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  • Phonics and Early Reading

    Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised 

    Early Reading and Phonics

    Letters and SoundsIntent:

    At Sound School, we believe that all our children can become fluent readers and writers. This is why we teach reading through Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised, which is a systematic and synthetic phonics programme. We start teaching phonics in Reception and follow the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised progression, which ensures children build on their growing knowledge of the alphabetic code, mastering phonics to read and spell as they move through school.

    As a result, all our children are able to tackle any unfamiliar words as they read. We also model the application of the alphabetic code through phonics in shared reading and writing, both inside and outside of the phonics lesson and across the curriculum. We have a strong focus on language development for our children because we know that speaking and listening are crucial skills for reading and writing in all subjects.

    Comprehension

    At Sound School, we value reading as a crucial life skill. By the time children leave us, they read confidently for meaning and regularly enjoy reading for pleasure. Our readers are equipped with the tools to tackle unfamiliar vocabulary. We encourage our children to see themselves as readers for both pleasure and purpose.

    Because we believe teaching every child to read is so important, we have a Reading Leader who drives the early reading programme in our school. This person is highly skilled at teaching phonics and reading, and they monitor and support our reading team, so everyone teaches with fidelity to the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised programme.

    Implementation:

    Our school uses Little Wandle (Letters and Sounds Revised) as as our systematic synthetic phonics (SSP) programme to teach early reading and spelling. It is based on the original Letters and Sounds, but is fully resourced and sets expectations of progression that are aspirational yet achievable. We will work through the entire Little Wandle Programme until your child can successfully utilise their phonic knowledge and blending skills to read fluently. Children need to learn to read as quickly as reasonably possible, so they can move from learning to read, to reading to learn, giving them access to the treasure house of reading. Children in Reception and Year 1 have daily phonics lessons. They are taught 4 new grapheme phoneme correspondences (GPCs) per week, plus a review lesson on a Friday. Knowing a GPC means being able to match a phoneme (sound) to a grapheme (written representation) and vice versa.

    The children will also learn a series of ‘tricky words’. Tricky words are those words with code that has not been taught yet. We build into the timetable some weeks for the children to consolidate what has been taught so far. We assess your child every six weeks to check progress. Any child who needs extra support will have keep-up sessions planned for them.

    Children in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 will also take part in Reading Practice Sessions. We use our gorgeous books published by HarperCollins for Little Wandle.
    Reading Teaching Sessions are:

    ● Timetabled 3 times a week
    ● Taught by a trained teacher / teaching assistant
    ● Taught in small groups

    The children read the same book three times a week. The first time we work on decoding (sounding out) the words, the second time we work on prosody, which is reading with expression – this aids comprehension and encourages our children to read like writers and the third time we look at comprehension. We read the book three times in school because we want to develop fluency. The more children see words, the more they begin to read them automatically. This book will then be sent home for your child to share their reading skills with you.

     

    Impact

    At Sound School, there will be a consistent approach to the teaching of reading and phonics across the school and this will be evident as part of classroom and school displays. Children will make good or better progress from their own personal starting points. By the end of KS1 they will be able to read a wide range of texts fluently and with understanding.

    This will be measured through a variety of methods such as, summative and formative assessments in reading and phonics each term, phonics screening results, benchmarking to assess book bands, pupil voice, questioning and reading records. 

    Reading at Home

    Although your child will be taught to read at school, you can have a huge impact on their reading journey by continuing their practice at home.

    There are two types of reading book that your child may bring home:

    A reading practice book. This will be at the correct phonic stage for your child. They should be able to read this fluently and independently.

    A sharing book.  Your child will not be able to read this on their own. This book is for you both to read and enjoy together.

    Reading practice book

    This book has been carefully matched to your child’s current reading level. If your child is reading it with little help, please don’t worry that it’s too easy – your child needs to develop fluency and confidence in reading.

    Listen to them read the book. Remember to give them lots of praise – celebrate their success! If they can’t read a word, read it to them. After they have finished, talk about the book together.

    Sharing book

    In order to encourage your child to become a lifelong reader, it is important that they learn to read for pleasure. The sharing book is a book they have chosen for you to enjoy together.

    Please remember that you shouldn’t expect your child to read this alone. Read it to or with them. Discuss the pictures, enjoy the story, predict what might happen next, use different voices for the characters, explore the facts in a non-fiction book. The main thing is that you have fun!

     

    LITTLE WANDLE VIDEOS

    These resources below will help you support your child with saying their sounds. These useful videos can help you feel more confident about supporting your child’s learning at home.

    Autumn Term Parents Workshop for Little Wandle 

    LS-PowerPoint-for-parents-presentation-September

    Spring Term Parents Workshop for Little Wandle 

    LS_Parent-PPT_Reception-Spring-term

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