1. Reading and Phonics Workshop
Hollybrook Infant School
Aiming high, Caring, Learning Together

2. Outcome of Workshop Our aims:
Share expectations for reading within the Year R curriculum
Explain how we teach your child to begin to read
To help you understand what opportunities for reading there are within the Year R classroom
Identify how you can support your child with their reading
Explain what phonics looks like in Year R

3. The ability to read and write well is a vital skill for all children, paving the way for an enjoyable and successful school experience.

4. Reading Strategies
Children use a variety of strategies to help them read:
Phonics is a key strategy for phonetically decoding unknown words.
Using the picture as a clue (this is not cheating!)
Using picture clues along with the initial letter in the word
Predicting what the word could be from the context it is in.

5. What does reading look like in school?
Your child is allocated a reading book based on one to one reading carried out by the class teacher. This is reviewed on a regular basis
Teachers will initial and date your child’s reading log whenever they are heard read, at least once a week.
Children are reminded to change their reading books daily but if they forget please feel free to send them back at the end of the day!
A sticker will be put on the front cover of their reading log to indicate colour band.

6. Initially children will read on a 1:1 basis with the class Teacher once a week
This will include learning how to hold a book, turn the pages correctly and talk about the pictures
The first books your child will bring home are picture books with an insert for you to use to support your child
Children will also share a big book in a small group alongside an adult

7. Later in the Autumn term guided reading takes place daily
Later in the Autumn term guided reading takes place daily. Children are heard read once a week in a small group of up to six children. Some children may still be reading on a one to one basis. Reading records are kept by the teacher to assess children’s reading.
Phonics lessons happen daily. This includes lots of opportunities to apply phonic skills when reading.
Teachers will hear children read individually every half term to assess children’s progress and identify next steps.

8. High Frequency Words These will be sent home in sets of 9 words
We will teach and revisit High Frequency Words during phonics, literacy and guided reading
New words will be issued as and when the children are secure with the current set both as flashcards and when they identify the words in their reading book
If you feel your child needs a new set, please write a note in their reading diary
Please remember, we only check the diary once a week so a new set may not be issued until the following week

9. Letters and Sounds
Letters and Sounds is divided into six phases, with each phase building on the skills and knowledge of previous learning. They are also taught to read and spell ‘tricky words’ which are words with spellings that are not phonetically decodeable.
Phase 1- listening and differentiating between sounds
Phase 2- individual letter sounds, CVC words
Phase 3- introduction of 2/3 letters making one sound- e.g. ee, ai, igh, ar
Phase 3- CVCC, CCVC words
Phase 5- alternative graphemes for the same phoneme e.g. /ai/ phoneme can be written as /ai/ a-e/ /ay/ suffixes patterns for Year One e.g. ‘-ed’
Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar (SPAG)

10. Glossary
phoneme – smallest sounds e.g. the letters ‘sh’ represent 1 sound
digraph – 2 letters making 1 sound e.g. ch, ee, oo, th
trigraphs – 3 letters making 1 sound e.g. igh, air, ear
grapheme – is the letters used to record the phoneme e.g. ee, ea, ey (We often refer to it as ‘What the sound looks like’.)
You may hear your child using these words as they will be modelled within the classroom daily!

11. Phonics
The same phoneme can be represented/ spelled in more than one way e.g. rain, may, lake
The same spelling may represent more than one sound e.g. mean, deaf
This is generally embedded within Key Stage One and will be discussed in detail when your child joins Year One.

12. Sound buttons
S a t f i sh light

13. Your turn! How many phonemes in: Cat (3) c-a-t rain (3) r-ai-n see

14. How to support your child at home with reading and phonics
Encourage your child to read at home as often as possible
Practise tricky (non-phonetic) words
Encourage your child to identify the initial sound of words and sound out words when out and about to have lots of opportunities to apply phonic skills
Once is never enough! - Encourage your child to re-read favourite books and poems as well as their school reading scheme book. Re-reading helps children read more quickly and accurately
Dig deeper into the story - Ask your child questions about the story you've just read. Say something like, "Why do you think he did that?“
Be patient - When your child is trying to sound out an unfamiliar word, give him or her time to do so. Remind your child to look closely at the first letter or letters of the word

15. Useful links
some games are free
Google – Jolly phonics songs in order – this will take you to the songs we sing in class during phonics-
this is a link which models the pure sound and correct articulation of the letter sound.

16. Thank you for listening! Any Questions?
As you leave please feel free to explore the activities at the back of the room as these may help you think of ways to support your child with reading and phonics at home.