Reception

Curriculum Workshop Phonics

It is a statutory requirement that Reception children are taught 20 minutes of letters and sounds per day. We

pick the best practice from Letters and Sounds, Phonics Play and Jolly Phonics.

Phonics and reading skills are taught in 6 distinct phases.

Introduction to Phonics!

What is Phonics? Phonics is the initial step in teaching children to read. Children are taught

the sounds required for reading and practise applying these skills.

How do we teach Phonics? We have whole class phonic lessons throughout the week, which are split into 4 differentiated groups according to the children’s phonic ability. These groups may change throughout the year. When learning a new sound children are exposed to different VAK (Visual, auditory & Kinaesthetic) learning styles: a story, a song and actions.

• Songs

• Games

• Small group sessions

• Actions

• Challenges

• Games

• Inside and Outside learning

Vocabulary your child will be learning

A Phoneme When a single letter makes one sound. These are the alphabet sounds…a, b, c, d…..

A Digraph When 2 letters make one sound e.g ai, ee, oo, ar

A Trigraph When 3 letters make one sound e.g igh, ear, ure

In Phase 2 (Reception 6 weeks)

your child will… …Learn 23 sounds

…Learn how to blend sounds in words, to support reading, and segment sounds to help with spelling and writing. It is not as easy as teaching A to Z! We teach the sounds in a particular order and way: • 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 l ll s ss

Phonics for Reading (Blending)

Recognising the letter sounds in a written word e.g c-u-p, sh-ee-p. Merging them in the correct order to read the word cup and sheep. A strategy we implement to help children begin blending sounds is through the use of sound buttons.

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Identifying the individual sounds in a spoken word (e.g. h-i-m , s-t-or-k) and writing down the letters for each sound to form the word ‘him’ and ‘stork’. Using their sound knowledge your child is also taught how to segment words. We teach this through using our hands as ‘blades’ and chopping the word up. Alongside this we also use a phoneme frame.

Phonics for Spelling (Segmenting)

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In Phase 3 (Reception up to 12

weeks) your child will… By the time they reach Phase 3, children will already be able to segment and blend words containing the 23 sounds taught in Phase 2. Over the 12 weeks, 26 new sounds are introduced containing digraphs and trigraphs. • Set 6 - j v w x • Set 7 - y z zz qu • Consonant digraphs - ch sh th ng • Vowel digraphs (and trigraphs) ai ee igh oa oo ar or ur ow oi

ear air ure er During both Phases it is important that the children are learning the letter names as well as the sounds.

Tricky Words The English language is not an easy one, and therefore not

all words are decodable; some words need to be learnt

through memory and sight.

In Phase 2 children will be learning 12 tricky words.

In Phase 3 children will be learning 28 tricky words.

All of these words can be found within your child’s high frequency book to practise at home.

www.letters-and-sounds.com

Here are the phases.

Where Can I Go To Find Out More?

Where Can I Go To Find Out More?

www.phonicsplay.co.uk

This website is great for games that you can play at home to help your child’s development.

Useful Website Links

www.coxhoe.durham.sch.uk/Curriculum/Literacy.htm

www.bbc.co.uk/schools/websites/4_11/site/literacy.shtml

www.ictgames.com/literacy.html

http://www.twinkl.co.uk/search

You tube – Jolly Phonics

Reception

Curriculum Workshop Writing

Information

In order for your child to be ‘ready to write’ they need to develop the following muscles: core muscles, shoulder muscles, elbow, wrist and finger muscles. To help your child develop their writing ability we have a ‘finger gym’ station and our ‘discovery time’ activities always have a focus on gross and fine motor development.

Writing Activity! Writing is a difficult skill to master so we need to praise the children for the attempts they make – no matter how small!

Quick activity!

Grab your own white board and pen. We are going to unlearn how to write and become a child again. 1. Write your name upside down, not using your dominant

hand 2. Write your name upside down using your dominant hand 3. With your dominant hand write your name the correct way 4. Finally, with your dominant hand write your name upside

down.

Writing! Skills you needed to use: • Visualising your name • Pencil grip • Fine motor control • Letter shape knowledge • Linking sounds to letters and many more! Your child is beginning to develop and use these skills all of the time. During this process it is very useful to have letters displayed everywhere at school and at home.

Writing Development

Cross Curricular Links The Early Years Foundation Stage lends itself to a cross curricular approach to all aspects of learning. This is an

example of one of our cross-curricular lessons.

Thank you very much for listening, we hope that this workshop has been useful for you. If you have any

further questions please do not hesitate to come and chat to us!

Thank You!

Any Questions?