English, Reading and Writing

English Overview

English Curriculum statement

 

At Wombridge Primary School, we aim for all our pupils to be confident readers, writers, spellers and speakers by the time they leave our school. We endeavour to provide pupils with an abundance of opportunities to develop these skills to a high level, which will enable them to successfully communicate in a wide range of contexts, preparing them for the next steps in their education and beyond. We aim to develop and extend our pupils’ vocabulary to a great degree, so that they can articulate their thoughts effectively, and to provide them with the tools required to successfully understand and interpret language in a range of settings.

We will know that our pupils make progress as they will know more and remember more.

Click on the link below to see our whole school  English planning overview:

English Long Term Plan

English Writing Progression and Overview

Inclusion in English

Inclusion in RWI (phonics)

Reading Overview

In Key Stage One and Key Stage Two, reading comprehension lessons are based upon five key reading skills: Vocabulary, Inference, Prediction, Sequencing and Retrieval. All reading comprehension and guided reading sessions focus on these skills.

Please see our reading progression map below:

Reading Domain Progression

Phonic knowledge by RWI group and take home books

 

 

READING

KS1

KS2

Phonics

Read, Write, Inc. Phonics programme: 

 At our school we aim for all our children to become fluent, confident readers who are passionate about reading. 

Children who read regularly or are read to regularly can open the doors to so many different worlds! 

More importantly, reading will give your child the tools to become independent life-long learners. 

We can achieve this together through: 

  • Read Write Inc: a program to help your child read at school 
  • Encouraging children to develop a love of books by reading to them daily, at home and at school 
  • Giving children access to a wide range of books at school and at home 

At Wombridge Primary School we use Read Write Inc Phonics (RWI) to give your child the best possible start with their Literacy development.  

Read Write Inc (RWI) is a phonics complete literacy programme which helps all children learn to read fluently and at speed so they can focus on developing their skills in comprehension, vocabulary, and spelling.  The programme is designed for children aged 4-7.  We begin the programme in Reception  and will continue teaching RWI to children beyond the age of 7, as we use a ‘stage not age’ approach. RWI was developed by Ruth Miskin and more information on this can be found at https://www.ruthmiskin.com/en/parents-copy-2/ 

How will RWI be taught? 

Read Write Inc is taught every day in school to ensure every child makes rapid progress. All children are assessed regularly  to accurately group children so they can work with peers on the same stage.   

 Reception 

In Reception all children will learn how to ‘read’ the sounds in words and how those sounds can be written down. 

Reading 

The children use the following strategies: 

  • Learn 44 sounds and the corresponding letters/letter groups using simple picture prompts – see below 
  • Learn to read words using Fred talk and sound blending 
  • Read from a range of storybooks and non-fiction books matched to their phonic knowledge 
  • Work well with partners 
  • Develop comprehension skills in stories by answering ‘Find It’ and ‘Prove It’ discussion questions 

Writing 

The children use the following strategies: 

  • Learn to write and form the letters/letter groups which represent the 44 sounds with the help of fun phrases 
  • Learn to write words by using Fred Talk 
  • Learn to build sentences by practising sentences out loud before they write  

Talking 

The children work in pairs so that they can do the following: 

  • Answer every question 
  • Practise every activity with their partner 
  • Take turns in talking and reading to each other 
  • Develop ambitious vocabulary 

Progressing through the stages 

Children follow the same format as Early Years but will work on complex sounds and read books appropriate to their reading level. Daily sessions of RWI phonics last up to one hour (30 minutes in Reception). 

Five key principles underpin the teaching in all Read Write Inc. sessions:   

Purpose – know the purpose of every activity and share it with the children, so they know the one thing they should be thinking about 

Participation – ensure every child participates throughout the lesson. Partnership work is fundamental to learning 

Praise – ensure children are praised for effort and learning, not ability 

Pace – teach at an effective pace and devote every moment to teaching and learning 

Passion – be passionate about teaching so children can be engaged emotionally. 

Children will be taught how to read as follows: 

Below are the sounds we use to speak in English. Children initially begin using pictures for each sound which will help them to first recognise the sound and then form the shape of the sound.  

Fred Talk  

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. 

At school we use a puppet called Fred who is an expert on sounding out words! we call it, ‘Fred Talk’. E.g. m-o-p, c-a-t, m-a-n, sh-o-p, b-l-a-ck. 

The following video is an example of blending sounds with Fred. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEzfpod5w_Q 

The children are taught the sounds in 3 sets. 

Step 1: 

Set 1 Sounds are taught in the following order together with rhymes to help children form the letters correctly and instantly recognise sounds ready for blending. 

Set 1 
Sound  Rhyme 
m  Down Maisie then over the two mountains. Maisie, mountain, mountain. 
a  Round the apple, down the leaf. 
s  Slide around the snake. 
d  Round the dinosaur’s back, up his neck and down to his feet. 
t  Down the tower, across the tower. 
i  Down the insect’s body, dot for the head. 
n  Down Nobby and over the net. 
p  Down the plait, up and over the pirate’s face. 
g  Round the girl’s face, down her hair and give her a curl. 
o  All around the orange. 
c  Curl around the caterpillar. 
k  Down the kangaroo’s body, tail and leg. 
u  Down and under the umbrella, up to the top and down to the puddle. 
b  Down the laces, over the toe and touch the heel. 
f  Down the stem and draw the leaves. 
e  Slice into the egg, go over the top, then under the egg. 
l  Down the long leg. 
h  Down the horse’s head to the hooves and over his back. 
sh  Slither down the snake, then down the horse’s head to the hooves and over his back. 
r  Down the robot’s back, then up and curl. 
j  Down his body, curl and dot. 
v  Down a wing, up a wing. 
y  Down a horn, up a horn and under the yak’s head. 
w  Down, up, down, up the worm. 
th  Down the tower, across the tower, then down the horse’s head to the hooves and over his back. 
z  Zig-zag-zig, down the zip. 
ch  Curl around the caterpillar, then down the horse’s head to the hooves and over his back. 
qu  Round the queen’s head, up to her crown, down her hair and curl. 
x  Cross down the arm and leg and cross the other way. 
ng  A thing on a string. 
nk  I think I stink. 

At this stage we do not use the letter names 

Use the link below to support your pronunciation  sounds correctly. 

https://www.ruthmiskin.com/en/find-out-more/parents/#lg=1&slide=3 

Step 2: 

The children are then taught Set 2 Sounds – the long vowels. When they are very confident with all of set 1 and 2 they are taught Set 3 Sounds. 

Long  vowel sound  Set 2 Speed Sound cards  Set 3 Speed Sound cards 
ay  ay: may I play  a-e: make a cake  ai: snail in the rain 
ee  ee: what can you see  ea: cup of tea  e: he me we she be 
igh  igh: fly high  i-e: nice smile 
ow  ow: blow the snow  o-e: phone home  ao: goat in a boat 
oo  oo: poo at the zoo  u-e: huge brute  ew: chew the stew 
oo  oo: look at a book       
ar  ar: start the car       
or  or: shut the door  aw: yawn at dawn    
air  air: that’s not fair  are: share and care    
ir  ir: whirl and twirl  ur: nurse for a purse  er: a better letter 
ou  ou: shout it out  ow: brown cow    
oy  oy: toy for a boy  oi: spoil the boy    
ire     ire: fire fire!    
ear     ear: hear with your ear    
ure     ure: sure it’s pure?    

 

Nonsense words (Alien words)      

As well as learning to read and blend real words, children will have plenty of opportunities to apply their sound recognition skills when reading ‘Nonsense words’. These words will also feature heavily in the Year One Phonics Screening check in the summer term.  The words provide endless opportunities for children to apply and practice their thinking in a range of different contexts.  

Step 3: 

Within all the  RWI sessions/books children will be exposed to red and green words to learn to help them to become speedy readers. Red words are words that are not easily decodable and challenge words to extend children’s vocabulary. Green words are linked to the sounds they have been learning and are easily decodable. 

Dots and dashes represent the sound each letter makes. 

During the RWI session children will read the book three times and at each new reading they will have plenty of opportunities to practise using their developing comprehension skills. You may hear your child talking about ‘hold, edit or build a sentence’. 

Hold a sentence is an activity that encourages children to remember a whole sentence while focusing on spelling and punctuation. 

Build a sentence is to give children the opportunity to create their own sentence to that shows the meaning of a word and edit a sentence allows the children to critique a sentence using their knowledge of spelling punctuation and grammar. Children complete a longer piece of independent writing, which gives them the opportunity to show off their creativity and to practice their spelling, grammar, and punctuation. 

To help at home: 

Your child will start to bring books home when they are confident readers, relating to their reading stage. You will find they will bring home a phonics-based book, this will aid application, speed and fluency: developing speedy reading!  They will also bring a ‘book bag’ book which will begin to enrich their reading, and will require decoding skills as it will be new to them – though the sounds won’t be. In addition, your child can choose a ‘share a story’ book which you can read with / to your child. This book may have sounds that they have not learnt yet, so we do not expect them to read these. Once they are fluent and confident readers, children will bring home a wider range and choice of books.  

Useful websites for Parents 

Please find a link below to the Ruth Miskin website where you will find useful videos and information to support your child’s learning of phonics. 

https://www.ruthmiskin.com/en/parents-copy-2/ 

Find out about the RWI scheme here:

rwi-information

Find out how to say the sounds by clicking on the link below.

PureSoundsGuide

Practice reading the words below with your child.

green-words-Set 1 sounds

green words Set 2 sounds

green words Set 3 sounds

What to teach when

Curriculum links Y1 RWI

Reading

We are proud to have a whole school approach to developing reading fluency and enjoyment across school. Each day we have dedicated time for all children to enjoy the books they have chosen and to read without distraction, sharing their progress with the class teacher and teaching assistant.

We encourage children to choose books which are interesting and enjoyable but will also ensure that they progress and have a suitable challenge for their age and attainment.

.All children at Wombridge are asked to continue their reading at home and it is expected that they will read five times a week as part of their homework. Both children and parents are invited to record reading in their child’s reading diary, where there are examples of questions to prompt as children read, and the opportunity for children to write about what they are reading or answer questions based on their book.

How to help your child with reading

Year 3 and 4 Common Exception Word

Year 5 and 6 Common Exception  Words

Writing

At Wombridge Primary School, teachers use a wide range of techniques to ensure that our pupils are fluent and confident writers. Our aim is to provide the children with the skills to write expressively for a range of different purposes, such as to persuade, to inform and to entertain differing audiences. In addition, children especially enjoy engaging techniques such as drama, role play and the inclusion of contextual learning, all of which help our pupils to succeed.

Our children thrive on achieving whatever their ability may be. As such, teachers throughout the school guide and instruct pupils in a number of ways in which they can become better writers. For example: teacher-pupil sharing of writing assessments; agreeing achievable yet challenging targets;  using year group  target grids;  modelled and exemplified writing; and peer/self-assessment. The target sheets give children and parents a greater understanding of what the children’s writing should look like at a particular age and the skills they should have. Please see the writing target link above.

We are proud of the exciting and interesting writing that our children produce, and the wide vocabulary demonstrated by so many through regular and challenging reading. However, we do not only focus on the content of the writing produced, but also the spelling and grammar.  These rules are embedded not only in Literacy lessons, but across our curriculum as a whole. We send individualised spellings home on a weekly basis and children are encouraged to write using a continuous cursive font, which is practiced throughout the week in school.

Spelling Menu Activities

SPAG helpful reminders

Inclusion

Wombridge is an inclusive school and in Literacy we strive to provide a curriculum for personalised learning. We aim for all children, regardless of background, to reach national expectation and further. In order for all of our children to achieve their full potential, we provide carefully-planned support and interventions to ensure that children make the very best progress that they can; this includes interventions for EAL learners, children with SEND and children who are working at greater depth. Provisions are made for children who require extra support through targeted teaching, intervention programmes, teaching assistant support and differentiated class teaching. We ensure that all children, regardless of ability or background, are challenged in their learning to support them to achieve their absolute best.

Assessment

In all year groups, children’s understanding is continuously assessed to inform planning. Assessment in EYFS is an ongoing process throughout the year, which informs pupil profiles. Reception teachers constantly track children’s letter recognition, sound recognition, segmenting and blending.

In Years 1 to 6, writing, reading, spelling and grammar are assessed throughout the year, with assessment focussing on the genre, reading domain or SPAG topic that has been taught. On-going assessment is also carried out throughout daily literacy and guided reading sessions. All children self-assess their work on a daily basis through referring to the success criteria of the lesson. At the end of each term, summative assessments are undertaken for each of these areas. Children’s reading ages are assessed at the start and at the end of each year.

Statutory assessment takes place in Year 2 and Year 6 and results are reported to parents, governors and the LEA. Phonics Screening is undertaken in Year 1 to assess children’s phonics knowledge. Optional tests are used in years 1, 3, 4 and 5.

 

Reading for Pleasure and Reading at Home

At Wombridge Primary School we are continuing our drive to encourage more children to read for pleasure.  Research shows a positive link between reading frequency and enjoyment and educational attainment.  Furthermore, reading for pleasure has positive emotional and social benefits, improves text comprehension and grammar skills and increases general knowledge.  We have many initiatives that will be taking place in school over this academic year to encourage reading for pleasure.

  • Daily reading aloud in class from a range of texts
  • Inspiring reading corners
  • World Book Day
  • Latest books releases and recommended reads display
  • Subscription to Bug Club

Things you can do at home:

To support your child in their development of reading, we recommend that you spend at least 10 minutes per day reading with your child. This can be a combination of you listening to them read their school book, them listening to you read a story book or even taking it in turns. The sharing of reading is a valuable experience for you and child as it gives you the opportunity to discuss new vocabulary as well as characters, themes and even facts that a range of books can offer.

Here are some other things you can try:

  • Make books part of your family life – Always have books around do that you and your children are ready to read whenever there is a chance.
  • Join your local library – Get your child a library card!
  • Match their interests – Help them find the right book – it doesn’t matter if it’s fiction, poetry, comic books or non-fiction.
  • All reading is good – Don’t discount non-fiction, comics, graphic novels, magazines and leaflets. Reading is reading anf it is all good.
  • Get comfortable! – Snuggle up somewhere warm and cosy with your child, either in bed, on a beanbag or on the sofa.
  • Ask questions – To keep them interested in the story, ask your child questions as you read such as, “What do you think will happen next?” or “Where did we get to last night? Can you remember what has happened already?”
  • Read whenever you get the chance – Bring along a book or magazine for any time your child has to wait, such as at a doctor’s surgery.
  • Read again and again – Encourage your child to re-read favourite books and poems. Re-reading helps to build up fluency and confidence.
  • Bedtime stories – Regularly read with your child or children at bedtime. It’s a great way to end the day and to spend valuable time with your child.
  • Rhyme and repetition – Books are great for encouraging your child and children to join in and remember the words.

Words for Life

For even more reading activites, click here to visit the Words for Life website.  Here you will find activities designed for babies and for children up to the age of eleven.

Have fun!  Why not bring some of the activities in to school to share with your class?

Helpful Links:

Stuck for what to read?

If your child is finding it difficult to know what they want to read, here are some websites you may find helpful:

We greatly appreciate all the support you give in supporting and encouraging your children to read at home and we are looking forward to an exciting year full of reading ahead!