Reading and Phonics
Reading
At Cotford St Luke Primary School we strive to instil a love of reading into our pupils. We have daily opportunities for independent reading in KS2 and alongside an adult in KS1. Each class has a variety of books that children can access independently to explore in an age appropriate way. At Cotford St Luke Primary School Guided Reading takes place in Year 2 upwards. In Reception and Year 1 they will be focusing on the children’s Phonics Skills but will have daily Shared Reading with the children where they will discuss what they are reading.
We strongly encourage reading at home with your child and books are regularly changed in school. If your child is a reluctant reader, you could try some of the following:
- Explore magazines, newspapers, supermarket signs- reading materials in different formats.
- Explore Audiobooks- these allow children to listen to a story and enjoy the storyline.
- There are plenty of websites that give free access to E-Books. Oxford Owl would be a good one to explore https://www.oxfordowl.co.uk/for-home/find-a-book/library-page/. Some children may engage more in this format.
Phonics
What is phonics?
Phonics is a way of teaching children how to read and write. It helps children hear, identify and use different sounds that distinguish one word from another in the English language. Understanding phonics will also help children know which letters to use when they are writing words.
Phonics is all about learning the sounds that letters can make. There are 44 sounds in the English language, which we put together to form words.
Some are represented by one letter, like ‘t’ and some by two or more, like ‘ck’ in duck and ‘air’ in chair.
Children are taught the sounds first, then how to match them to letters, and finally how to use the letter sounds for reading and spelling.
Phonics at our school
At Cotford St Luke Primary School we use the multisensory systematic synthetic programme Monster Phonics. Monster Phonics uses a colour coded grapheme system linked to monster characters.
The resources are mapped against the Letters and Sounds phases 2-6 and the KS1 Spelling Curriculum. The colour-coded grapheme system is unique to Monster Phonics; each coloured grapheme is paired with a monster character that makes the same sound to give audio-visual prompts that help children ‘see’ each sounds within a word and pronounce it correctly.
We follow the Monster Phonics programme in Reception and Key Stage 1. The children will have a daily phonics lesson, full of exciting, purposeful, multisensory phonics teaching and learning experiences. The Monster Phonics intervention programme, resources and teaching strategies are also used across Key Stage Two.
Monster Phonics Workshop for parents
Accelerated Reader
Once your child has completed the Monster Phonics programme and has read through the stages of books they will join our Accelerated Reader programme. Your child will take an online quiz at the beginning of each term which will give them a ZPD range. This is the range of books from which your child can choose. Once they have read the book they will take another short multiple choice quiz to check they have understood what they have read. As a school we have a benchmark pass rate of 85% for these quizzes. If your child scores below this they may need a slightly easier book but if they score 90-100% they may need something a little more challenging.
Accelerated Reader Workshop PowerPoint
Guided Reading
Guided Reading takes place from Year 2 upwards and takes place as a whole class. However, this is supplemented with smaller group sessions where appropriate. At Cotford St Luke Primary School we use VIPERS to teach our Guided Reading skills.
In Year 2 they spend 2 weeks covering the text and the format is as follows:
Week 1
Session 1 | The children PREDICT what the text is about. The text is read aloud to them or with the children reading parts and then VOCABULARY is looked at and discussed. |
Session 2 | Oral Questioning- exploring the skills of INFERENCE and RETRIEVAL. |
Session 3 | Written response around the text- exploring the skills of INFERENCE, RETRIEVAL, EXPLAIN and SUMMARISE. |
Week 2
Session 1 | Oral Questioning- exploring the skills of INFERENCE, RETRIEVAL and EXPLAIN. |
Session 2 | Written response around the text- exploring the skills of INFERENCE, RETRIEVAL, EXPLAIN and SUMMARISE. |
Session 3 | Written response around the text- exploring the skills of INFERENCE, RETRIEVAL, EXPLAIN and SUMMARISE. |
In LKS2 the format of the week is:
Session 1 | Read the text and discuss the VOCABULARY. The children may respond to this verbally or through a written response. |
Session 2 | Written RETRIEVAL focus.
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Session 3 | Written response to the other VIPERS (INFERENCE, PREDICT, EXPLAIN, SUMMARISE). |
If there is time they will complete a 4th session around an unseen text to check children’s understanding of these skills.
In UKS2 the format of the week is:
Session 1 | Written response to the text with a RETRIEVAL focus. |
Session 2 | Written response to the text with a focus on the other VIPERS (INFERENCE, PREDICT, EXPLAIN, SUMMARISE, VOCABULARY). |
Session 3 | Written response to the text with a focus on the other VIPERS (INFERENCE, PREDICT, EXPLAIN, SUMMARISE, VOCABULARY). |