Phonics and Early Reading

INTENT

The systematic approach to phonics at Greenacres Primary School:

At Greenacres, we inspire all children to develop a love of reading. We want our children to know stories and rhymes by heart because they hear them regularly. We aim for all our children to learn to read phonetically and enjoy and understand age appropriate books. We strive to teach children to read effectively and quickly using the Read Write Inc. Phonics programme (RWI) which includes teaching synthetic phonics, sight vocabulary, decoding and encoding words as well as spelling and accurate letter formation.

Using the RWI Scheme we aim to teach children from Early Years up to Year 2 to:

• apply their phonic knowledge and skills as the route to decode words
• respond speedily with the correct sound to graphemes (letters or groups of letters) for all 40+ phonemes
• read accurately by blending sounds in unfamiliar words containing the Grapheme Phoneme Correspondences (GPCs) that they have been taught
• read common exception words, noting unusual correspondences between spelling and sound
• read words containing taught GPCs and –s, –es, –ing, –ed, –er and –est endings · read words of more than one syllable that contain taught GPCs
• read words with contractions and understand that the apostrophe represents the omitted letter(s) · read books aloud, accurately, that are consistent with their developing phonic knowledge and that do not require them to use other strategies to work out words
• reread these books to build up their fluency and confidence in word reading
• read most words quickly and accurately, without overt sounding and blending, when they have been frequently encountered
• spell words containing each of the 40+ phonemes already taught by segmenting the sounds in words
• spell common exception words
• add prefixes and suffixes to previously taught words
• spell effortlessly so that all their focus when writing can be directed towards composition

Five key principles underpin the teaching in all Read Write Inc. sessions:

Purpose – know the purpose of every activity and share it with the children, so they know the one thing they should be thinking about

Participation – ensure every child participates throughout the lesson. Partnership work is fundamental to learning

Praise – ensure children are praised for effort and learning, not ability

Pace – teach at an effective pace and devote every moment to teaching and learning

Passion – be passionate about teaching so children can be engaged emotionally.

These principles and features characterise our approach to the teaching of reading using RWI. Teachers teach RWI using a detailed, proven step-by-step teaching approach to Phonics; where children are first taught simple GPCs, to accurately blend taught sounds, to decode simple words containing taught graphemes and then to read specifically designed books that are closely matched to their increasing knowledge of phonics and the common exception words.

Implementation

We have a bespoke programme that teachers follow to teach English that includes RWI Phonics.

Nursery:

Initially, during the autumn term children develop a love of language and enjoy listening to stories. Initial letter sounds are introduced informally with the children contributing to a ‘sound table’. EYFS staff use ‘Fred Talk’ and Fred Games daily (saying words using pure sounds) with the children, with the expectation that the children will begin to encode the words. During the spring term, Nursery teachers use phonic flashcards to teach two Set 1 Speed sounds per week with the aim that, by the end of the summer term, all Set 1 sounds will have been taught. During this process children hear the sound, see pictures of objects that start with that sounds, hear a phrase to assist the children to help remember the sound, see the grapheme, and then write the grapheme. Children review previously taught speed sounds on a daily basis and continue to have regular opportunities for Fred talk.

Pupils are taught within small homogenous groups, across year groups, which reflect their performance in RWI phonics assessments. We make sure that pupils read books that are closely matched to their increasing knowledge of phonics and ability to read ‘tricky words’; so they experience early reading success and gain confidence that they are readers.

• RWI teachers have all of the RWI resources needed to teach RWI and they follow detailed lesson plans to maintain consistency of the teaching of reading across every RWI lesson, irrespective of the RWI reading teacher.
• Teachers attend regular in-house CPD sessions, where they have the opportunity to learn about pedagogical changes, new RWI resources and to observe and practice specific parts of the teaching process.
• Regular assessment ensures that pupils are taught in homogeneous groups which match their phonic knowledge and reading level. Pupils making speedy progress move groups quickly. Those pupils making steady progress continue at an appropriate pace matched to their reading level. Those pupils making slower progress are usually taught in smaller groups and generally receive additional small group or one-to-one intervention.

Reception:

During the first few weeks of Reception, a Baseline RWI assessment is completed to enable the Reading Leader to determine the phonic knowledge of each child. As a result of this assessment, classes are split into small homogenous groups. This grouping allows for those children that know many sounds to focus on learning the technique of assisted blending and then to quickly progress to independent blending. Children that know some sounds are taught unknown sounds then also progress onto assisted blending. Children that know none or very few sounds, learn the Set 1 sounds from the beginning, in very small groups, with a focus on repetition and Fred talk. Reception pupils learn sounds and the corresponding grapheme, or groups of letters which represent each phoneme. Simple mnemonics help children to quickly grasp this phoneme/grapheme relationship. This is especially useful for pupils at risk of making slower progress. This learning is consolidated daily.

Key Stage 1

In Key Stage 1 pupils work within homogenous groups, across both year groups (Year 1 and Year 2 children), which reflect their performance in RWI phonic assessments. We make sure that pupils read books that are closely matched to their increasing knowledge of phonics and ‘tricky words’; so they experience success and gain confidence that they are readers. Pupils are re-assessed every six to eight weeks and the RWI groups are reorganised accordingly. English lessons include daily phonics lessons and readying activities. We use linked story book texts recommended by RWI to support background knowledge. We call these texts ‘ Story Explorers.’

Impact

At Greenacres we aim for all our children to be confident readers. We aim for our children to achieve the Early Learning Goal for Reading in Reception and pass the Phonics Screening Check in Year 1.  Alongside this we aim for all children to be off RWI by the end of autumn term in Year 2 and for children to be reading fluently with a good comprehension of the story. We believe our children enjoy listening to stories & learn new vocabulary through them. Our parents understanding of reading and how to support their children in improving all the time.

Assessment:

We assess all pupils from Reception to Year 2 using the RWI assessment and tracking grids tracking grids and we use this data to assign them to their correct RWI Group and to identify if they need to have any additional support. This provides a good indication of their progress relative to their starting points. We have a tracking system which identifies the sounds which should be taught to each year group in each individual term matched to RWI decodable books. We track the phonic progress that pupils make from Reception to Year 2 and, at the end of Year 1; we evaluate pupils’ acquisition of GPCs and decoding skills using the Phonics Screening Check (PSC). This ensures that we are able to maintain high standards in the teaching of the early stages reading in EYFS (using the Reading statements in the EYFS Profile), in Year 1 (using the PSC materials) and in Year 2 (using the statutory KS1 Reading assessment materials). Pupils in KS2 that are still acquiring word reading skills, continue to be part of the RWI program. This is through streamed phonics groups in lower key stage 2 and the Fresh Start programme in Year 5 and 6. The impact of high-qualify synthetic phonics teaching, coupled with vigorous assessment procedures ensures that attainment of Greenacres pupils is in line with or above that of Oldham and national standards.

Fast Track Tutoring

Children who are not reading at the expected level, have daily 1:1 reading with adults in school. In reception, this is daily with extra sessions of Fred Talk and Speedy minutes where needed. Each class has a folder with assessment trackers and each child has an individual progress record which staff use alongside the 1:1 tutoring guide to carry out sessions.

Expectations

1. Children meet the minimum RWI half-termly expectations of progress from Reception to Y2 unless they have recently arrived or have significant SEND
2. All children who are learning to read receive direct teaching of RWI Phonics, reading and writing for one hour every day (20/25 minutes in YR term 1 rising to 45 minutes in YR by Term 3)
3. Children remain on RWI until they have read Blue and Grey Storybooks with fluency.
4. Please note: these are the expectations for the lowest 20% of children. Other children should be well in advance of this

Coaching and regrouping

All staff have access to the Ruth Miskin training portal. Staff are assigned pathways to complete as part of their training. Each staff member has a training book, which they use to make notes on how to improve practice. The portal logs when staff have completed online training and a record is kept. We have whole school training days and we have development days across the year with our school advisor from RWI. She provides coaching and training for our reading lead and staff. From our development days, we have identified strengths in our teaching and have devised a coaching model within school.

Home Reading

At Greenacres, we use copies of the Phonics storybooks for home reading: children read the story three times at school and read it again at home to build their confidence and fluency. Book Bag books are supplementary books for children to practise sound-blending. Each book corresponds with a core Read Write Inc. Phonics book. It has a similar theme and the same graphemes. For example, the Book Bag Book Red Hat Rob builds on the core storybook, Black Hat Bob. Sending Book Bag books home If you send a Book Bag book home, make sure it is the correct matched book: not just one from the same Read Write Inc. colour. We always read the Book Bag book to children first; avoid sending it home ‘cold and accompany this with the Read Write Inc. core storybook they have just read. For those not yet on Red Ditties, we use sound blending books as per the RWI progression grid for sounds they know.

ten top tips.pdf

 

De-coding and Critical thinking skills are key Early Literacy skills at Greenacres. De-coding skills include:

• Print knowledge- The ability to identify letters, words and symbol on a page and to understand how print works- for example understanding that print is read from left to right and that letters combine to make words.
• Sound awareness- Understanding that words can be broken down into syllables and smaller sounds and that letters correspond to certain sounds. Critical thinking skills- These are the skills that require a child to draw on their knowledge and experience to form ideas and understanding that goes beyond what's written on a page. Critical thinking skills include:
• Story Comprehension- Understanding not only what is happening in a book , but why it is happening and being able to read ‘ between the lines’ to uncover the authors intention.
• Vocabulary- The skill grows like a snowball- the more words a child knows, the easier it is for them to learn new words and to gain meaning from stories.
• Conversation- As a child engages in a conversation, they draw on their knowledge and experience to make new connections, form new knowledge and build language skills. The better a young child’s conversation skills , the easier it will be for them to understand when they read later on.

stories and rhymes 21.pdf