Phonics

Teaching phonics in 2 year daisies During the year we aim to teach the children about their listening skills and to be able to focus on these 7 aspects. These aspects are shown to the children through continuous provision. Aspect 1 Environmental sounds Aspect 2 Instrumental sounds Aspect 3 Body percussion Aspect 4 Rhythm and rhyme Aspect 5 Alliteration Aspect 6 Voice sounds

Teaching phonics in nursery sunflowers During the year we aim to teach the children about their listening skills and to be able to focus on these 7 aspects. Within this class a focussed phonics lesson is taught every morning. Aspect 1 Environmental sounds Aspect 2 Instrumental sounds Aspect 3 Body percussion Aspect 4 Rhythm and rhyme Aspect 5 Alliteration Aspect 6 Voice sounds Aspect 7 Oral segmenting and blending

Teaching phonics in Nursery

Teaching phonics in Reception The English language is made up of approximately 42 separate sounds. During the year we aim to teach the children most of these sounds. They are the foundations that the children build upon as they learn to read. Each child will bring home assessments that show you the sounds your child will need to focus on at home. If you help your child to learn these sounds, it will consolidate their knowledge and they will learn to read more quickly.

Teaching phonics in Reception

Teaching phonics in Year 1 The purpose of this phase is to consolidate children’s knowledge of graphemes in reading and spelling words.

Teaching phonics in Year 2 The purpose of this phase is to shift from learning to read, to reading to learn and children reading to search for information and for pleasure.

Activities we use in the classroom to teach phonics.

Actions we use with each sound Each sound has an action. These actions help the children to memorise the sound. Initially please encourage your child to continue to use the action even when you feel they have learned the sound. The video is available to view on our website. Take care to pronounce the sound correctly, letters such as - r, s, w, f, p - need careful pronunciation. We find that little and often is the best way to learn the sounds: 3 or 4 times a day is not excessive. These sounds are used all the way from our 2 year olds to year 2.

Blending & segmenting When the children begin to recognise the sounds, we then teach them to blend the sounds together to make words. The sounds are spoken individually and then blended together. To an adult this can seem like an easy skill to acquire but children find it hard and it can take some children a long time to blend. When you are helping your child to blend it is important to pronounce the initial sound louder than the rest to emphasize the beginning of the word. In school we use a variety of ways to show the children the letters to blend, flashcards, plastic letters, simple text in a book, white board, computer programmes etc.

Reading books You should aim to read with your child at least twice a day. Little and often seems to work best: this way it remains a joy for you and your child. Choosing the right time to read is important. Try not to leave it too late when your child is tired and don’t remove your child in the middle of their favourite programme to ‘come away and read’. Each week with your child you can attend the after school library and select a library book to take home. This is your opportunity to model reading and read the story to your child.

How to get the best from your child’s reading book. Little and often. Talk to your child about the book, look at the illustrations, discuss the characters, predict the ending etc. Read the book several times until your child is very comfortable with it. Try to read when you and your child are relaxed. Choose a quiet place free from distractions. How you position yourself as your child reads will have an impact.

The children have daily opportunities to apply their phonic knowledge

High Frequency Words High frequency words are the words most commonly used. They appear with great regularity in the books that the children read. These words are given out in groups on a key ring once your child is reading books. Some of these words cannot be read by using the phonic sounds for example words such as come, said and the. These words should be learned by sight. Once the children can read all their high frequency words the next step is to be able to spell them!

Reading in Meadowside Primary School The children in our school make excellent progress in their reading. It will help your child immeasurably if you are able to read with them every day and show that you value books and reading.

Growth and Fixed Mindset Growth Mindset Belief that intelligence is malleable and can develop. Success takes effort and persistence, learning from mistakes and challenges. Fixed Mindset Belief that intelligence is something you are born with. Can’t change it much.

Approaches to Learning: Growth Mindset Intelligence can be increased through practice Focus on learning Not threatened by hard work or failure Seek new challenges for a sense of achievement Mistakes are perceived as a good thing as they help the learning processes View effort and persistence as a necessary part of success Fixed Mindset Intelligence is a fixed trait & can’t change much Focus on performance Failure and/or effort perceived as being sign of low ability Choose activities to maximise performance (easy ones to feel clever) Don’t recover well from setbacks Decrease efforts, withdraw or consider cheating (self-protection)

Austin’s butterfly Austin's Butterfly

We may encourage Fixed Mindsets without realising “You are not good at this” “Never mind you are good at other things” “Let’s try an easier one” “This isn’t one of your talents” “You are such a smart boy!” “You are really good at maths” “This is definitely a gift of yours” “You seem to be able to turn your hand to anything”

Growth Mindset feedback Give ‘process praise’ Effort – I can see you are trying very hard with… Strategy – I like the way you use … to solve … It’s good to make a mistake because now you know how to improve next time. Use ‘task praise’ Positive self-evaluation – What is better/worse than the last attempt What is/is not good, realistic, neat, correct etc. about the work