Reading at CVPS
In our school, we endeavour to create and flourish a love of reading. In order to do this, we strive to ensure our reading areas are a place where children want to go and read, with comfy beanbags, a range of books and a celebration of authors.
In every classroom, every child will find a basket of books matched to their reading ability, which include a wide range of genres. This allows every child to be able to pick a book that they will enjoy, but also that will challenge them at the appropriate level. In addition to this, there are also a range of books available for reading for pleasure including: fiction, non-fiction and poetry. Furthermore, every half term, an author is chosen for each year group. This is someone, who the children can learn about and be inspired by. This author is celebrated within the reading area, with a range of their books available to read.
Reading areas
Across the school, we endeavour to promote a love of reading of all our children in many ways. One of which is through our displays. We ensure that a range of topic and information books are incorporated into their displays for other areas of the curriculum, such as Geography and History, for example. This encourages children to further broaden their knowledge and reading of a particular topic or subject area. Classroom reading environments are print-rich and stimulating with a wide range of books displayed creatively and imaginatively. Working walls display rich and varied vocabulary. Reading areas display recommended books, author studies, prompts to support children to read and children’s own books that they have written. World Book Days inspire and motivate children to have a love of reading and to share books. All classrooms have a well-stocked book area with a range of fiction and non-fiction. Pupils also have opportunities to read newspapers, information leaflets and ICT texts. The school library is an important resource and pupils are taught how to use it appropriately.
Read Write Inc at Chapelford Village Primary School
Children who read regularly or are read to regularly have the opportunity to open the doors to so many different worlds! More importantly, reading will give your child the tools to become independent life-long learners.
We can achieve this together through:
- Read Write Inc, a program to help to your child read at school
- Encouraging children to develop a love of books by reading to them daily, at home and at school
- Giving children access to a wide range of books at school and at home
At Chapelford Village Primary School we use Read Write Inc Phonics (RWI) to give your child the best possible start with their literacy. We have put together a guide to how the RWI programme works together with some useful links. Please take the time to read the information as it will provide invaluable information as to how you can help and support your child in reading.
What is Read Write Inc?
Read Write Inc (RWI) is a phonics complete literacy 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. RWI was developed by Ruth Miskin and more information on this can be found at https://ruthmiskin.com/en/find-out-more/parents/.
How will RWI be taught?
Read write inc is taught daily at Chapelford Village Primary School. Children start the program in reception continue in year one and year two.
Reception
In Reception all children will learn how to read the sounds from set 1 in words and learn how those sounds can be written down.
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
- they 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
Year One & Year Two
Children follow the same format as Reception but will work on complex sounds in set 2 and set 3 and read books appropriate to their reading level. Daily sessions of RWI phonics last for one hour.
Five key principles underpin the teaching in all Read Write Inc. sessions:
Purpose – know the purpose of every activity and share it with the children, so they know the one thing they should be thinking about
Participation – ensure every child participates throughout the lesson. Partnership work is fundamental to learning
Praise – ensure children are praised for effort and learning, not ability
Pace – teach at an effective pace and devote every moment to teaching and learning
Passion – be passionate about teaching so children can be engaged emotionally.
Children will be taught how to read as follows:
Before you start to teach your child, practise saying the sounds below. These are the sounds we use to speak in English.
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.
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.
Please do not use letter names at this early stage
Watch this clip to hear how to pronounce set 1 sounds correctly.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkXcabDUg7Q
Children will also use pictures for each sound to help recognise the sound and then form the shape of the sound.
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.
Nonsense words (Alien words)
As well as learning to read and blend real words children will have plenty of opportunities to apply their sound recognition skills on reading ‘Nonsense words’. These words will also feature heavily in the Year One Phonics Screening check in the summer term.
Children will be introduced to ‘Ditty books’ when they successfully begin to read single words. The short vowels should be kept short and sharp:
Children use sound-blending (Fred Talk) to read short ditties. 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.
What is the Year 1 phonics screening check?
The Year 1 phonics screening check is a short, light-touch assessment to confirm whether individual pupils have learnt phonic decoding to an appropriate standard.
It will identify the children who need extra help so they are given support by their school to improve their reading skills. They will then be able to retake the check so that schools can track pupils until they are able to decode.
Further information can be found on https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/194057/phonics_check_leaflet_2013_.pdf
To help at home:
Your child will start to bring books home when they are confident readers. Ensure you read with your child 5 times a week. It is also important for your child to listen to read and share stories together to promote a love and passion for learning. Please help them to read and give lots of praise! If you have any other questions about RWI, please see your class teacher.
Useful websites for Parents
Please find a list of websites that you may find useful in helping you and your child learn about phonics. Games and fun activity websites are also included.
https://www.ruthmiskin.com/en/find-out-more/parents/
PHONICS
Phonics
Reading at Home
Research evidence indicates that promoting the development of reading habits with parents makes a significant impact so we want to continue working with you and offering support and guidance when reading at home with your child. Therefore, we have included some great resources and ideas from the Education Endowment Foundation.
When reading with your child, it can be very easy to focus on the words themselves and ensuring that we turn the pages to get through the book. However, we can sometimes miss the opportunities for conversations that arise naturally as we read. Book talk is really important for successful learning. Now just isn’t the time to be too anxious about what children are reading. Reading instructions, recipes, and even old baby books, are all valuable. We often worry that about the level of perceived challenge of a book but please remember that sustained talk around picture books, especially for younger children, is certainly valuable reading.
Children should be encouraged to return to their favourite stories, given the likely emotional benefits during this tricky time. Indeed, in such uncertain times, children may gain comfort from reading a book they enjoyed as a very young child. Please borrow ideas from TRUST framework to open the door to lots of healthy discussion, and of course, a love of reading.
Reading Guidance
As you share a book, why don’t you use some of these questions to begin the conversation?
Take turns to make plans and predictions before reading: ‘I wonder if… what do you think?’ ‘You think… Oh, I thought…’
Recap to check ideas and understanding as your child is reading: ‘
So, you think that…’ ‘Did you expect…to happen?’ ‘Why do you think that happened?’
Use encouragement and praise to keep children engaged in reading: ‘What brilliant ideas…let’s see what happens.’ ‘You thought so carefully about... What might happen now?’
Share prior knowledge and past experiences that link to what is being read: ‘Have you learnt about…at school?’ ‘Do you remember when we watched…and found out about…’
Tune-in and listen to your child – be curious about their interests: ‘I didn’t know you knew so much about…’ ‘I love reading stories about...with you.’
Curtis Jobling - Author of Raa Raa the Noisy Lion, The Wereworld series and Max Helsing is the Patron of Reading for Omega Multi Academy Trust.
We are really excited to have Curtis visit school and work with our children to inspire the authors of the future!
Find our more about Curtis via the image below:
In November Curtis visited our Year 6's to talk about being an author and to provide some inspiration to some of our possible authors of the future!
World Book Day 2021
World Book Day 2020
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