Literacy

1. Literacy • Literacy is the ability to read and write. • It is important to get a good start in literacy as you need to be literate to access most of the curriculum in your school life. • This is done by building pathways in the brain – in other words, practicing lots! • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4np5wLAhWw

2. Children get the best start in literacy when they: • At school: • Have daily phonics sessions • Have handwriting sessions • Have small group writing sessions • Have 1:1 and guided reading sessions • Read a range of fiction and non-fiction books • Discuss about what has happened in a book • Write fiction and non-fiction texts • At home: • Read at home daily • Have books read to them • Notice words and letters around the environment • Practise writing and good letter formation through pictures and creative activities.

3. Phonics • Phonics means the using the sounds that letters make to read and spell words. • Here are the 44 phonemes in the English language: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BqhXUW_v-1s • Show letters and sounds sheet

4. Magnetic boards • Say the word, then break it up into sounds. This is called segmenting. Segmenting helps children to spell words. • Say each sound in the word and put the letters together to make the word.

5. Magnetic board • Now we are going to make a digraph. This is 1 sound with 2 letters. • The digraph at the start of this word is a consonant digraph – it makes a consonant sound.

6. Magnetic board • Now we are going to make a new digraph. • This digraph is a vowel digraph – it makes a vowel sound. • The vowel sounds are a e i o u aieeighoaoo

7. Magnetic board • Now we are going to do some blending. Blending helps children to read. • Make the word cat on your board. • Touch each letter in order as you say the sound and blend the sounds together. • Children can read many words using this technique- usually in print.

8. High frequency words • Not all words in the English language can be read or spelled using phonics. • Children also need to learn tricky words and spelling patterns. • In reception, children will learn lots of simple tricky words such as I, the, go, you. • It is good to practice them a bit at home too.

9. Phase 1- September • Singing • Noticing initial sounds • Rhyming • Alliteration • Listening skills

10. Phase 2 October - January • Most single letter sounds • Matching sounds to letters • Blending sounds to make a word • Sounding out and blending cvc words (c-a-t d-o-g) • Reading words I, the, no, go, to • Practicing good letter formation

11. Phase 3 January - July • Learn the rest of the single letters j,v,w,x,y,z,qu • Learn some digraphs and trigraphs like sh, ee, oo. • Read short words with digraphs and trigraphs in. • Spell short words with digraphs and trigraphs in. • Read he, she, we, me, was, my, you, her, they,all are. • Spell words the, to, I, no, go. • Practice good letter formation. • Write a sentence with some punctuation.

12. Writing • Children in reception are given lots of opportunities to put their phonics into practice. • This is through guided writing sessions in small groups and lots of writing resources in play – for example taking an order in the café, making a book about animals, or recording the scores of a game. • The following 2 slides are of 2 children at a good level of writing at the end of reception.

15. St.Barnabas Primary School Reading

16. Every Child a Reader • St. Barnabas is a Every Child a Reader ECaR lead school. • We have won many awards over the years and have supported the majority of the local schools in setting up the Every Child a Reader programme. • Our end of year (SATS) results in reading are above the national average year on year.

17. Creating a love of reading in children is potentially one of the most powerful ways of improving academic standards in school.

18. Reading Books • All books across the school from Foundation Stage to Year 6 are Reading Recovery Levelled and Book Banded, this includes all of our guided reading books. • Each class has a set of appropriately levelled books to ensure all children experience success and progress from one level to the next • We also have a central area of levelled books so that teachers can exchange books

19. Level 1

20. Level 16

21. Level 22

22. How to help when the child finds it hard to read a word • Ask the child to point to the words on the page, check that they know the difference between a word and a letter • Ask the child to ‘get their mouth ready’ and sound out the word and blend the sounds together • Ask him/her to read on past the word to see if he/she can get the meaning of the sentence and work out the word • Ask the child to re-read the sentence putting in the first sound of the unknown word and then read on to the end of the sentence • Always ask the child to have a go. If he/she has a go but really can’t read it then show him/her how to use one of the above points to work it out • Make sure that what the child says makes sense, if it doesn’t ask them to re read checking for meaning • Give the child lots of praise, even if he/she couldn’t read many of the words, we all like to feel like we are trying our best • Be patient – children can often find reading difficult and will needs lots of practise and praise

23. Reading for pleasure and purpose

24. Our School Library • £15,000 to refurbish and re-stock our library • Good range of high quality texts that reflect the children’s interests and our curriculum = motivation to read and deep engagement • Children visit the library every week and bring books home.

25. Supporting reading at home • Be a great role model: • Make the experience pleasurable, quiet time, no distractions, TV off! • Provide a wide range of reading material at home • Become a member of your local library

26. We let our light shine by developing the skills needed to promote a life long love of reading.

27. Have a great summer! • We’ll see you for your home visit – your date for that and your start date are in your goody bag. • Enjoy the goody bags with your child – things to do over the holidays sheet.