Phonics and Guided Reading Booklet

Corpus Christi Catholic School _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Early Years Foundation Stage

Corpus Christi Early Years Guide

Phonics and

Supporting Guided Reading at Home

Corpus Christi Catholic School _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Introduction Dear Parents/ Guardians; At Corpus Christi we know how important it is for Parents and Teachers to work closely together in order to give your child the best start at school.

Reading together at home is one of the easiest but most important ways in which you can help your child, and we hope to provide you with a variety of strategies to support their early literacy skills.

One of the best ways we can support your child in becoming an effective and confident reader, is to work with you to develop their knowledge of phonics (letter sounds), which will enable them to decode the different words they come across.

At Corpus Christi, all Reception and Key Stage 1 children engage in daily phonics lessons. This booklet aims to give you a helpful overview of phonics, and provide you with ways in which you can help your child at home.

If you require any further assistance, please do not hesitate to speak to your child's class teacher.

Miss N Martin—Nursery Teacher Miss C Crean—Class 1 Teacher Mr S Dervan—Class 2 Teacher/ EYFS Coordinator Mrs Z Bray—EYFS`Coordinator

2

21

Corpus Christi Catholic School

Corpus Christi Catholic School

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Notes

Contents

SECTION 1: PHONICS •Letters and Sounds p4 •Terminology p5 •Early Phonics and Phase 1 p6 •Phase 2 p7 •Phases 3 p8 •Phases 4– 6 p9 •Pronunciation of sounds p10 •How can I help at home? p11-12 SECTION 2: GUIDED READING •What is Guided Reading? p13 •How do children learn to read? p14 •How is Guided Reading organised? p15 •What happens in Guided Reading? p16 •How can I help at home? p17-19 •Frequently Asked Questions p20– 21

20

3

Corpus Christi Catholic School _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Corpus Christi Catholic School _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

PHONICS: Letters and Sounds

Notes

In 2007, Letters and Sounds was introduced as a national strategy for the systematic teaching of phonics.    

Based on a six-phase structure Based on best practice for the Early Years Foundation Stage Places a high priority on development of children's speaking and listening skills Focus on preparing for the teaching and learning of reading and writing

The intention of the Letters and Sounds scheme is to: “...equip children who are 5 with the phonic knowledge they need to become fluent readers by the age of 7”.

At the end of Year 2, most children will have completed Phase Six. The children’s phonic level will be assessed and judged by their class teacher, and is appropriately planned for.

At Corpus Christi, the children are grouped together to ensure they are all working at the correct level for their needs, so that all children are supported and challenged at the right level. These groups will be changed as the teacher feels is appropriate.

4

19

Corpus Christi Catholic School _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Frequently Asked Questions English is not our first language. Which books should we read?

Don’t worry– you can talk about books in any language! Try to practice your child’s school book at home twice in a week, but encourage them to look at books in your home language. You can even buy books in dual languages so that you can enjoy them together. With the exception of phonics, the skills that children use to learn how to read, such as pictures, grammar and context, will remain the same no matter what language you are reading in.

Useful websites for family reading: Booktrust Help Them Read BBC Stories Silly Books Love Reading Storyline Phonics Play Family Learning

www.booktrust.org.uk www.helpthemread.co.uk www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/stories/ www.sillybooks.net www.lovereading.co.uk www.storylineonline.net/ www.phonicsplay.co.uk www.familylearning.org.uk

18

Corpus Christi Catholic School _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

PHONICS: Terminology A letter consists of a sound (phoneme) and a shape(grapheme). It has an upper case and a lower case form.

Graphemes A grapheme is a letter or sequence of letters that represents a phoneme.

There is always the same numbers of graphemes in a word as phonemes.

Capital Letters Only use capital letters with your child for their name, and then, when they are ready, at the start of sentences and for proper nouns.

Lower Case Letters Encourage your child to use Lower Case letters for all writing.

Phonemes A phoneme is the smallest unit of sound in a word that can change its meaning e.g. hot pot cot rot got It is the first thing children need to learn. recognise.

Short sound ‘a’ as the start of ant

Blending We use blending to put sounds together and help children to read.

Oral blending Breaking words down orally into their component sounds and encouraging your child to blend the sounds together to make the whole word. E.g. ‘l-e-g makes leg’ Visual blending Look at a word and break it down to the individual sounds, then blend them together to read. E.g. to read the word church, we point and say each sound ch- ur- ch and then blend them together to read the whole word.

Segmenting We use segmenting to separate sounds and help children to write.

Oral segmenting Say a word and encourage your child to break the word orally into its’ component sounds. For example say the whole word ‘man’ and see if they can hear the sounds m- a- n. Initially your child may only hear the first sound. This is usually followed by the last sound, and finally the harder, middle sound, usually a vowel.

Segmenting for writing Say a word and break it down to the individual sounds, then write them to make a word. Your child may not immediately hear all the sounds and may just record those they can hear, for example they may write the word chocolate as chclit (ch-c-l-i-t). This is completely normal and provides a good foundation for writing and spelling.

5

Corpus Christi Catholic School

Corpus Christi Catholic School

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

PHONICS: Early Phonics and Phase 1

Frequently Asked Questions

NURSERY AND EARLY PHONICS Phase 1 is taught to children from birth naturally by their caregivers, and then systematically throughout the Nursery year at Corpus Christi.

My child won’t read, no matter what I do. How can I help? 



During Phase 1, children explore and experiment with sounds, and become familiar with rhyme, rhythm and alliteration.

At Corpus Christi, we introduce the children to the 26 letter characters through the stories and songs of the Letterland scheme, working on one sound each week.

   

Stages of phonological awareness in Phase 1: Seven Aspects 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

 

Environmental sounds Instrumental sounds Body percussion Rhythm and rhyme Alliteration Voice sounds Oral blending and segmenting

6

Read to your child as much as possible and let them see you reading. Remind them reading is pleasurable!

Encourage your child to choose what they would like to read.

Don’t over rely on Oxford Reading Tree, and remember there are a wide variety of texts out there! Reading the football report is as valid as reading about the Gruffalo.

Don’t make an issue out of it.

Don’t try and read for too long. A quality ten minutes is better than a strained half hour!

Turn off the TV and radio– it is much easier to read and hold your child’s attention without these distractions.

Don’t make them try to hard– it will not hurt if you tell them a word.

Be positive! It doesn’t matter if they make a mistake, praise them for trying and give lots of encouragement.

Talk to your child’s teacher– working together will help!

My child is a good reader. Can I still help?

Yes! As children become more confident, they may prefer to read in their heads and read aloud less. Talk to your child about what they have read– their favourite parts, characters etc. What has happened so far? What do you think will happen next? How do you think it will end?

Encourage them to think about how the book has been written; the print, illustrations, and layout.

17

Corpus Christi Catholic School

Corpus Christi Catholic School

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

How can I help at home?

PHONICS: Phase 2

PAUSE, PROMPT AND PRAISE! Pause to help them work out new words.

Prompt by using the techniques mentioned.

Praise them for trying, whether they are right or wrong.

After reading  Did you enjoy that book? Why? Why not?  What was your favourite part/ character? Why?  Was their any part/ character you didn’t like? Why not?  Would you choose this book again? Why? Why not?

Which books are best to read?

While it is important to practice the Oxford Reading Tree books at home, anybody would get bored with reading the same thing five times! It is important to encourage a variety of texts at home.  Choose books your child likes.  Takes suggestions from your child’s teachers or friends.  Let your child choose books at the library or bookshop. If they chose them, they are more likely to be interested!  Never be afraid to re-read favourite books.

What else could we read?

Books are not the only source of texts! Try:      

     

Comic books Magazines Travel brochures Instructions or recipes TV Guides Information books 16

Manuals Poems Newspapers Recorded stories Sports reports Shopping lists/ postcards

RECEPTION AND PHASE 2 At the beginning of Reception year the children start Phase 2, the aims of which are:  To teach at least 19 letters  Move children on from oral blending and segmentation to blending and segmenting with letters  To begin to read some VC (vowel-consonant) and CVC (consonant-vowel-consonant) words and to spell them using magnetic letters or writing on paper or whiteboards  Introduction to reading two-syllable words and simple captions  Read some high frequency “tricky” words: the, to, go, no, I

Set 1

s

a

t

p

Set 2

i

n

m

d

Set 3

g

o

c

k

Set 4

ck

e

u

r

Set 5

h

b

f

ff 7

l

ll

ss

Corpus Christi Catholic School

Corpus Christi Catholic School

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

PHONICS: Phase 3

How can I help at home?

PHASE 3 Phase 3 is begun in Reception and continued in Year 1 as necessary for the children’s needs. The aims of Phase 3 are to:  Give the sound when shown all or most of the Phase 2 or 3 graphemes.  Find all or most of Phase 2 or 3 graphemes from a display, when given the sound.  To be able to blend and read CVC words.  To be able to segment and make a phonemically plausible attempt at spelling CVC words.  To be able to read the high frequency words he, she, we, me, be, was, my, you, her, they, all, are  To be able to spell the high frequency words the, to, I, no, go

Set 6

j

v

w

x

Set 7

y

z

zz

qu

Graphemes

ch

sh

th

ng

ai

Graphemes

ee

igh

oa

oo

oo

Graphemes

ar

or

ur

ow

oi

Graphemes

ear

air

ure

er

8

TOP TIPS! 4.

5.

6.

7.

Read frequently to your child. You can help your child to understand the emphasis of particular parts of the story.

Encourage your child to retell the story. This will help you see how much they have just understood.

Don’t condemn a book as ‘too easy’ or ‘too hard’. Children need to read a range of texts. An ‘easy’ book helps your child to relax and be more confident in their reading. A ‘hard’ book can be read to your child. Both are very important parts of reading!

If your child misreads a word without changing the meaning, e.g. reads Father as Dad, accept it. If they hesitate, repeat a word or leave one out, say nothing provided the meaning is not changed. If they say a word which changes the meaning or are just stuck, see the tips below!

My child is stuck! What can I do?  Point to the picture if it is relevant.  Ask them a question to remind them of the context, e.g.

‘Where did they say they were going?’  Re-read the sentence up to the unknown word to remind them of the context.  Say or point to the first letter of the word to prompt them to use phonic cues.  If the word can be easily sounded out using phonic cues, remind them to ‘Sound it out’.  If your child is still struggling, tell them the word so that you don’t lose momentum in your reading.

15

Corpus Christi Catholic School

Corpus Christi Catholic School

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

How can I help at home?

PHONICS: Phases 4-6

Parents often ask about ways they can support their child’s reading at home. We have complied some useful tips and questions you can ask to help your child’s development.

TOP TIPS! 1. Find a quiet, comfortable place to sit together and that suits you both.

2. Try to read every day for at least 10 minutes, and at least once at the weekend.

3. Find the time to talk about the book as well as just reading it.

PHASE 4 Reception/ Year 1 as appropriate The aims of Phase 4 are to:  Give the sound when shown any Phase 2/ 3 grapheme  Find any Phase 2 or 3 grapheme from a display when given the sound  To blend and read words containing adjacent consonants  To segment and spell words containing adjacent consonants  Be able to read the high frequency words some, one, said, come, do, so, were, when, have, there, out, like, little, what  Be able to spell the tricky words he, she, we, me, be, was, my, you, her, they, all, are  Write each letter, usually correctly

PHASE 5 Year 1 How can I help at home?  Start with the title, look at the cover and talk briefly about what you might find inside.  At the bottom of each page, talk about what might happen next.  If your child gets stuck, ask them to sound it out, think about what word might fit best, or use the picture to help them if appropriate. If they still struggle, don’t worry about providing the word yourself!  What happened in the story? Encourage your child to relate this to their own experiences.  Did you think if was funny?

What was your favourite part?

14

     

give the sound when shown any grapheme that has been taught for any given sound and write the common graphemes apply phonic knowledge and skill as the prime approach to reading and spelling unfamiliar words that are not completely decoable read and spell phonically decodable 2- and 3-syllable words read automatically all 100 high-frequency words accurately spell most words in the list of 100 high- frequency words form each letter correctly

PHASE 6 Completed by the end of Year 2 Throughout Year 2, children are taught to develop their skills in reading and spelling (including spelling patterns), creating an everincreasing capacity to reading for meaning.

Children apply their phonic knowledge to recognise and spell increasingly complex words, and read an increasing number of high and medium frequency words independently and automatically.

9

Corpus Christi Catholic School

Corpus Christi Catholic School

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

PHONICS: Pronunciation

How do children learn to read?

We know that it can be difficult to know how to pronounce the sounds we teach at school, however there are a wide range of online resources you can use at home to help you.

The most common mistake people make when pronouncing sounds is to add an ‘uh’ sound at the end, for example pronouncing m as ‘muh’ rather than ‘mmmm’. This is confusing for children and is not an accurate representation of the sound.

One useful pronunciation guide can be found on this website below: https://phonicbooks.wordpress.com/2011/03/13/how-tosay-the-sounds-of-letters-in-synthetic-phonics/ There are a wide variety of phonic activities available on the BBC and Channel 4 websites and plenty of songs on You Tube. However…

Be aware that some of these videos and sites contain American pronunciation! In addition, some ‘songs’ etc also contain mispronunciation- for example some still pronounce ‘c’ as ‘cuh’ rather than the pure ‘c’!

10

Children use a variety of cues to help them to read.

Phonic Cues Picture Cues

Children can use phonics to help them to read. They use the skill of blending to look at the sounds in a word, say them aloud and blend them together to read.

Remember, a four letter word may still only have three sounds, e.g. boat should be sounded b-oa-t.

Pictures provide children with important clues about what a text might say. If they come across a difficult word, e.g. elephant, a picture may help them to make a correct prediction.

Semantic Cues

Memory Cues Some parents become concerned that their child has ‘just memorised the text’. This is normal and helps your child to recognise whole-word shapes. You can ask your child to point at a specific word on the page, e.g. ‘cat’, to refocus their attention

Syntactic Cues Syntactic cues are based on grammar and knowing about the relationships between words. Examples: ‘Once upon a …’ the child’s knowledge of English may allow them to successfully predict ‘time’, which may be confirmed by a t at the start of the next word.

Reading ‘In a deep, dark..’ they know the following word will be a noun and describe a place and make an effective prediction.

13

Semantic cues are those based on meaning. The child may be able to understand what a word means by looking at the surrounding words. For example ‘Can you run the shop?’

‘Can you run in the race?’

‘Can you run in the election?’

The meaning of run varies depending on the context of the sentence. They can also think about which word would make sense in a sentence: e.g. when reading ‘The hippo drank from the pool’, a child may get stuck on ‘drank’, but can make a sensible guess of the word by reading the whole sentence in its con-

Corpus Christi Catholic School

Corpus Christi Catholic School

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

PHONICS: How can I help at home?

PHONICS: How can I help at home?

Tricky Words

Letter Names vs Sounds

Many words in English unfortunately have irregular spellings and therefore cannot be sounded out with blending, eg the, said, was, one. Many of these are common words, and simply have to be learned and memorised. These are called Tricky Words, and have been detailed for you in the relevant Phase sections of this book.

You can play snap with these words, cut them out and practice them as flash cards, spot them in books you read at home or play I Spy with them. A list of tricky words will be sent home for you to practise with your child alongside reading.

Children should learn each letter by its sound rather than its name at first. For example, the letter a should be called a (as in ant) not ai (as in aim). Similarly, the letter n should be nn (as in net) rather than en. This will help your child with blending sounds together.

The names of each letter will be taught at a later stage.

Segmenting The easiest way for children to spell a word is to listen for the sounds in that word. Start with simple 3-letter words, by asking children to listen for the first sound in the word (like I spy). Next try for the last sound, and finally the middle sound which is the hardest to hear.

One good idea is to chop up the word. You can do this with a chopping motion, or tapping out the number of sounds. Three taps would mean three sounds in the word. Say each sound as you tap, and remember a word may have 4 letters but 3 sounds, for example chip is three sounds, ch-i-p.

Spelling Tricky Words The main way is to use the Look, Cover, Write, Check method. You could also try:  Mnemonics  As the child gets older, joined letters support correct spelling patterns.

12

Letter order The sounds are not taught in alphabetical order, but in the order outlined in this booklet. By beginning with the high frequency sounds s a t p i n children are immediately able to begin blending and segmenting simple words. Alphabetical order will be taught at a later stage, although we encourage children to learn the Alphabet song.

Blending Blending is saying the individual sounds in a word then putting them together to make the whole world, for example sounding out c-a-t then blending them together to make cat. This is a vital skill and comes with practice. To start, sound out the word and see if your child can blend together to make the word. If not, tell them the answer. Sounds should be said together quickly to best hear the word, and some children will find this easier than others, but this skill will come with practice!

Remember that some sounds (digraphs) are represented by two or more letters (sh, igh), and children should sound out the digraph rather than the individual letters (s-h, i-g-h). This means a word like shed should be sounded out sh-e-d rather than s-h-e-d. This is tricky to start with and takes practice, but with perseverance the children will begin to do this automatically.

11