EYFS & KS1 Reading Schemes
Our systematic synthetic approach to learning phonics in EYFS (Early Years Foundation Stage) and KS1 (Key Stage 1) is through using Supersonic Phonic Friends, a scheme validated by the Department of Education. The scheme provides us with games and resources to support our teaching of phonics. We have a multi-sensory approach in EYFS with pupils provided with characters, pictures, songs and rhymes, as well as actions to help them learn each different sound. It aims to build pupils’ speaking and listening skills, as well as prepare pupils to learn to read, by developing their phonic knowledge and skills. It sets out a detailed programme for teaching phonic skills, with the aim of pupils becoming fluent readers by age seven.
Expert training has been given in the use of the scheme, together with the matching of resources (i.e. reading books) to strategies used for learning. We primarily use the Collins Big Cat reading books to support our learning of phonics, which can be consolidated at home. The scheme offers guidance and weekly newsletters to parents to support home learning.
Phonics is:
The ability to listen to sounds in words
Recognising and remembering the spelling for the sounds in words
Building, reading and writing words
Super Sonic Phonic Friends uses five phases to teach these elements:
Level 1
Showing an awareness of rhyme and alliteration. Distinguishing between sounds in the environment and phonemes. Exploring and experimenting with sounds and words. Discriminating speech sounds in words. Beginning to orally blend and segment phonemes.
Level 2 – Securing the Basics
Blending for reading and segmenting for spelling simple cvc words. Letter sets
Group 1 - s, a, t, p
Group 2 - l, n, m, d
Group 3 - g, o, c, k
Group 4 - ck, e, u, r
Group 5 - h, b, f, l
Group 6 – ll, ff, ss
Level 3 – Securing the Basics Teachers children the spellings for the further 26 of 44 sounds of the English language.
Group 1 - j, v, w, x
Group 2 - y, z, zz, qu
Group 3 - Consonant digraphs: ch, sh, th, ng.
Group 4 – ai, ee, igh, oa
Group 5 – oo, oo, ar, or
Group 6 – ur, ow, oi,er
Group 7 – ure, ear, air
Level 4 – Adjacent Consonants and Higher Levels
This is a consolidation unit. There are no new graphemes to learn but the children learn how read longer words such as stamp, plug, flag, twig. They are learning to hear more than three sounds in a word, i.e. adjacent consonants.
Level 5C – Choose to Use; Teaching Alternative Graphemes.
Graphemes: ay, ou, ie, ea, oy, ir, ue, aw, wh, ph, ew, oe, au, a-e, e-e, i-e, o-e, u-e.
Level 5B – Switch it Sounds
Alternative pronunciations for: i, o, c, g, u, ow, ie, ea, er, a, y, ch, ou
Year 2 – Spelling rules and Appendices
At this stage, children should be able to spell words phonemically although not always correctly. The main aim of this phase is to become more fluent readers and more accurate spellers, including words that are rare.
Throughout KS1 (Key Stage 1), pupils are provided with a range of fiction and non-fiction books which are regularly changed to aid progression with their reading. Once reading has been sufficiently developed, children in KS1 also have access to Renaissance Reading so that their comprehension skills can be tested and provides access to more advanced reading books, if required.
KS2 Reading Scheme
In KS2 (Key Stage 2), pupils continue to access a range of reading books covering a range of genres in order to learn more advanced deduction and inference skills. Renaissance Accelerated Reading is primarily used to help the children develop their reading skills. The Accelerated Reader program is a computerised program that tests reading comprehension. Students select books on their reading level, read independently, and take an independent comprehension test on the computer. Each book is worth a certain number of points based on its length and reading level. The children are assessed periodically to monitor how they are progressing and to make sure they are choosing books that are of appropriate level of difficulty for them. Reward schemes are in place to promote reading and celebrate those pupils who reach certain levels and milestones with their reading.
In addition to this, a daily guided reading session takes place throughout KS2 (and KS1) so that pupils gain a deep understanding of texts, thereby being able to understand, retrieve, infer, deduce, predict, discuss, analyse and summarise texts as well as enjoy them!
Comprehension usually supercedes the decoding of texts and children are taught and then practise comprehension skills, which are assessed regularly to ensure pupils are making progress.