Burrsville Infant Academy
Phonics
Phonics at Burrsville Infant Academy
At Burrsville we use Ruth Miskin's Read, Write, Inc. This is a phonics scheme that teaches children to read and write.
Read Write Inc. Phonics teaches children to read accurately and fluently with good comprehension. They learn to blend the sounds in words (first orally and then by reading them) form each letter, segment words and spell correctly, and compose their ideas when writing.
Everything CONNECTS: children connect sounds with mnemonic pictures; words with their meanings; and stories with the sounds they know. They connect their own experiences to the stories they read and learn to lift the words off the page.
Children learn ONE thing at a time and practise it until it becomes second nature. Interactive practise keeps children focused, and their capacity to learn develops exponentially.
Children remember what they learn by SAYING it out loud to a partner. If they can’t explain it, the teacher repeats it until they can.
There are three ‘Sets’; Set 1 is comprised of mostly single letter sounds e.g. c-a-t and some 'Special Friends' (two or three letters that make one sound), Set 2 is 'Special Friends' e.g. ‘ow’ in b-l-ow, and Set 3 is alternative sounds e.g. ‘ea’ in t-ea makes the same sound as ‘ee’ in sh-ee-p. Each half term the Phonics Leader(s) assess children to check what sounds they recognise and can apply to their reading, and see if there are any gaps. The assessments then help to group the children, ensuring they are in the group that matches their attainment and enables them to make progress.
In the Summer term, Year 1 will sit the National Phonics Screening. This will be completed during a specific week by a familiar adult. The test is made up with 20 real words and 20 fake (alien) words and children work through the paper reading the words using the sounds they have been taught. There is a pass mark that is published and parents/carers are informed of the mark and their child's progress.
Phonics continues in Year 2 for children that still need to learn sounds, or need to revisit them to ensure they are applying them to their word reading and writing. For some children this is no longer needed in Year 2, and they move onto learning spelling rules and building their fluency through the Read, Write, Inc. Spelling scheme and a range of carefully selected texts.
To help support your child at home, please watch this video below to show how specific sounds are articulated in Phonic sessions. There is also a list of useful websites to support your child's phonics, alongside some great ideas to make phonics fun at home!
Useful phonic websites/activities
www.ruthmiskin.com/en/parents/
www.teachyourmonstertoread.com
www.familylearning.org.uk/phonics_games.html
www.topmarks.co.uk/Interactive.aspx?cat=40
https://home.oxfordowl.co.uk/reading/learn-to-read-phonics/
https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/grownups/the-alphablocks-guide-to-phonics
How can you help at home?
- The Ruth Miskin portal for parents is the best website to engage with, as this is the scheme we follow at school. As well as the general parent videos, your child will be set 'Reading at Home' activities which you will receive via an email link. These virtual classroom lessons teach the children in exactly the same way we do at school and will reinforce their current learning, so please encourage them to engage with these as much as possible.
- Use flashcards to help your child practise saying sounds. Your child will be given a set of flashcards from their phonics teacher, please do encourage them to use them at home but look after them. You can use the flashcards to make words for your child to read through blending. These words could be silly or even made up.
- Listen to your child read their phonics book every day, even just for five minutes. It really will make a difference. If your child gets stuck on a word, model how to say the sounds and blend them together. If you are worried that the book is at the wrong level for your child, check with your child’s teacher.
- Read aloud to your child every day to show them that reading is fun. Your child will bring home a love of reading book which could be from any 'level' and the purpose of this is reading for pleasure, not to practise their phonics.
- Phonics Hero (For school-aged children): Over 850 fun, varied and motivating games take a child step-by-step through the 44 sounds, the reading and spelling of words, and how to conquer sentences.
- Teach Your Monster to Read (For school-aged children): Covers the first two years of learning to read, from matching letters and sounds to enjoying little books, designed in collaboration with leading academics.
- Fonetti (For school-aged children): The world’s first ‘Listening Bookshop’ interacting with children by giving visual cues in real-time as they read aloud and highlighting where the most support is needed.
- Phonics play – free to subscribe and has lots of fun games including ‘Obb and Bob’.
- Twinkl Interactive – free to subscribe to access a selection of games.
- Time for Phonics – a free site with a variety of games to support your child’s learning.