All About Reading in the Early Years
Welcome to our guide to reading in the Early Years and Foundation Stage. In this booklet you will find out how we teach reading, the thinking behind the approach, things to at home to support this learning and an overview of how reading progresses through the Primary Phase. CONTENTS Philosophy of reading in the Early Years Phonics – what, who, when, where? Phonics Phases High Frequency Words Terminology Other Strategies for Reading Other Reading at School Reading at Home Actions for the Phase 2 and 3 Phonemes Useful Websites
Our Philosophy of Reading in the Early Years The independent review of early reading conducted by Jim Rose confirmed that ‘high quality phonic work’ should be the prime means for teaching children how to read and spell words. The review also highlighted the importance of developing, from the earliest stages, children’s speaking and listening skills, ensuring that beginner readers are ready to get off to a good start in phonic work by the age of five. Recent research has shown that a good start in the first five years of life makes a huge difference to life chances, not just university and earning potential, but in terms of happiness. We firmly believe that being able to read unlocks more doors than we could ever imagine from where we are now in 2014…the future is exciting and challenging, being literate and able to find out things for oneself is one of the key skills we can be sure will still be vital. We place great importance on phonics, which is a daily session we never postpone or cancel! We hope to inspire and motivate children with our love and respect for books and authors. As a parent or carer you are the person who knows your child best, so you are ideally placed to help them with their learning. This booklet is written to help answer questions you may have about learning phonics and to give you ideas for helping at home.
Phonics – The What, Who, When and Where Phonics is the combination of the skills of segmentation and blending with the knowledge of the alphabetical code. We teach a systematic synthetic programme to enable children to start learning phonic knowledge and skills with the expectation that children will be fluent readers by the end of Key Stage 1. In 2007 the Government launched ‘Letters and Sounds’ for the teaching of phonics in schools. This is the synthetic phonics programme used at Washingborough Academy. The scheme is split into six phases which is generally divided across EYFS and Key Stage 1 as follows:
Phase 1 – Foundation Stage 1 and throughout Primary Phase (and life!) Phase 2 – Foundation Stage 2 Phase 3 – Foundation stage 2, reviewed at the beginning Year 1 Phase 4 – Year 1 Phase 5 – End of year 1 Phase 6 – Year 2
Phonics in Nursery There's learning to love books and there's learning to read books. If you can get the first one sorted, the second will follow much more easily! Here at Penfold Nursery we want reading to be fun! Our main aim is to foster an enjoyment and love of books in our children. Preschool children enjoy books in many different ways. Some may want you to read their favourite story book from beginning to end. Some may just want to flip quickly through the pages. Some may try to “read” the book to you, pointing out pictures of interest or reciting memorized words or lines from the story. All of these are positive ways to share books together. What is most important is that children enjoy looking at books and that the experience leads to conversation and interaction. In our pre-school setting the children are exposed to a stimulating ‘print-rich’ environment of signs, labels, books, key words, displays and role play areas that give opportunities for reading, all of which the children are encouraged to notice and learn to read. We provide regular opportunities for children to share books and other materials such as reading a recipe to make a cake. The teachers frequently read stories and rhymes and share big books with the class.
We firmly believe that such young children should look forward to reading and it should not be a forced activity. Therefore we have a well stocked and inviting book area which caters for variety of children’s interests. Parents and carers are strongly encouraged to choose books with their child at the start or end of each nursery session. These books can be taken home and enjoyed together and you may change them as regularly as you wish. Alongside this we focus on the development of Communication and Language. Our activities help to extend children’s speech, listening and attention skills and understanding which are all prerequisites to becoming a successful reader. Phase 1 of the letters and sounds programme helps us to achieve this aim.
Phonics in Foundation Stage 2 (Reception) In Foundation Stage 2 we teach phonics every morning from 9.10 to 9.30am. This is part of why it is so important for children to arrive on time to school. Children spend Phase 2 learning with their class group, which is a safe and familiar setting where lots of children make very rapid progress. When we start Phase 3, we split into 3 phonics groups. The groups are ability based, children who have picked up the Phase 2 phonemes quickly and can segment and blend will be moving quickly through the phonemes of Phase 3, while children who need a little more support with learning and remembering their Phase 2 phonemes will get the extra time and varied teaching strategies they need. Phonics sessions are based on a familiar pattern of revisit and review, teach, practice, and apply. The session always starts with a recap on what children already know, which builds confidence and keeps phonemes learnt in previous phases fresh in their minds. Then we teach a new sound, a new tricky word or a new strategy for reading. We practise using this new learning, then apply it in a different context, often a game or in writing a caption or sentence using our new knowledge.
Phase 1 Phase One of ‘Letters and Sounds’ concentrates on developing children's speaking and listening skills and lays the foundations for the phonic work which starts in Phase 2. The emphasis during Phase 1 is to get children attuned to the sounds around them and ready to begin developing oral blending and segmenting skills. Phase 1 is divided into aspects that take in the wealth of phonic life from rhyming and rhythm to song, environmental noise and music. Each aspect contains three strands: Tuning in to sounds (auditory discrimination) Listening and remembering sounds (auditory memory and sequencing) Talking about sounds (developing vocabulary and language comprehension) In Nursery you will see a lot of activities, both guided and independent, designed to encourage children to make music, sing, talk and chatter. You will see activities set up to provide children with opportunities to listen to many different types of sound, from recorded music, voices of all kinds, animal noises, mechanical and instrumental noise. Phase 1 doesn’t stop in Nursery, in fact it continues throughout all the other phases. Being able to listen carefully and make noises clearly is key to learning phonics and therefore, reading.
Phase 2 In Phase 2 children begin to learn the phonemes (smallest unit of sound in our language) so that they can begin to decode writing. We teach children 23 sounds, and move children on from oral blending and segmentation to blending and segmenting with letters. By the end of the phase many children should be able to read Vowel Consonant (VC) words and Consonant, Vowel, Consonant (CVC) words and to spell them. In Phase 2, letters and their sounds are introduced one at a time. A set of letters is taught each week, in the following sequence:
Set Set Set Set Set
1: 2: 3: 4: 5:
s, a, t, p i, n, m, d g, o, c, k ck, e, u, r h, b, f, ff, l, ll, ss
The children will begin to learn to blend and segment to help begin reading and spelling. This will begin with simple words.
Words using set 1: at
sat
pat
sap
tap
Words using set 1 and 2: (+i) (+n) it an is in sit nip pit pan pip pin sip tan tip nap tin Words using set 1-3: (+g) (+o) tag got gag on gig not gap pot nag top sag dog gas tot pig pop dig mog
(+m) am man mat map Pam Tim Sam
(+d) dad sad dim din did Sid and dip
(+c) can cot cop cap cat cod
(+k) kid kit Kim Ken
Words using set 1-4: (+ck) kick sock sack dock pick sick pack tuck Words using set 1-5: (+h) (+b) had but him big his back hot bet hut bad hop bag hum bed hit bud hat beg
(+e) get pet ten net pen peg met men
(+u) up mum run mug cup sun mud
(+f and ff) of if off fit fin fun fig fog puff
(+r) rim rip ram rat rag rug rot
(+l and ll) lap let leg lot lit bell fill doll tell
(+ss) less hiss mass mess boss fuss hiss pass kiss
Alongside this, children are introduced to tricky words. These are the words that are irregular. This means that phonics cannot be applied to the reading and spelling of these words. The tricky words introduced in phase 2 are: to
the
no
go
I
Phase 3 By the time children reach Phase 3, they will already be able to blend and segment words containing the 19 letters taught in Phase 2. Over the twelve weeks which Phase 3 is expected to last, twenty-five new graphemes are introduced (one at a time). Set 6: j, v, w, x Set 7: y, z, zz, qu Consonant digraphs: ch, sh, th, ng Vowel digraphs: ai, ee, igh, oa, oo, ar, or, ur, ow, oi, ear, air, ure, er Children can now represent each of about 42 phonemes in the English language by a grapheme (the additional phoneme /zh/ found in the word vision will be taught at Phase Five). Children also continue to practise CVC blending and segmentation in this phase and will apply their knowledge of blending and segmenting to reading and spelling simple two-syllable words and captions. They will learn letter names during this phase, learn to read some more tricky words and also begin to learn to spell some of these words. Tricky words in Phase 3: we
me
be
was
no
go
my
you
they
her
all
are
Phase 4 Phase 4 consolidates all of the phonemes learnt so far and children now concentrate on using those sounds to build longer and more complex words. They should now be able to ‘spell’ any word they can think of, as they have a phonological choice for every sound they need. Usually Phase 4 begins in Year 1, but sometimes Foundation Stage 2 groups begin Phase 4, Phase 3 is recapped at the beginning of Year 1 so don’t worry if your child starts Key Stage 1 with phonemes and tricky words they have seen before. Repetition and consolidation is all part of the plan.
If you would like to learn more about Phase 4, 5 and 6, please speak to your class teacher or try the Phonics Play website which explains all the Phases of Letters and Sounds.
High Frequency Words
There are 100 common words that recur frequently in much of the written material young children read and that they need when they write. 1. the 2. and 3. a 4. to 5. said 6. in 7. he 8. I 9. of 10. it 11. was 12. you 13. they 14. on 15. she 16. is 17. for 18. at 19. his 20. but
21. that 22. with 23. all 24. we 25. can 26. are 27. up 28. had 29. my 30. her 31. what 32. there 33. out 34. this 35. have 36. went 37. be 38. like 39. some 40. so
41. not 42. then 43. were 44. go 45. little 46. as 47. no 48. mum 49. one 50. them 51. do 52. me 53. down 54. dad 55. big 56. when 57. it’s 58. see 59. looked 60. very
61. look 62. don’t 63. come 64. will 65. into 66. back 67. from 68. children 69. him 70. Mr 71. get 72. just 73. now 74. came 75. oh 76. about 77. got 78. their 79. people 80. you
81. put 82. could 83. house 84. old 85. too 86. by 87. day 88. made 89. time 90. I’m 91. if 92. help 93. Mrs 94. called 95. here 96. off 97. asked 98. saw 99. make 100. an
The Terminology EYFS Early Years and Foundation Stage Phoneme A phoneme is the smallest unit of sound in a word It is generally accepted that most varieties of spoken English use about 44 phonemes. Graphemes A grapheme is a symbol of a phoneme. It is a letter or group of letters representing a sound. Segmenting and blending Segmenting consists of breaking words down into phonemes to spell. Blending consists of building words from phonemes to read. Both skills are important. Digraph This is when two letters come together to make a phoneme. For example, /oa/ makes the sound in ‘boat’ and is also known as a vowel digraph. There are also consonant digraphs, for example, /sh/ and /ch/.
Trigraph This is when three letters come together to make one phoneme, for example /igh/. Split digraph A digraph in which the two letters are not adjacent – e.g. make Abbreviations VC, CVC, and CCVC are the respective abbreviations for vowel-consonant, consonantvowel-consonant, consonant-consonant-vowel-consonant, and are used to describe the order of graphemes in words (e.g. am (VC), Sam (CVC), slam (CCVC), or each (VC), beach (CVC), bleach (CCVC). If you have any questions about terminology, please speak to your class teacher. We try to use the correct vocabulary with children, so they do learn that a digraph is two letters that make one sound…they enjoy the ‘scientific’ words! So you might well hear these words at home!
Other Strategies for Reading Of course, if you are of the same generation as me, you will be thinking it is surprising that any of us can read, as we didn’t learn phonics! There are many ways to learn to read and synthetic phonics is just one of them – it has been shown to be the most effective method to teach a group of mixed ability children. There are lots of strategies that we teach your child alongside phonics, some children find these other strategies very useful! Looking at letter and word shapes to recognise them: it is remarkable that our brains can scan a page of text and ‘read’ the words by recognising the shapes they make on the paper, rather than focusing on individual letters. Some children respond very well to this strategy and enjoy looking at how the ascenders and descenders of letters make a particular pattern, for their name for example. Using picture clues: using the pictures is not cheating! It is actually a valuable strategy and one that enhances visual and imaginative skills too. Children use this effectively once they can recognise a few words in a sentence, but have a ‘gap’ with a word that they don’t know. Using the pictures they can work out what that word is, perhaps even recognising it next time. Correspondence: children sharing books with adults or older children is a great way to build up correspondence skills. As you read, run your finger along under the text and your child will start to recognise that what you are saying links to what you are seeing.
Memory: Children sometimes learn a book off by heart using this strategy and after repetition, will begin to recognise words they have seen before. Memorising stories isn’t a bad thing, it means that a) they are really enjoying the story and b) they have the memory capacity and skills to do so. Which is good news all round! Using word knowledge: once children have built up a bank of words that they do recognise, they will start to see patterns in word families – e.g. pair, fair, lair, stair. Knowing these patterns helps to pronounce words and to make spelling choices. Guessing: Guessing is a big part of reading, and as adults we still do it! When we come across a word that we don’t know, we all fall back on our early reading skills to work out what the word might sound like and mean. We might try to sound it out, break it down, relate it to another word that it resembles. We might test it by saying it out loud in a few different ways. Children do this too and it is important that they don’t feel embarrassed about doing it. Your child may use a range of these strategies as well as phonics to help them read. If you model these strategies to them, you will find that your child will have those tools to fall back on if their favourite strategy doesn’t work. As teachers we often model not being able to read a word, so we can show the children what to do if that happens.
Other Reading at School As well as phonics sessions, we also read: As a class: we read together from big books, picture books, letters, posters, signs and the Smartboard. We might slow down and segment and blend each word we come across, or we might look out for tricky words and let the adult fill in the blanks! As a small guided group: every child in FS2 will take part in a guided reading group every week, in these sessions we read a book together but each child has their own copy. We may read together, read to ourselves or to a partner, and then answer questions asked by the teacher and by other children in the group. One to One: when we can, children will read to an adult on a one to one basis. This is immensely rewarding and valuable as an activity, but we rely on parents and carers to do the bulk of this kind of reading, as we simply do not have time. If you would like to volunteer as a one to one reader, please contact the school administration team. In our independent and choosing activities: Where possible, we add an element of writing and reading to all of our choosing activities. This could be having magnetic letters in the sand tray to ‘catch’, mirrored
letters in the water, instructions and signs around the classroom, templates, books and cards for the children to design, words and letters in our outdoor area…we use as much as we can! We also use the classroom computer and Smartboard as extra opportunities to show the children text.
Phonics at Home Tips for teaching your child the sounds: It is important for a child to learn lower case or small letters rather than capital letters at first. Most early books and games use lower case letters and your child will learn these first at school. Obviously you should use a capital letter when required, such as at the beginning of the child's name, eg. Paul. When you talk about letters to your child, remember to use the letter sounds: a buh cuh duh e ... rather than the alphabet names of the letters: ay bee see dee ee . The reason for this is that sounding out words is practically impossible if you use the alphabet names. eg. cat, would sound like: see ay tee When saying the sounds of b, d, g, j and w you will notice the 'uh' sound which follows each, for example buh, duh... Try to use the beginning sound of the phonemes, as b-uh, u-uh, s-uh doesn’t make ‘bus’ in the same way that b,u,s does! It is Miss Q’s pet hate to hear big ‘UH’ sounds at the end of phonemes, so you will no doubt hear about it! Use the actions for the phonemes that we use at school!
Weave hand in an s shape, like a snake, and say ssssss
Wiggle fingers above elbow as if ants crawling on you and say a, a, a.
Turn head from side to side as if watching tennis and say t, t, t.
Pretend to puff out candles and say p, p, p.
Pretend to be a mouse by wriggling fingers at end of nose and squeak i, i, i.
Make a noise, as if you are a plane - hold arms out and say nnnnnn.
Rub tummy as if seeing tasty food and say mmmmmm.
Beat hands up and down as if playing a drum and say d,
d, d.
Spiral hand down, as if water going down the drain, and say g, g, g.
Pretend to turn light switch on and off and say o, o; o, o
Raise hands and snap fingers as if playing castanets and say ck, ck, ck.
Raise hands and snap fingers as if playing castanets and say ck, ck, ck.
Pretend to tap an egg on the side of a pan and crack it into the pan, saying eh, eh, eh.
Pretend to be putting up an umbrella and say u, u, u.
Pretend to be a puppy holding a piece of rag, shaking head from side to side, and say rrrrrr.
Hold hand in front of mouth panting as if you are out of breath and say h, h, h.
Pretend to hit a ball with a bat and say b, b, b.
Let hands gently come together as if toy fish deflating, and say f f f f f f.
Pretend to lick a lollipop and say l l l l l l.
Pretend to wobble on a plate and say j, j, j.
Pretend to be holding the steering wheel of a van and say vvvvvv.
Blow on to open hand, as if you are the wind, and say wh,
wh, wh.
Pretend to take an x-ray of someone with an x-ray gun and say ks, ks, ks.
Pretend to be eating a yogurt and say y, y, y.
Put arms out at sides and pretend to be a bee, saying
zzzzzz.
Make a duck's beak with your hands and say qu, qu, qu.
Move arms at sides as if you are a train and say ch, ch,
ch.
Place index finger over lips and say shshsh.
Pretend to be naughty clowns and stick out tongue a little for the th, and further for the th sound (this and thumb). Imagine you are a weightlifter, and pretend to lift a heavy weight above your head, saying ng...
Cup hand over ear and say ai, ai, ai.
igh
Stand to attention and salute, saying ie ie.
Bring hand over mouth as if you have done something wrong and say oh!
Cup hands around mouth and shout to another boat saying oi! ship ahoy!
Move head back and forth as if it is the cuckoo in a cuckoo clock, saying u, oo; u, oo. (Little and long oo.)
Put hands on head as if ears on a donkey and say eeyore,
eeyore
ow \
Pretend your finger is a needle and prick thumb saying
ou, ou, ou.
Open mouth wide and say ah.
Roll hands over each other like a mixer and say ererer.
Useful Websites www.phonicsplay.co.uk www.bbc.co.uk/schools/ks1bitesize/literacy/phonics www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk www.crickweb.co.uk www.jollylearning.com www.washingboroughacademy.org