Phonics
Meet our Phonics Lead
Reading & Phonics Lead (ID 2127)
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Mrs Howman
Mrs Howman
Phonics is taught using the Read Write Inc (RWI) programme. Read write Inc is a comprehensive programme that teaches children to read accurately and fluently with good comprehension. They learn to form each letter, spell correctly, and compose their ideas step-by-step.
All staff have received training and are supported in using RWI to maximise progress and develop confident readers and writers.
Pupils who need to continue phonics lessons after Year 2, will do so in small groups or individually.
All Read Write Inc lessons are based on the 5 Principles:
PRAISE – Children learn quickly in a positive climate.
PACE – Good pace is essential to the lesson.
PURPOSE – Every part of the lesson has a specific purpose.
PASSION – This is a very prescriptive programme. It is the energy, enthusiasm and passion that teachers put into the lesson that brings the teaching and learning to life.
PARTICIPATION – A strong feature of Read Write Inc. lessons is partner work and the partners ‘teaching’ each other.
Read Write Inc. sessions take place in the morning. Children are streamed into attainment groups to make sure teaching and learning is at the correct level for their current achievement. Groups are led by class teachers and trained members of our support staff. All children are assessed at least once per half term.
Within each Read Write Inc. session, children have the opportunity to learn how to read and write new sounds, as well as revise previously-taught sounds. When children reach the appropriate level, they will also practise reading alien/nonsense words to ensure they are using their decoding skills effectively. Once children have sufficient phonics knowledge, they also read a story as part of their phonics lessons, which matches their phonetic ability and helps to develop their comprehension skills.
They take part in various book activities throughout the week such as:
-Story introductions and discussions
-Jump-in and vocabulary games
-Think About the Story Time
-Questions to talk about and answer
Children read the text at least three times over the week. On the first read, children focus on accurate word reading; the second, on developing fluency; and on the third, comprehension. Fluency and comprehension increase with each repeated read.
In Year 1 all children have to complete the statutory Year 1 phonics screening check. This is a short assessment to confirm whether individual children have learnt phonic decoding to an appropriate standard. It will identify the children who need extra help so they are given support by the school to improve their reading skills. They will then be able to retake the check so that we can track pupils until they are able to decode.
Whole Class Reading - Vipers
Children will stay in a phonics group until they have succeeded in all of the RWI programme. Once children are ‘freed’ from focusing on word recognition, we teach specific reading comprehension strategies using the acronym ‘VIPERS’ which covers all National Curriculum objectives.
-Vocabulary
-Inference
-Prediction
-Explain
-Retrieval
-Summarise/Sequence.
Comprehension strategies are modelled before pupil practise the strategies with feedback. We encourage children to take greater responsibility for their own learning and reduce the modelling as they become more confident with answering a range of questions.
Reading
Our teaching of reading is primarily through the use of Bug Club which is a ‘whole-school reading programme that helps transform children into lifelong readers.’
Children have online access to the books that are allocated to them by their teachers.
Additional schemes such as Rising Stars and Collins Big Cat also support the development of reading.
What do our Whole Class Reading sessions look like?
- All children reading the same text which has been carefully selected, with an appropriate level of challenge.
- Children will be exposed to a wide range of texts, genres and media throughout the year.
- Purposeful speaking and listening activities which support the development of children's language.
- Guided oral instruction - teachers modelling fluent reading and then children reading the same text with appropriate feedback.
- Repeated reading - children read a short passage a set number of times to improve fluency and understanding.
- The teaching of specific comprehension strategies (VIPERS) which are modelled before being practised by the children.
- Teacher’s modelling inference making by ‘thinking aloud’.
- Children articulating their ideas verbally before writing them down.
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Differentiated questioning (if appropriate)