1. A guide to helping your child at home
There are 17 Early Learning Goals in Reception and 7 areas of learning, which are a bit like subjects.
When your child finishes Reception in July you will be given a report which tells you whether or not your child has met the Early Learning Goal (ELG) in each aspect.
To reach a good level of development , the expectation is that your child reaches the ELG in
Listening and Attention
Understanding
Speaking
Moving and Handling
Health and Self-Care
Self-Confidence and Self-Awareness
Managing Feelings and Behaviour
Making Relationships
Reading
Writing
Numbers
Shape Space and Measures

2. How we teach reading Children: Learn 44 sounds and matching letters
Learn to blend sounds to read words
Read lots of specially written books
This is decoding
Hold up some Set 1, 2 & 3 cards (including digraphs such as sh, ch, igh, ay, ai) as you say the 1st & 2nd point but don’t explain further yet!
Hold up some RWI storybooks as you say the 3rd point but don’t explain further yet

3. Decoding
Hold up some set 1, 2 & 3 cards as you say the 1st & 2nd bullet point but don’t explain further yet!
Hold up some RWI storybooks as you say the 3rd bullet point but don’t explain further yet

4. Comprehending – this is understanding
Children need to
Talk a lot about what they have read to show they understand
Listen to and discuss other ideas to deepen understanding
Explain that Speaking & Listening elements of literacy are built in to RWI from the very beginning through lots of talking and partner work. We teach them to understand everything they read.

5. Sounds All words are made up of sounds In English there are 44
Say a short sentence in Fred Talk (use very pure sounds – no ‘uh’) to illustrate e.g. say “s_o i_f I t_al_k i_n th_i_s w_ay, y_ou w_i_ll h_ear ea_ch s_ou_n_d i_n m_y w_or_d_s!
Explain we use pure sounds (‘m’ not’ muh’, ’s’ not ‘suh’, etc.) so that your child will be able to blend the sounds into words more easily. Say that in school we use a puppet called Fred who can do this beautifully! We call talking like this Fred Talk. Hold up a Fred!

6. Graphemes A grapheme is a sound written down
English has more than 150 graphemes
A complex code!
Explain that in English we have more than 150 ways to represent the 44 sounds using our 26 alphabet letters so groups of letters are used as well as single letters – these are called graphemes. Explain that we will teach the 100 most commonly used graphemes for the 44 sounds. But we will teach them systematically and very thoroughly.

7. This chart shows the most usual graphemes for the 44 sounds
See next slide.

8. The complex English alphabetic code
This chart shows the most usual graphemes for the 44 sounds
Explain that each box is a sound box showing different ways to read and write the sound. Demo with the or sound box with examples of words such as or, morning, door, more, dawn, author.

9. Children learn a simple code first
Explain that this chart shows just one grapheme per sound. We divide them into set 1 and set 2 and we systematically teach set 1 and blending and then set 2. Then we go on to the full chart which includes set 3. Don’t go into detail – say this is just to explain the basics. Quickly ‘show-off’ by whizzing through the chart in pure sounds!

10. If English had a simple code…

11. …spelling and reading would be much easier!
play mayk trayn cafay strayt wayt brayk
green dreem kee hee happee
light kight fligh Igh igh tigh
blow smowk flowt gow mowst
moon broot bloo groo
If English had a simple code spelling and reading would be much easier!!
Have a quick read for fun.
But of course, it’s not like this!!
Copyright Ruth Miskin Literacy

12. c-a-t ch-a-t l-igh-t c-r-a-sh
As they learn the sounds and graphemes, we will teach your child to blend by hearing the words in Fred Talk 1st. Once they know the graphemes they can sound-blend/Fred Talk to read words.

13. f l m n r s v z sh th ng nk b c d g h j p qu t w x y ch k a e i o u ay
Consonants: stretchy f l m n r s v z sh th ng nk
Consonants: bouncy b c d g h j p qu t w x y ch k
Vowels: bouncy
Vowels: stretchy a e i o u ay ee
igh ow
Explain that there is an audio guide on the OUP website which gives guidance on pure pronunciation but you should go through these sounds quickly with parents using My Turn/Your Turn.
Stress you must not use letter names at this stage – just pure sounds.
Emphasise getting rid of ‘ugh’ to help blending. Parents usually love this bit! Make it fun! Set 1 then long vowels in Set 2.
Explain that when the children are taught the sounds they use the cards and a multi-sensory approach – hold up the cards again. oo ar or
air ir ou oy
Set 1 sounds
Set 2 sounds

14. f l m n r s v z sh th ng nk ff ph ll le mm mb nn kn rr wr ss se c ceve zz ti ci b c k d g h j p qu t w x y ch bb ck dd gg ge
dge pp tt wh
tch a e i o u ay ee
igh ow ea
a_e ai y
i_e ie
o_e oa
Explain again the sound boxes and say this chart show the many different graphemes for the same sounds! No other language has as many to learn! Pink graphemes are Set 3 – explain they only learn these once they know all of Set 1 & 2 effortlessly – systematic and structured! oo ar or
air ir ou oy
ire
ear
ure
u_e ue ew
oor
ore aw au
are ur er ow oi

15. Fred... Fred helps children learn to read
Fred can only talk in sounds...
(Fred can only say c_a_t, he can’t say cat)
We call this Fred Talk
Hold up Fred! Say you too can have a Fred at home – use one like this or any stuffed toy.

16. Fred... If children understand Fred they can blend orally
Blending is needed for reading
Use My Turn Your Turn with the parents to have a go at some Fred Talk – you Fred Talk a CVC word d_o_g, they Fred Talk it back & ask them to tell you what word Fred is trying to say. Do a few words – sh_o_p, d_ay, s_p_l_a_sh etc. This is oral blending.
Say that once your child knows the graphemes for each sound, they can use Fred Talk for reading any word – write one of the words on a board and Fred Talk then say whole word – point to each grapheme as you Fred Talk it.
Copyright Ruth Miskin Literacy

17. Fred... Fred helps children learn to spell too!
Children convert words into sounds
They press the sounds on to their fingers...
We call this Fred Fingers
Show how to use fingers to spell some of the words you have just blended. Use My Turn Your Turn with the parents – say “show me three fingers – the word is dog.” (or shop or wish or any 3 sound word) “Now put your sounds on your fingers!”
This is the reversibility principle of decoding for reading and encoding for writing.

18. How can you help your child?
By...
using pure sounds
knowing the graphemes
understanding how ‘Fred’ helps with reading and spelling
First of all, you can help your child if you know how to pronounce the 44 sounds perfectly and understand the blending process.
There are lots of other ways but 1st let’s look at the 44 sounds, then the ways we read and write those sounds and then meet Fred!

19. And... By having fun with Fred Talk at home! “What a tidy r-oo-m!”
“Where’s your c-oa-t?”
“Time for b-e-d!”
back, head, tum, leg, hand, foot, knee
coat, hat, scarf, zip, sock, glove
run, walk, skip, hop, fast, slow, stop, shop
red, blue, green, black,
knife, fork, spoon, plate, bowl, pan
bread, cheese, meat, soup, jam, cake
Give a couple of examples e.g. Where is your c_oa_t? Time for b_e_d! Make sure your child can tell you what the word is.
Use only single syllable words (no Fred Talking multi-syllabic words) and only the last word in a sentence or it gets very silly! E.g. P_u_t o_n y_our b_l_ue c_oa_t (you’ll never get out!).

20. And... You can develop their understanding by…
By reading your child lots of lovely stories and asking lots of questions!
Use these prompts to help you:
What is that character thinking?
What do you think
happens next?
What is happening?
Reading to your child lots of lovely stories that are at a higher level than your child can read yet.
School might want to make these discussion prompts on card, laminate them and send them home in book bags?
What is happening in this part of the story?
What do you
think that character is
feeling now?
What is the character saying?

21. And... You can develop their vocabulary by…
By talking to your child as much as possible and ‘feeding’ them new and different words:
“Let’s eat our lunch now.”
“Let’s munch our lunch now.”
“Let’s scoff our lunch now.”
“Let’s devour our lunch now!”
You’re looking ... not just... but...
I’m not just... I’m....!
Explain that a rich vocabulary is essential for high levels of comprehension. The more words your child has in his/her head when they come to school, the quicker they will understand when they read, e.g.
“Wow that’s a big dog!”
“Wow that’s an enormous dog!”
“Wow that’s a massive dog!”
“You’re looking pleased… not just pleased but delighted!” (thrilled/ecstatic/euphoric! Etc)
Then the quicker their understanding (comprehension) when they learn to read (decode) the words.

22. And... By enriching conversations through description:
“Look at that rain. It looks like little diamonds sparkling on the window pane!”
By having fun with words and language.
“I’m as hot as a spud in a cooking pot!”
By praising your child for using new words or interesting phrases
Give better examples if you want to!!

23. Reading levels Set 1 sounds and blending
Fiction and non fiction texts Green, Purple, Pink:
Set 1 & 2 sounds
Fiction and non fiction texts Pink, Orange:
Fiction and non fiction texts Yellow:
Fiction and non fiction texts Blue:
Set 1, 2, 3 sounds
Fiction and non fiction texts Blue, Grey:
Optional slide: insert after slide 22 if you wish to show NC levels.
Quick explanation – children in groups for reading at current level – children move to next group asap – don’t all have to do every single book. Focused teaching for faster progress.

24. So how can you help your child with reading and writing?
By knowing the 44 pure sounds
By using the Speed Sound cards with your child
By knowing how to blend using Fred Talk for reading m_a_t mat
By knowing how to do Fred Fingers for spelling
Optional slide to use instead of slide 26
Say that these are the things we have gone through (briefly – only able to touch surface in this short session!) but there are other things you as parents & carers can do at home. See next few slides.

25. So how can you help your child with reading and writing?
Optional slide to use instead of slide 26
Say that these are the things we have gone through (briefly – only able to touch surface in this short session!) but there are other things you as parents & carers can do at home. See next few slides.

26. Correct letter formation is really important
around her face, down her hair and give her a curl
down the plait and over the pirate’s face
Optional slide to use instead of slide 26
Say that these are the things we have gone through (briefly – only able to touch surface in this short session!) but there are other things you as parents & carers can do at home. See next few slides.

27. Numbers
Children count reliably with numbers from one to 20, place them in order and say which number is one more or one less than a given number. Using quantities and objects, they add and subtract two single-digit numbers and count on or back to find the answer. They solve problems, including doubling, halving and sharing.

28. Know what a number means …
five 5
2 + 3 = 5
1 less than 6
1 more than 4

29. What if I shared the cubes equally with my friend?
Correct number formation to represent a give number of objects 4 1 7 2 10 9 8 5 6 3
What if… I had one more?
What if… I had one less?
What if I had double…?
What if I shared the cubes equally with my friend?

30. Uses the language of ‘more’ and
‘fewer’ to compare two sets of objects

31. Adding and taking away Taking away from a group of objects
In practical activities and discussion, begins to use the vocabulary involved in addition and subtraction – words such as add, plus, count on, more, take away, minus, count back, less, fewer, altogether.

32. In practical activities and discussion, begins to use the vocabulary involved in addition and subtraction – words such as add, plus, count on, more, take away, minus, count back, less, fewer, altogether.
Record number sentences use +, - and = signs (practical apparatus to support)
Solve problems involving doubling and halving

33. Counting in 2s and 5s Counting pairs of socks/ gloves
Counting cubes / stickers/ pennies in groups of 2
Listening to songs on You Tube