How we Teach Reading, Writing, Spelling and Grammar

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1 Learning to read is essential to a good education, and we aim to ensure that all children at North Fawdon Primary School leave our school as readers. Children, who enjoy reading and read a lot, tend to be good writers and reading for pleasure should be encouraged from an early age.

2 Foundation Stage In Nursery, children listen to lots of stories being read to them, individually, in small groups and as a class. They join in with the repeated language of the story and as the Nursery year progresses, learn with their teacher to repeat and perform simple stories. This helps children learn to speak in sentences and to use the language of stories, so that when they come to write further up the school they will not need to think about story language as it will already be part of their vocabulary. Alongside this, they begin to recognise key words in their lives such as their names, to name and form letters that are familiar to them and to use a wider vocabulary when speaking. They are also being taught phonics, at this stage to discriminate between different sounds an to hear the sounds at the beginning and end of simple words, such as c at the start of cat. In Reception, the children begin to learn phonics using the read Write Inc. system and progress rapidly through all the 26 initial sounds, learning the letter name, the symbol (grapheme) and the sound it makes (phoneme). At the same time, they practise the correct formation of the letter so that they can use them in their writing. Some words are not spelt phonetically and must be learned by sight. The children build up their knowledge of sight words (word walls) working through all the walls. Throughout the reception year, the children read in small groups, using words and phonics sounds that they know from their phonics lessons. They also listen to and discuss stories with their teachers, practise writing simple sentences and are introduced to writing captions and labels for information (non-fiction) texts.

3 Key Stage 1 How we Teach Reading, Writing, Spelling and Grammar In Year 1 and 2, phonics teaching continues and children learn all the phonemes and begin to learn how to spell words, using phonic and spelling rules. They continue to read in small groups and written comprehension activities are introduced such as jumbled up sentences, close procedures with missing words. At the same time, they link what they write to what they read, studying stories and texts which they use as a model to write their own version. They learn to use joins in their handwriting and to continue to use writing conventions such as finger spaces, capital letters and full stops.

4 Lower Key Stage 2 How we Teach Reading, Writing, Spelling and Grammar By the time children are in Year 3, the focus of reading is made on comprehension and explanation of how texts work how the words are chosen, organised and how the audience (who the text is for) influences what an author does. The children explore a wide range of texts both in small groups and in the class. They use their knowledge of what they read to continue the comprehension work from KS1, tackling texts of increasing complexity and difficulty. They begin to use evidence in the texts to explain what they are doing and to model what an author does in their own writing. Children begin to study a novel over a longer length of time. They are expected to be able to write with increasing detail. They learn the technical grammatical terms for word classes and the difference between spoken and written English and its standard and non-standard forms. Children are beginning to edit and improve their own work.

5 Upper Key Stage 2 Children continue to read in small groups and now read texts of increasing length and complexity. They debate what they have read and discuss their own opinions and listen to the opinions of others. They use their grammatical knowledge to experiment in their own writing, using a widening vocabulary which they gain from the reading they do. They write stories over a period of time and, with increased independence, improve and edit their own work. Children now regularly study a novel over a longer period of time.

6 Assessment Throughout their time at North Fawdon Primary School, the children s progress is rigorously checked and assessed to ensure that they are making appropriate progress. We discuss their progress with you at Parent s Evenings. Should a child fall behind, we will give them additional support to help them catch up. This may be in a small group, or maybe one to one. We will also suggest things that you can do at home to support your child in making progress. If you are in any way concerned, please make an appointment to see your child s teacher.

7 What you can do The most important thing that you can do is talk to your child. Talk to them about anything and everything but engage them in talking so that they hear good models of spoken English. Share books and stories with them; this is every bit as important as reading a school reading book with them but encourage them to read their books to you and with you. Take them to the library or download some of the many e-books from the internet. Talk about words and signs they see around the local area. As they get older and can read independently, why not read a book with them at the same time and talk about the characters and what happened. Watch the film of the book and discuss what was the same and what was different. Ensure they do their weekly homework. Support the school and your child by attending curriculum and progress meetings. Most importantly take an interest in their education and please do not be scared to ask us what we are doing, or why we are doing something. We are alokeen to receive feedback and to discuss the learning taking place in the school. October 2015