How to help at home

• Most important thing – From a very early age… • Talking and Listening.

• Reading with and to your child • Playing listening games • Singing songs and rhymes • Simple movement games All these things will help to build up connections in the brain, an enjoyment of language and confidence to try things out.

• PHONICS • Correct pronunciation • Correct vocabulary • We all need to use the same language at home and at school.

• Little and often is the key. Does not have to be formal.

• Link it to your child’s interests.

•

PHONEME

• The smallest unit of sound in a word.

• There are 44 phonemes that we teach.

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iw Jx1NSineE&feature=related

The 44 phonemes /b/ /d/ /f/ /g/ /h/ /j/ /k/ /l/ /m/ /n/ /ng/ /p/ /r/ /s/ /t/ /v/ /w/ /y/ /z/ /th/ /th/ /ch/ /sh/ /zh/ /a/

/e/ /i/ /o/ /u/ /ae/ /ee/ /ie/ /oe/ /ue/ /oo/ /ar/ /ur/ /au/ /er/ /ow/ /oi/ /air/ /ear/ /ure/

BLENDING • Recognising the letter sounds in a written word, for example c-u-p and merging or ‘blending’ them in the order in which they are written to pronounce the word ‘cup’

SEGMENTING

• ‘Chopping Up’ the word to spell it out • The opposite of blending

GRAPHEME

• Letters representing a phoneme e.g. c ai igh Children need to practise recognising the grapheme and saying the phoneme that it represents.

Once children are good with single phonemes…

• DIGRAPHS – 2 letters that make 1 sound sound ll ss zz oa ai • TRIGRAPHS – 3 letters that make 1 igh dge

TRICKY WORDS

• Words that are not phonically decodeable • e.g. was, the, I • Some are ‘tricky’ to start with but will become decodeable once we have learned the harder phonemes • e.g. out, there,

At home

• Play lots of sound and listening games with • Read as much as possible to and with your child.

• Encourage and praise – get them to have a ‘good guess’. • Ask your child’s teacher if you want to

Useful websites

• • www.parentsintouch.co.uk

www.bbc.co.uk/schools/parents • www.jollylearning.co.uk/ • • www.focusonphonics.co.uk/ www.syntheticphonics.com

In your child’s reading record

• In Foundation you will find key words at the back of the book.

• Your children will bring home a yellow book to work on sounds we are looking at.

• Your child will receive certificates when they can read more of the high frequency words.

• You will find highlighted targets in KS1 and KS 2 reading records.

• There will be a stamp to show your child has read to the class teacher in a group.

• Please can you sign to say you have heard your child read at home.

How will I know my child’s target?

Word recognition: reading (decoding)

 Decodes CVC words   Decodes CCVC and CVCC words With support, can apply knowledge of letters, sounds and analogy with known vocabulary to solve new words     Recognises familiar words in simple texts Self-correct more rapidly on-the-run

Understanding and interpreting texts

Grammatical awareness

 Move through text attending to meaning, print and sentence structure flexibly  Recognises common digraphs Identifies the constituent parts in two and three syllable words  Solve new words using print information along with attention to meaning  Begins to use strategies beyond picture/phonic cues, e.g. reading on to the end of a sentence

Knowing how texts work

Has confidence to tackle texts in unfamiliar formats (e.g. books from sources other than core reading scheme)  Manage a greater variety of text types

Understanding and interpreting texts

 Establishes meaning when reading simple texts aloud; spontaneously re-reads some sentences with expression      Re-read to enhance phrasing and clarify precise meaning Expresses main events or ideas from own reading of simple texts in response to questions or prompts Shows an understanding of the elements of stories such as character, setting, events Discuss content of the text in a manner which indicates precise understanding With support, draws simple conclusions by relating information in illustrations and diagrams to content of text.

Engaging with and responding to texts

 With support, recognises empathy with main points in books in relation to own life experience.

 Distinguishes between fiction and non fiction texts  Comments on interesting or enjoyable aspects of books