Phonics and Early Reading with Little Wandle

Phonics and Early Reading with Little Wandle

At Moss Lane  School, children learn to read and develop a secure knowledge of the 44 sounds of the alphabet with the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds approach. Further details can be found at: 

https://www.littlewandlelettersandsounds.org.uk/

 

 

PHONICS 
At Moss Lane School we follow the Little Wandle Letters & Sounds Revised phonics programme to teach phonics. This scheme has been validated by the Department for Education and follows current best practice on the teaching of phonics and reading and educational research about the way that children learn best.

Children in Reception and Year 1 have five phonics lessons a week when they learn  new phonemes (sounds), decoding skills and tricky words. They take part in a review lesson at the end of the week to embed the new learning. 

At the start of their phonics journey at Moss Lane we hold parent workshops that provide more information about our Phonics Programme and the teaching of reading at our school. 

In order to best support your child at home it is important that you feel confident with the correct pronunciations of letter sounds.   Perhaps you weren’t taught phonics at school, or you have a different dialect.

There are several useful resources to support parents and carers at home with phonics. These can be found here.

https://www.littlewandlelettersandsounds.org.uk/resources/for-parents/

 

READING

Although your child will be taught the  essential reading skills  at school, decoding, prosody and comprehension, you can have a huge impact on their reading journey by continuing their practice at home. There are two types of reading book that your child will have access to at home:- 

 

• A  reading practice book.

This book will be at the correct phonic/reading stage for your child. They should be able to read this fluently and independently. This book has been carefully matched to your child’s current reading level. If your child is reading it with out your help, please don’t worry that it’s too easy – your child is developing fluency and confidence in reading alongside vital comprehension skills. Listen to them read the book, offer praise and celebrate their success! If they can’t read a word, read it to them after they have had a go at decoding independently. After they have finished reading, talk about the book together.

Children will be reading decodable books until they are secure with phase 5  letter sounds and tricky words. The books children read during reading practice sessions in school will be the book they have access to online.

Once children are secure with phase 5 skills, they will be reading books that match their fluency and comprehension skills. Children will have access to a  an online reading book that matches these skills.

 

All children have access to the online reading scheme Big Cat Collins. 

 

 A ‘reading for pleasure ’ book. 

This book is story or information book to share at home. These are not books that your child is expected to decode (read). In order to encourage your child to become a lifelong reader, it is important that they learn to read for pleasure. This is a book they have chosen from a wide selection in their classroom or the school library.  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 talking about what you have found out. The main thing is that you have fun!

 

Reading Records

When your child starts school, they will be given a Reading Record. Please ensure that reading records are in school every day. Your child’s class teacher will use your child’s reading record to share information with you. 

Each week you will see the title of the book your child has been reading in school and a stamp indicating that they participated in reading practice sessions over the week. Over the half term you will receive information of how your child is progressing, the letter sounds/tricky words your child has been learning, skills to embed at home and what is going well.

LIBRARY

At Moss Lane School, we are lucky enough to have an exciting, inspiring and well stocked library. The library is full of a variety of texts that are well organised which makes finding and selecting a book easy for our children. All classes make good use of the library throughout the year. They spend time enjoying books, stocking up their class texts and researching  for their current learning.

The aim of the library is to encourage children to explore a range texts with their friends and families, become independent readers and learners. 

We ensure our library is stocked with books to engage all readers.  There is an abundance of traditional tales, children's classics, modern texts, non-fiction books and poetry. Our library is resourced with texts that encourage children to discover the world around them and embrace the diversity, variety of cultures and experiences the world has to offer. 

Children explore books that are written by renowned authors, are rich in language and present the challenges and delights of the world they are growing up in.

It is our responsibility to support children in developing an understanding of their self, their emotions and ways to effectively communicate their thoughts and feelings so children are regularly invited to explore books that encourage children to be themselves, be proud of who they are.

Keeping aware of newly published text means that we enjoy regularly adding texts to our shelves. 

Here is a selection of these texts:

Key Stage 1 LGBTQ+ PackPie Corbett's Reading Spine: Reception Pack B x 6

 

T. 01483 417214 E. info@moss-lane.surrey.sch.uk