Phonics
At Selling, we teach phonics using the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised scheme. It is a complete systematic synthetic phonics programme (SSP) that teaches children using pure sounds to help segment and blend words.
We begin a couple of weeks into term teaching from Phase 2.
In Phase 2 and Phase 3, phonemes (sounds) and their grapheme (letter) are introduced one at a time.
Autumn Term 1: s a t p i n m d g o c k ck e u r h b f l
Autumn Term 2: ff ll ss j v w x y z zz qu ch sh th ng nk
Spring Term 1: ai ee igh oa oo oo ar or ur ow oi ear air er
We will be holding Phonics workshops for parents/carers. We are happy to provide more support and advice if required, please just ask.
For information on Little Wandle progression of phonics teaching and to hear how the graphemes are pronounced: click here.
Reading
Two books will be sent home for your child. One is a 'shared story' for you to enjoy reading with your child. This is to encourage them to engage with stories, answering and asking questions about the characters, the events and the setting of the story. As you read to your child, point to the words so they become aware that words convey meaning.
The other book is a 'reading book'. This book will be read by the child in school Mon-Fri and sent home on Friday to be read at home regularly the following week. The book will be matched to what your child has learnt in the Phonics lessons which encourages blending, directly linked to phonic ability.
At first the 'reading books' will be picture/photo books which will not have any words in them. The aim of these books is to develop children’s comprehension of a sequence of events told through pictures and to encourage children to speak in full sentences rather than a single word or phrase.
Please try to read with your children each evening and record this in the yellow reading log. We will ask you to read the 'shared story' several times with your child to encourage them to use their comprehension skills to understand the story that they are reading rather than simply decoding the words with their sounds.