Phonics
In the Summer term the children in Year 1 will each complete a Phonics Screening Test. We make this as fun and engaging as we can, we start playing this game from the Spring term so the children are familiar with the expectation. The children will be asked to read 40 different words; 20 real words and 20 alien 'not real' words.
So with this in mind we want to do everything we can to help your child to read and write.
Phonics and Reading is a fundamental part of our journey in Year 1 and we try to make it as fun, engaging and as enjoyable as we think every book is.
Reading is a skill which is taught through planned, systematic phonics lessons. This leads to the enjoyment of all kinds of books, the appreciation of different genres and the ability to access information independently. The home-school reading books are phonetically decodable books and will support your child to develop their blending skills fluently using sounds taught promoting confidence and positive attitudes to reading.
Reading every day will support your child's confidence. Reading a familiar text shows your child they can read and can prove a big boost to their self-esteem. By promoting repetition and familiarity the children see common exception words and spelling patterns frequently and in context.
Phonics is a specific, defined body of knowledge. Children learn this most effectively if we
use direct teaching.
Phonics is also powerful knowledge. It opens up the potential of reading and so much other
learning, too. Children are at an advantage if they are taught phonics efficiently and as early
as possible in their learning journey.
Considering the young age of the children, regular short bursts of direct teaching are most
effective, although these do not necessarily need to be of a particular duration.
The daily lessons generally take 15–30 minutes,
depending on the age and stage of the children being taught.
Consistency of approach
This covers two aspects:
• consistency of delivery from all teachers and teaching assistants
• consistency in the learning approaches experienced by children.
It is essential for progression in phonics learning to cover:
• all the phonemes of English words
• correct pronunciation of the phonemes
• all commonly occurring grapheme-phoneme correspondences (GPCs)
• the correct formation of all graphemes
• blending for reading
• segmenting for writing
• the sequenced learning of appropriate tricky words
Here are a few links to help with pronunciation and helping the children to read.
https://www.littlewandlelettersandsounds.org.uk/resources/for-parents/
How to pronounce pure sounds: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCI2mu7URBc
How to pronounce sounds to blend words: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqvqMtSNswo