Contact Details
Barkston & Syston Church of England Primary School
- 01400 250553
- enquiries@barkstonsyston.lincs.sch.uk
Church Street, Barkston, Grantham, NG32 2NB
Phonics
Phonics
We believe that teaching children to be good, confident and fluent readers is an essential life skill. From when children start Barkston and Syston School in reception, they are taught Phonics, which is understanding and applying letters and sounds in order to read and write.
In EYFS and KS1, phonics lessons are delivered everyday using Read, Write, Inc.
Children learn to understand that letters and letter combinations represent sounds in words (grapheme-phoneme-correspondences or GPCs). In Phonics sessions, they practise quick recognition of these GPCs. The sessions also give children consistent support and practice in skills of blending these sounds to read and segmenting words into sounds to help with spelling and writing. Children revise previous learning in every session so that becomes embedded.
Embedding Phonics
We aim to embed Phonics in all English lessons and in other curriculum subjects where appropriate. Children are encouraged to use their developing phonic knowledge sounds to spell words. Similarly, whenever they are reading, they are encouraged to use their sounds to blend.
Letter sounds are displayed in classrooms to facilitate this and our pupils are encouraged to refer to them regularly.
High frequency and “tricky words” are also displayed around the classrooms to develop independence when spelling.
When modelling reading or writing, teachers model the use of Phonics to help with spelling and decoding.
About Read Write Inc.
Read Write Inc (RWI) is a phonics programme which helps all children learn to read fluently and at speed so they can focus on developing their skills in comprehension, vocabulary and spelling. The programme is designed for children aged 4-7. At Barkston & Syston CE Primary School, we value and appreciate the importance of being able to read fluently. Because of this, we will continue teaching RWI to children in Key Stage 2 if they require support in their reading.
Reading
The children:
- - learn 44 sounds and the corresponding letters/letter groups using simple picture prompts – see below
- - learn to read words using Fred talk and sound blending
- - read from a range of storybooks and non-fictions books matched to their phonic knowledge
- - work well with partners
- - develop comprehension skills in stories by answering 'Find It' and 'Prove It' discussion questions
Writing
The children:
- - learn to write and form the letters/letter groups which represent the 44 sounds with the help of fun phrases
- - learn to write words by using Fred Talk
- - learn to build sentences by practising sentences out loud before they write
Talking
The children work in pairs so that they:
- - answer every question
- - practise every activity with their partner
- - take turns in talking and reading to each other
- - develop ambitious vocabulary
Fred Talk
We use pure sounds (‘m’ not’ muh’,’s’ not ‘suh’, etc.) so that your child will be able to blend the sounds into words more easily.
At school we use a puppet called Fred who is an expert on sounding out words! we call it, ‘Fred Talk’. E.g. m-o-p, c-a-t, m-a-n, sh-o-p, b-l-a-ck.
The following video is an example of blending sounds with Fred. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEzfpod5w_Q
The children are taught the sounds in 3 sets.
Step 1:
Set 1 Sounds are taught in the following order together with rhymes to help children form the letters correctly and instantly recognise sounds ready for blending.
Set 1 | |
Sound | Rhyme |
m | Down Maisie then over the two mountains. Maisie, mountain, mountain. |
a | Round the apple, down the leaf. |
s | Slide around the snake |
d | Round the dinosaur's back, up his neck and down to his feet. |
t | Down the tower, across the tower, |
i | Down the insect's body, dot for the head. |
n | Down Nobby and over the net. |
p | Down the plait, up and over the pirate's face. |
g | Round the girl's face, down her hair and give her a curl |
o | All around the orange |
c | Curl around the caterpillar |
k | Down the kangaroo's body, tail and leg |
u | Down and under the umbrella, up to the top and down to the puddle |
b | Down the laces, over the toe and touch the heel |
f | Down the stem and draw the leaves |
e | Slice into the egg, go over the top, then under the egg |
l | Down the long leg |
h | Down the horse's head to the hooves and over his back |
sh | Slither down the snake, then down the horse's head to the hooves and over his back |
r | Down the robot's back, then up and curl |
j | Down his body, curl and dot |
v | Down a wing, up a wing |
y | Down a horn, up a horn and under the yak's head. |
w | Down, up, down, up the worm. |
th | Down the tower, across the tower, then down the horse’s head to the hooves and over his back |
z | Zig-zag-zig, down the zip. |
ch | Curl around the caterpillar, then down the horse's head to the hooves and over his back |
qu | Round the queen’s head, up to her crown, down her hair and curl |
x | Cross down the arm and leg and cross the other way |
ng | A thing on a string |
nk | I think I stink |
Please do not use letter names at this early stage.
Step 2:
The children are then taught Set 2 Sounds - the long vowels. When they are very confident with all of set 1 and 2 they are taught Set 3 Sounds.
Long vowel sound | Set 2 Speed Sound cards Teach these first | Set 3 Speed Sound cards | |
ay | ay: may I play | a-e: make a cake | ai: snail in the rain |
ee | ee: what can you see | ea: cup of tea | e: he me we she be |
igh | igh: fly high | i-e: nice smile | |
ow | ow: blow the snow | o-e: phone home | ao: goat in a boat |
oo | oo: poo at the zoo | u-e: huge brute | ew: chew the stew |
oo | oo: look at a book |
|
|
ar | ar: start the car |
|
|
or | or: shut the door | aw: yawn at dawn |
|
air | air: that’s not fair | are: share and care |
|
ir | ir: whirl and twirl | ur: nurse for a purse | er: a better letter |
ou | ou: shout it out | ow: brown cow |
|
oy | oy: toy for a boy | oi: spoil the boy |
|
Step 3:
Within all the books children will have red and green words to learn to help them to become speedy readers. Red words are words that are not easily decodable and challenge words to extend children’s vocabulary. Green words are linked to the sounds they have been learning and are easily decodable.
Dots and dashes represent the sound each letter makes.
During the RWI session children will read the book three times and at each new reading they will have plenty of opportunities to practise using their developing comprehension skills. You may have hear your child talking about ‘hold, edit or build a sentence’.
Hold a sentence is an activity that encourages children to remember a whole sentence while focusing on spelling and punctuation.
Build a sentence is to give children the opportunity to create their own sentence to that shows the meaning of a word and edit a sentence allows the children to critique a sentence using their knowledge of spelling punctuation and grammar. Children complete a longer piece of independent writing, which gives them the opportunity to show off their creativity and to practice their spelling, grammar and punctuation.
Order of Story books: Children will hopefully follow the order listed below. The expectation is that all children will leave Year One as confident speedy readers, ready to take on the challenges of Year Two. However, some children may need extra support and the teacher will talk to you about this.
All children who are accessing RWI Phonics will receive two reading books. One reading book that matches their book level and the sounds that they are learning and a second book which is to be shared with an adult and aims to continue to develop a love of reading.