Reading
Our aim is to teach all children to read. We teach this through Read Write Inc. We also aim to inspire all children to have a love of Reading. Reading can change lives and we are committed to ensuring that as well as mastering the basic skills of learning to read, children experience the rewards of reading and develop a lifelong love of books.
We always start the year by asking the children ‘who loves to read?’ Our mission is to find out which children do and do not enjoy reading and to unpick their reasons. Usually, the reason for not enjoying it is because something is too tricky for them (eg word recognition) as most children, if not all, enjoy having stories read to them. Assurance is then given, that finding something tricky is ok, it’s normal to feel this way when learning something new, but what we can work hard together to address this. The main scheme used for home reading is Read Write Inc. We supplement this scheme with Library Books which are for parents to read to/with children.
To motivate and develop a love reading, all children:
Have a reading book related to their Phonics stage
Exchange a library book weekly
Have an opportunity to visit a book fair in school on numerous occasions, to see which new books are available
Experience a ‘Book Week’ each year
Reading at Key Stage 1 (Years 1 and 2)
The programmes of study for reading at key stages 1 and 2 consist of 2 dimensions:
Word Reading
Comprehension (both listening and reading)
Skilled word reading involves both the speedy working out of the pronunciation of unfamiliar printed words (decoding) and the speedy recognition of familiar printed words. This is why phonics forms an important part of our curriculum.
Good comprehension draws from vocabulary and grammar knowledge and on knowledge of the world. Comprehension skills develop through pupils’ experience of high-quality discussion, as well as from reading and discussing a range of stories, poems and non-fiction. All pupils must be encouraged to read widely across both fiction and non-fiction to develop their knowledge of themselves and the world they live in, to establish an appreciation and love of reading, and to gain knowledge across the curriculum. Reading widely and often increases pupils’ vocabulary because they encounter words they would rarely hear or use in everyday speech. Reading also feeds pupils’ imagination and opens up a treasure house of wonder and joy for curious young minds.
Word Reading in Year 1
Pupils should be taught to:
apply phonic knowledge and skills as the route to decode words
respond speedily with the correct sound to graphemes (letters or groups of letters) for all 40+ phonemes, including, where applicable, alternative sounds for graphemes
read accurately by blending sounds in unfamiliar words containing GPCs that have been taught
read common exception words, noting unusual correspondences between spelling and sound and where these occur in the word
read words containing taught GPCs and –s, –es, –ing, –ed, –er and –est endings
read other words of more than one syllable that contain taught GPCs
read words with contractions [for example, I’m, I’ll, we’ll], and understand that the apostrophe represents the omitted letter(s)
read books aloud, accurately, that are consistent with their developing phonic knowledge and that do not require them to use other strategies to work out words
reread these books to build up their fluency and confidence in word reading
Reading – Comprehension in Year 1
Pupils should be taught to:
develop pleasure in reading, motivation to read, vocabulary and understanding by:
listening to and discussing a wide range of poems, stories and non-fiction at a level beyond that at which they can read independently
being encouraged to link what they read or hear to their own experiences
becoming very familiar with key stories, fairy stories and traditional tales, retelling them and considering their particular characteristics
recognising and joining in with predictable phrases
learning to appreciate rhymes and poems, and to recite some by heart
discussing word meanings, linking new meanings to those already known
understand both the books they can already read accurately and fluently and those they listen to by:
drawing on what they already know or on background information and vocabulary provided by the teacher
checking that the text makes sense to them as they read, and correcting inaccurate reading
discussing the significance of the title and events
making inferences on the basis of what is being said and done
predicting what might happen on the basis of what has been read so far
participate in discussion about what is read to them, taking turns and listening to what others say
explain clearly their understanding of what is read to them
Word Reading in Year 2
Pupils should be taught to:
continue to apply phonic knowledge and skills as the route to decode words until automatic decoding has become embedded and reading is fluent
read accurately by blending the sounds in words that contain the graphemes taught so far, especially recognising alternative sounds for graphemes
read accurately words of two or more syllables that contain the same graphemes as above
read words containing common suffixes
read further common exception words, noting unusual correspondences between spelling and sound and where these occur in the word
read most words quickly and accurately, without overt sounding and blending, when they have been frequently encountered
read aloud books closely matched to their improving phonic knowledge, sounding out unfamiliar words accurately, automatically and without undue hesitation
reread these books to build up their fluency and confidence in word reading
Reading – Comprehension in Year 2
Pupils should be taught to:
develop pleasure in reading, motivation to read, vocabulary and understanding by:
listening to, discussing and expressing views about a wide range of contemporary and classic poetry, stories and non-fiction at a level beyond that at which they can read independently
discussing the sequence of events in books and how items of information are related
becoming increasingly familiar with and retelling a wider range of stories, fairy stories and traditional tales
being introduced to non-fiction books that are structured in different ways
recognising simple recurring literary language in stories and poetry
discussing and clarifying the meanings of words, linking new meanings to known vocabulary
discussing their favourite words and phrases
continuing to build up a repertoire of poems learnt by heart, appreciating these and reciting some, with appropriate intonation to make the meaning clear
understand both the books that they can already read accurately and fluently and those that they listen to by:
drawing on what they already know or on background information and vocabulary provided by the teacher
checking that the text makes sense to them as they read, and correcting inaccurate reading
making inferences on the basis of what is being said and done
answering and asking questions
predicting what might happen on the basis of what has been read so far
participate in discussion about books, poems and other works that are read to them and those that they can read for themselves, taking turns and listening to what others say
explain and discuss their understanding of books, poems and other material, both those that they listen to and those that they read for themselves
Reading in the EYFS (Year R)
In Year R, the children follow the Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum. The development statements are:
30-50 months
• Enjoys rhyming and rhythmic activities.
•Shows awareness of rhyme and alliteration.
•Recognises rhythm in spoken words.
• Listens to and joins in with stories and poems, one-to-one and also in small groups.
• Joins in with repeated refrains and anticipates key events and phrases in rhymes and stories.
•Beginning to be aware of the way stories are structured.
•Suggests how the story might end.
• Listens to stories with increasing attention and recall.
•Describes main story settings, events and principal characters.
•Shows interest in illustrations and print in books and print in the environment.
•Recognises familiar words and signs such as own name and advertising logos.
• Looks at books independently.
• Handles books carefully.
•Knows information can be relayed in the form of print.
• Holds books the correct way up and turns pages.
•Knows that print carries meaning and, in English, is read from left to right and top to bottom.
40-60 months +
Continues a rhyming string.
• Hears and says the initial sound in words.
• Can segment the sounds in simple words and blend them together and knows which letters represent some of them.
• Links sounds to letters, naming and sounding the letters of the alphabet.
•Begins to read words and simple sentences.
•Uses vocabulary and forms of speech that are increasingly influenced by their experiences of books.
• Enjoys an increasing range of books.
•Knows that information can be retrieved from books and computers.
Early Learning Goal
Children read and understand simple sentences. They use phonic knowledge to decode regular words and read them aloud accurately. They also read some common irregular words. They demonstrate understanding when talking with others about what they have read.
Phonics and Spelling
Phonics in the EYFS (Year R)
Children are taught to recognise:
Environmental sounds
Instrumental sounds
Body percussion (e.g. clapping and stamping)
Rhythm and rhyme
Voice sounds
Oral blending and segmenting ('Fred Talk') e.g. hearing that d-o-g makes ‘dog’
Typical activities for teaching include 'listening' walks, playing and identifying instruments, action songs, learning rhymes and playing games like I Spy.
This phase is intended to develop children’s listening, vocabulary and speaking skills.
Phonic Screening
Towards the end of Year 1, children will be given a national phonic 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 require extra support in order to improve their reading skills. If the appropriate standard is not met in Year 1, the phonic screening will be repeated at the end of Year 2, to ensure children are on track.
Writing
Our aim is to inspire children to have a love of writing! We always start the year by asking the children ‘who loves to write?’ Our mission is to find out which children do and do not enjoy writing and to unpick their reasons. Usually, the reason for not enjoying it is because something is too tricky for them (eg spelling, handwriting or getting their ideas onto paper). The children are then assured that finding something tricky is ok, its normal to feel this way when learning something new, but what we can do is work hard together to address this.
Writing in the EYFS (Year R)
In Year R, the children follow the Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum. The development statements are:
30-50 months
Sometimes gives meaning to marks as they draw and paint.
Ascribes meanings to marks that they see in different places.
40-60 months
Gives meaning to marks they make as they draw, write and paint.
•Begins to break the flow of speech into words.
•Continues a rhyming string.
•Hears and says the initial sound in words.
•Can segment the sounds in simple words and blend them together.
•Links sounds to letters, naming and sounding the letters of the alphabet.
•Uses some clearly identifiable letters to communicate meaning, representing some sounds correctly and in sequence.
•Writes own name and other things such as labels, captions.
•Attempts to write short sentences in meaningful contexts.
Early Learning Goal:
Children use their phonic knowledge to write words in ways which match their spoken sounds. They also write some irregular common words. They write simple sentences which can be read by themselves and others. Some words are spelt c
Writing at Key Stage 1
The programmes of study for writing at Key Stage 1 are split into 2 components:
transcription (spelling and handwriting)
composition (articulating ideas and structuring them in speech and writing)
Writing – transcription Year 1:
The National Curriculum states that pupils in Year 1 should be taught to spell:
words containing each of the 40+ phonemes already taught
common exception words
the days of the week
name the letters of the alphabet:
naming the letters of the alphabet in order
using letter names to distinguish between alternative spellings of the same sound
adding prefixes and suffixes:
using the spelling rule for adding –s or –es as the plural marker for nouns and the third person singular marker for verbs
using the prefix un–
using –ing, –ed, –er and –est where no change is needed in the spelling of root words [for example, helping, helped, helper, eating, quicker, quickest]
applying simple spelling rules
writing from memory simple sentences dictated by the teacher that include words using the GPCs and common exception words taught so far
Writing – composition Year 1
Pupils should be taught to:
write sentences
say out loud what they are going to write about
compose a sentence orally before writing it
sequence sentences to form short narratives
re-read what they have written to check that it makes sense
discuss what they have written with the teacher or other pupils
read their writing aloud, clearly enough to be heard by their peers and the teacher
Writing - vocabulary, grammar and punctuation Year 1
Pupils should be taught to:
leave spaces between words
join words and joining clauses using ‘and’
begin to punctuate sentences using a capital letter and a full stop, question mark or exclamation mark
use a capital letter for names of people, places, the days of the week, and the personal pronoun ‘I’
learn the grammar for year 1
use the grammatical terminology in English in discussing their writing
Writing – transcription Year 2
The National Curriculum states that pupils in Year 2 should be taught to
spell by:
segmenting spoken words into phonemes and representing these by graphemes, spelling many correctly
learning new ways of spelling phonemes for which 1 or more spellings are already known, and learn some words with each spelling, including a few common homophones
learning to spell common exception words
learning to spell more words with contracted forms
learning the possessive apostrophe (singular) [for example, the girl’s book]
distinguishing between homophones and near-homophones
adding suffixes to spell longer words including –ment, –ness, –ful, –less, –ly
applying spelling rules
writing from memory simple sentences dictated by the teacher that include words using the GPCs, common exception words and punctuation taught so far
Writing – composition Year 2
Pupils should be taught to:
develop positive attitudes towards and stamina for writing
write narratives about personal experiences and those of others (real and fictional)
write about real events
write poetry
write for different purposes
consider what they are going to write before beginning
plan or saying out loud what they are going to write about
write down ideas and/or key words, including new vocabulary
encapsulate what they want to say, sentence by sentence
make simple additions, revisions and corrections to their own writing by:
evaluate their writing with the teacher and other pupils
reread to check that their writing makes sense and that verbs to indicate time are used correctly and consistently, including verbs in the continuous form
proofread to check for errors in spelling, grammar and punctuation (for example, ends of sentences punctuated correctly)
read aloud what they have written with appropriate intonation to make the meaning clear
Writing - Vocabulary, Grammar and Punctuation in Year 2
Pupils should be taught to:
use both familiar and new punctuation correctly, including full stops, capital letters, exclamation marks, question marks, commas for lists and apostrophes for contracted forms and the possessive (singular)
use sentences with different forms: statement, question, exclamation, command
expanded noun phrases to describe and specify [for example, the blue butterfly]
use the present and past tenses correctly and consistently, including the progressive form
use subordination (using when, if, that, or because) and co-ordination (using or, and, or but)
understand the grammar for year 2
use some features of written Standard English
use and understand the grammatical terminology in discussing their writing
Handwriting
Handwriting Year 1
The National Curriculum states that pupils in Key Stage 1 should be taught to:
sit correctly at a table, holding a pencil comfortably and correctly
begin to form lower-case letters in the correct direction, starting and finishing in the right place
form capital letters
form digits 0-9
understand which letters belong to which handwriting ‘families’ (ie letters that are formed in similar ways) and to practise these
Handwriting Year 2
The National Curriculum states that pupils in Key Stage 1 should be taught to:
form lower-case letters of the correct size relative to one another
start using some of the diagonal and horizontal strokes needed to join letters and understand which letters, when adjacent to one another, are best left unjoined
write capital letters and digits of the correct size, orientation and relationship to one another and to lower-case letters
use spacing between words that reflects the size of the letters