How we Teach Phonics and Phonemic awareness
Intent
Phonics is the process of mapping the sounds in words to written letters. This is one of the earliest reading skills and involves pupils developing skills in the following;
Decoding: This involves thinking about what sound a word starts with, saying the sound out loud and then recognising how that sound is represented by a letter. The aim is for children to be able to see a letter and then say the sound it represents out loud.
Blending: Children then need to go from saying the individual sounds of each letter, to being able to blend the sounds and say the whole word. This can be a big step for many children and takes time
CVC words: Children then need to go from saying the individual sounds of each letter, to being able to blend the sounds and say the whole word. This can be a big step for many children and takes time.
Decoding Consonant clusters. Children will also learn about consonant clusters: two consonants located together in a word, such tr, cr, st, lk, pl. Children will learn to read a range of CCVC words (consonant, consonant, vowel, consonant) such as trap, stop, plan.
Vowel Digraphs: Children are then introduced to vowel digraphs. A digraph is two vowels that together make one sound such as: /oa/, /oo/, /ee/, /ai/. They will move onto sounding out words such as deer, hair, boat, etc. and will be taught about split digraphs (or 'magic e')
Consonant Digraph: Children will also learn the consonant digraphs (two consonants that together make one sound) ch and sh and start blending these with other sounds to make words, such as: chat, shop, chain and shout.
Encoding and learning to spell: Alongside this process of learning to decode (read) words, children will need to continue to practise forming letters which then needs to move onto encoding. Encoding is the process of writing down a spoken word, otherwise known as spelling.
Implementation:
Our 2 year old children in the Rainbow Nursery engage in Environmental Sounds. They are exposed to sing up phonics weekly.
The Read Write Inc process is then embedded through Nursery, Reception and KS1 and is adapted between classes to make the programme work effectively for each year group. Children are grouped, in class, by ability in Nursery, Reception and Y1 and teachers use the differentiated input model amongst other strategies to support children’s needs in phonics, maintaining a keeping up, not catching up approach. We use a mastery approach across KS1 in order for every child to have access to every sound. We start with phase 3 and work our way backwards.
All pupils are assessed using the Y1 phonics screening test, phonics tracker, to asses against National expectations.
In Year 2 phonics is planned to allow those children who still require the strategies and systematic nature of the RWI programme to continue to secure their skills and understanding, while pupils who have achieved their long term goals in phonics are able to apply these skills in focused reading and spelling sessions.
All phonics sessions are supplemented by shared and guided reading opportunities throughout the week where teachers model and give pupils the chance to apply their phonics knowledge.
Phonics and letter formation is taught together. Fine motor skills are developed through access to quality resources and activities through either specific teaching opportunities or continuous provision.
Phonics teaches children to read by matching sounds (phonemes) to letters (graphemes) or groups of letters.
Phoneme- the individual unit of sound in a word. The English language contains 44 different sounds.
Grapheme- the letter or group of letters that visually represents the phoneme (sound).
Digraph- 2 letters which represent 1 sound, for example: ck, ch, sh, th, ng
Trigraph- 3 letters representing 1 sound, for example: ear, air, ure, igh
Blending: merging the individual sounds (phonemes) to say a word. For example: c-a-t, cat or th-i-n, thin.
Segmenting- the skill of recognising individual sounds (phonemes) needed to spell and write a word.
De-code- work out and read a word.
Vowel- short vowel sounds: a, e, i, o, u long vowel sounds: ai, ee, igh, ow, oo
Vowels- a-e, e-e, i-e, o-e, u-e e.g. name, time (also called split digraphs)
High Frequency Words- words which occur most often in English some of which cannot be sounded out phonically. Your child will learn these in sequence and you may see them abbreviated as HFW or called ‘tricky’ or ‘key’ words.
Tricky words- these are words which don’t follow phonic rules. Your child will be unable to use their phonic skills to sound them out and blend so they will need to learn to recognise the word and say it (whole word recognition). For example: said, have, was, any, once
Punctuation- full stops, commas, speech marks, apostrophes, question marks and exclamation marks. As your child gets better at de-coding words they will begin to recognise and use punctuation mark clues in their reading.
Reading is the ability to look at written symbols and understand their meaning. Children who are ‘learning to read’ gain the skills to recognise the symbols (graphemes), de-code unfamiliar words and remember those learnt before. Once your child has mastered this they will begin to develop their understanding (comprehension) and be ‘reading to learn’ Our Intent for your child: At Victoria we are determined that all children will learn to read fluently as a result of making the very best start with their reading in Reception and Year 1.
Rationale: All children learn to read through decoding (phonics). Therefore in Reception and Year 1 children will be taught daily phonics lessons to enable them to learn phonemes (sounds) and to blend these in order to decode words quickly and fluently.
At Victoria we use RWI (Read Write Inc.) as our approach to Phonics.
Reception
When children first start school they are taught to listen to sounds in the environment, they are exposed to rhyming stories and activities, they are encouraged to speak and listen to others. This is called phase 1 of our phonics teaching and will continue throughout the Reception year.
Once children are full time they begin to be taught some phonemes (sounds). During daily phonics sessions they will be taught sets 1-5 sounds. There will be 4 new sounds each week. This is called phase 2.
Once children have completed phase 2 teaching, we assess the children’s ability to recognise the phonemes, read the phonemes and to orally blend using these, for example c-a-t is cat.
Children then learn the final initial sounds, further digraphs (2 letters making 1 sound, for example sh) and vowel digraphs (for example ai). This is called phase 3.
Later children will be taught to blend adjacent consonants, for example l-a-n-d or s-l-i-p. This is called phase 4.
By the end of Reception it is our intention that all children will be secure at recognising and blending with phase 3 phonemes (sounds).
Year 1 (pupil assessment at this stage will initiate any interventions if required)
At the beginning of Year 1 children will be assessed on their phoneme recognition from Reception. We will spend the first 3 weeks covering phase 3 phonemes again to ensure that children have recalled these from the end of the following year.
We will then teach phase 5, which involves children learning alternative vowel digraphs, eg ea. We will also teach split digraphs, eg a-e (as in came)
Children will be regularly assessed throughout the year and we will give extra support to children who need more practise to learn the phonemes. We will also send home phonemes which your child needs extra support with so that you can practise with them too. We use Phonics Tracker to find the sounds that children do not know to support their learning in intervention groups and send the sounds home for extra practice.
Reading (decoding)
Children will be taught to apply their phonics by decoding, in order to read books.
In Reception, children will initially bring home books with no words. This enables children to practise discussing the book with parents, without needing to decode words.
Children will then begin to bring home decodable readers (phonics books). These books will be phonemes (sounds) that your child has already been taught and is secure in. Children will practise the book at school before it comes home. It is important that children re-read the book throughout the week at home because this enables them to become more fluent as they begin to recognise the words without needing to decode and also will ensure they feel successful.
Children will continue to read decodable books in Year 1. Again these will be sounds that your child is already secure with. Children may bring home a book with a sound that they are not yet secure at, that they learnt previously.
Whole class reading (decoding)
In Year 1 we will additionally teach whole class reading. The book used for these sessions will be fully decodable and will have sounds the children are learning that week in school. The teacher will use a range of strategies to support children to decode the words. This will enable children to apply the phonemes they have been taught in phonics, later in the day.
Individual reading (decoding)
This will ensure children are further supported in developing decoding skills. It is vital that all children continue to practise their phonics book at home as this enables them to become fluent with these phonemes. All of the strategies above will ensure that children learn to decode speedily and fluently.
Assessment
Children need to decode and read words at 95% accuracy in order to be secure with the phonemes they are reading. We assess children’s reading of 100 words and children who get 5 or less errors are secure. Children will then move onto books with a different set of sounds.
Children will be formally assessed in phonics and reading at least once each half term to see if they have progressed and need to move onto books which support a new phase.
Reading for meaning
We teach reading for meaning (comprehension and understanding of the text) separately from phonics and decoding.
We therefore teach this skill during our story time sessions. Children are read aloud to daily and the teacher will model:
- think alouds - what they are thinking as they read
- retrieval – finding answers within the text,
- inference – answering questions by digging deeper.
- vocabulary – identify new and challenging vocabulary in the text, explain what it means and how I know.
Reading Environment:
Staff ensure that our school environment is ‘book focused’ encouraging children to love and enjoy reading. From our library to our in-class reading corners, our classrooms and schools promotes books, reading and story-telling.
In the 2’s pupils have access to reading sacks which are taken home to be enjoyed with reading expectations in the sacks so parents can gain a clear understanding.
Reading areas encourage pupils to relax and enjoy a book. Each pupil is exposed to at least five songs or rhymes each day allowing them to become familiar with different stories and words.
Nursery pupils are assessed on Accelerated Reader beginning the program early.
Oxford Reading Tree scheme is used to encourage rigorous structured progression running alongside a book for pleasure.
Daily Story-time provide pupils with the opportunity to listen to a vast range of stories, poems and rhymes.
Key books are include with each year group as essential reads ensuring that from nursery to year 6, pupils will have been exposed to a variety of fiction, non-fiction, and poetry.
Pupils achieving level 4 of ORT will complete a quiz on accelerated reader. They will then take a STAR reading test to give them a ZPD in which they can choose books from their ZPD range.
Strive for Five
At Victoria School we encourage children to read at least 5 times a week- strive for 5. The class teaching assistant or teacher will check this daily, and a message via Dojo will be sent out to those children who haven’t read as a gentle reminder to read at home. At the end of the week on a Friday, there is a Key Stage 1 whole school celebration assembly and the children who have read 5 times receive a certificate and a prize. In Key Stage 2, we follow the certification system on Accelerated Reader where pupils receive certificates to acknowledge the amount of quizzes passes and the amount of words read – up to becoming “Word Millionaires.”
Core reading spin Pie Corbett.
Each class has a reading area to promote a love of reading. Each class also has access to the Pie Corbert Spine Book Collection. Children listen to each book in their year group every year.
‘Pie Corbett’s Reading Spine is a core of books that create a living library inside a child’s mind. It is a store of classics and essential reads that help children engage at a deeper level and enter the world of the story.’
IMPACT
Early Reader; reception to Y1.
The impact of our early reading strategy will ensure that children learn to recognise phonemes speedily and use these to decode words fluently. This fluency will ensure that children are able to master the decoding skill and become confident fluent readers as soon as possible in their developmental years.
Developing Reader:
Moving from decoding to fluency:
Between Year 2 and Year 4, children will move from decoding words through blending aloud to automatically blending mentally and developing an increasingly large sight vocabulary. A child by the end of Year 2 should be able to read 90 words per minute
How we check fluency:
The school formally assess fluency termly in Year 2 (six times per year) and then three times per year in Years 3-4, using the school’s
This is done by hearing a child read a 100 word extract from a book which is a level above the band they are currently reading within. The child will need to read with 95% accuracy (roughly 95/100 words) and with sufficient pace to maintain meaning. Below 95% accuracy, a child will not be in a position to comprehend the text.
Teachers will hear all children read as part of their reading lessons, but will also hear individual children read three times per week if they are behind their peers and at risk of not becoming fluent readers. In Years 2-4 we would expect children to be using other taught fluency skills in addition to decoding e.g. self-correction, contextual clues etc
Children who are in danger of not mastering fluency:
Children across the school have access to a dedicated intervention programs to support pupils who are not becoming fluent readers at the same rate as their peers.
These children are identified half termly through the STAR reading test and after discussions with the English Leads, SENCO and in consultation with the class teacher following Pupil Progress Meetings between teachers and leaders. Children receiving support are given specific targets e.g. developing vocabulary or context skills and will work with a Teaching Assistant (either 1-to-1 or in small groups). Inference Training is used where appropriate for these children, along with bespoke programmes which focus on their greatest area of need.
Supporting children in developing comprehension:
Between Year 2 and Year 4 children need to master more complex comprehension and read for meaning. Children in these ‘developing reader’ years are taught to identify the meaning of texts by modelling and practicing key strategies regularly.
Secure Reader:
What is a secure reader?
A secure reader has a good understanding of the texts they read and takes an active approach to reading. They are able to visualise, ask questions, repair any break down in meaning and use different strategies to infer the meaning of unfamiliar words. These children think about their background knowledge of a topic before and during reading and frequently check their own understanding of the text through making predictions, linking to other texts, asking questions to clarify and constantly visualising and making brief summaries of what they have read.
Secure readers do not read on if they do not understand instead they re-read for sense, infer meaning of new vocabulary or read on to clarify meaning.
How we check comprehension:
The school formally assess fluency and comprehension three times per year in Years 5-6, using the school’s own colour banding system. This is done by hearing a child read a 100 word extract from a book which is a level above the band they are currently reading within. The child will need to read with 95% accuracy (roughly 95/100 words) and with sufficient pace to maintain meaning. Below 95% accuracy, a child will not be in a position to comprehend the text. Children in Years 5-6 will then be expected to pass a comprehension exercise (85% correctly) to move on to the next band. These questions assess the child’s understanding through asking them specific comprehension questions about the text. This exercise covers vocabulary, inference, prediction, explanation and retrieval questions giving the teacher and the child an understanding of where they are succeeding and which area needs more practise and support
How we ensure children understand the vocabulary used in different texts:
Children’s acquisition and command of vocabulary are key to their learning and progress across the curriculum. For child to comprehend a text it is vital they understand or can use strategies to infer the different types of vocabulary they read across all subjects.
Across the curriculum children will be given the opportunity to build a wide vocabulary containing Tier 1, 2 and 3 words. In lessons they will investigate the meaning of technical or subject specific words, distinguish between everyday word meaning and their subject specific (synonyms), collect unfamiliar vocabulary from texts they have read, define the meaning of unfamiliar words, and develop subject or topic glossaries.
Children will be taught different strategies to infer the meaning of unfamiliar words. These include re-reading the text, reading around the word, reading on to the next sentence, visualising the information, using their background knowledge of the subject, analysing part of the words from clues, examining what fits the context and using the syntax of a sentence. In Year 5-6 children are encouraged to reflect on the most effective strategy to infer words in different contexts and give a precise explanation of what the unfamiliar word means that fits the context of the text
Children who are in danger of not mastering the skills of a secure reader.
Children across the school have access to a dedicated intervention programs to support pupils who are not becoming fluent readers at the same rate as their peers.
These children are identified half termly through the STAR reading test and after discussions with the English Leads, SENCO and in consultation with the class teacher following Pupil Progress Meetings between teachers and leaders. Children receiving support are given specific targets e.g. developing vocabulary or context skills and will work with a RIT Teaching Assistant three times a week on this (either 1-to-1 or in small groups). Inference Training is used where appropriate for these children, along with bespoke programmes which focus on their greatest area of need
