhyming word (even a made up one!) Sound Actions and songs: Practise phonic sounds with actions. Listen to and sing along with the song. Sing any songs! Download lyrics…

9. Identifying phonic sounds and prefixes and suffixes: Identify letters of the alphabet- their sounds and names. Identify words with these sounds in. Identify words which start or end in the same way eg uncommon, unable, unequal; frustration, attention, junction Play I spy or Through the Green Glass Door

10. How to help with developing fluent reading and writing Segmenting and blending to help children read and write: eg love/ly; diff/i/cult; a/maz(e)/ing (remember no e if you add –ing) Break words into chunks, not individual sounds Tricky words: When there is no easy way of sounding these out, children need to memorise them or use a mnemonic Eg because (big elephants can always understand small elephants)

11. Reading aloud is essential for children to develop fluency in reading. Reading to your child also helps to develop their sense of pace and good expression. It is important that children understand what they are reading. This can be done by effective questioning and talking about the book which is much harder if they don’t read aloud!

12. Moving onto confident, fluent readers Improving SPAG; spelling, punctuation and grammar Developing a rich vocabulary to support writing Enabling children to use text books at secondary school Becoming confident at presentation

13. The books are organised numerically from 0.0 to 10.0. They will be on the shelves in blocks (2.0 – 2.4, 2.5 – 3.0 etc) Books are graded according to The difficulty of the words The meaning of the words The length of the text Books in the same block eg 3.0 – 3.4 can look very different to each other!

14. How to help with confident, more fluent readers Reading aloud and reading together still has an important part to play Read the same books – so that you can discuss them properly (and you know the content) Read poetry – try Benjamin Zephaniah Read non-fiction – find the most amazing fact possible Read newspaper articles Read the ingredients section of jars and packets

15. Application – applying information to a new situation What would happen if…? The boat hadn’t sunk? the teacher had noticed? Can you give me another…. sort of transport they could have used? … ingredient he could have added? Analyse – to examine or organise Why did he make it with wood? What are the similarities/differences between Sam and Katy?

16. Evaluating – judging, deciding What caused….? The fire? the argument? Why did…. happen? Who was ….? Braver? the wisest? Why? Give reasons for.. Creating – design, plan Can you think of a different conclusion? Is there another way to…? End the story, interpret the story..

17. There is nothing wrong in… Reading a book more than once Reading an easy book Reading comic strips Reading rubbish Discussing teenage fiction Watching the film of the book Reading under the covers at night!

19. Tuesday 2 nd March Jamila Gavin will be opening our Library at 2pm Please come along! Thank you very much for your time.