Phonics/Reading Opportunities

We follow the Department for Education validated phonics programme, Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised.

 

Phonics is taught daily and the key features are as follows:

• Direct teaching in frequent, short bursts

• Consistency of approach

• Secure, systematic progression in phonics learning

• Maintaining pace of learning

• Providing repeated practice

• Application of phonics using matched decodable books

• Early identification of children at risk of falling behind behind, linked to the provision of effective keep-up support

 

In Year 1,  children will broaden their knowledge of graphemes and phonemes for use in reading and spelling. They will learn new graphemes and alternative pronunciations for these and graphemes they already know.

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As well as learning to read and blend real words children will have plenty of opportunities to apply their sound recognition skills on reading ‘Alien words’. These words will also feature heavily in the Year One Phonics Screening check in the summer term.

(Do I need to explain why they read nonsense words?)

 

What is the Year One phonics screening check?

The Year One phonics screening check is a short assessment carried out in the summer term to confirm whether individual children have learnt phonics decoding to an appropriate standard. It will identify the children who need extra help so they are given further support to improve their reading skills. They will then be able to retake the check in Year 2.

 

Children in Year 1 read fully decodable books with an adult 3 times per week during our ‘Guided Reading’ sessions. These books are then sent home for children to build their reading fluency and showcase their developing skills and phonetic knowledge to their parents/carers. These 3 reading practice sessions each have a different focus; decoding, prosody and comprehension. Our reading books in Year 1: Little Wandle Letters and  Sounds Revised Big Cat books

 

Supporting your child with reading

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.

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There are two types of reading book that your child will bring home in Year 1:

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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.

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

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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.

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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. In addition, after reading the book you can pick out some words and help them to expand their vocabulary by discussing alternatives for these words. The main thing is that you have fun!

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Writing Opportunities

In Year 1, children learn to write sentences by:

• Saying what they are going to write about out loud

• Composing a sentence orally before writing it

• Sequencing sentences to form short narratives

• Re-reading what they have written to check that it makes sense.

 

Throughout the year, children are given many opportunities to write for different purposes. Children will write both fiction and non-fiction pieces such as re-telling a story, instructions, acrostic poems, diary entry, describing a character/setting. This gives children the opportunity to demonstrate skills such as handwriting, vocabulary, punctuation and grammar which are taught throughout the week.

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Mathematics

We follow the White Rose scheme which adopts a maths mastery approach which focuses on helping children acquire a deep and long -term understanding of maths that they can use in different real -life situations. In Year 1, lessons taught using the mastery approach involves discussions, questioning, a variety of fun maths activities and demonstrations of concepts. A variety of physical resources such as numicon, unifix cubes and counters are used to support the teaching of maths.

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Creative Opportunities

Children have the opportunity to develop their creative skills through dance, drama and art. In art, the children are given the opportunity to experiment with different materials and techniques. The children will also explore famous artists. The children participate in drama activities such as hot seating, acting out a story. In Design and Technology, children are encouraged to create useful and functional items. By evaluating existing products first, the children get to magpie their favourite ideas, then spin them in whatever direction they can imagine. This could be in designing  moving equipment for their playground, creating a fruit salad. Having this opportunity to be creative is what gives the subject real meaning for the children, as they endeavour to create exciting and functional end products.

 

Parent Corner

Uniform

Our uniform is grey trousers/skirt/dress, white polo shirt and purple jumper/cardigan.

In the Autumn term, we have P.E on a Wednesday afternoon. All children should wear their PE kit to school. As the weather is getting colder during the Autumn term , please can children start bring a coat to school every day.

 

Homework

Homework is sent home on a Friday. Please can this be completed and brought back to school by Wednesday. Please can you hear your child read as often as possible.

 

Inspire Workshops

We will conduct a variety of parent inspire workshops throughout the year. Our first inspire workshop in the Autumn term is reading. Throughout the year there will also be a maths and writing inspire workshop. The workshops give you the opportunity to come into school and work alongside your child, giving you the chance to see how lessons are taught and what the expectations are.

 

Attendance/Punctuality

It is very important that your child attends school every day. However, if your child is sick then please phone the school and inform them. Picking your child up from school and dropping them on time is extremely important. It supports your child settling into the classroom and ensures that they do not miss out on any learning. Also, if you require a person to pick up your child who is not on our list you will need to inform the school office/Year 1 staff.

 

Communication

Please ensure that you download the Marvellous Me app onto your phone for award badges and messages from school. If you have queries or concerns we are always here to support your family. Please do not hesitate to inform us either in person, email or phone call.