Phonics & Early Reading
Phonics
At Osborne, we use a systematic synthetic phonics and early reading scheme called ‘Read Write Inc’. It is a method of learning letter sounds and blending them together to read and write words.
As part of this scheme, children in Reception begin with a daily 20 minute whole class phonics sessions, where they participate in learning to read, pronounce and write letter sounds following the RWI ‘Making a Strong Start’. This is followed by a Literacy lesson which consolidates only the sounds learned so far.
Pupils then progress on to daily lessons of sixty minutes where they take part in learning to read, spelling and writing activities. As pupils progress through the coloured bands, comprehension activities are introduced. Sixty minute sessions compromise of : Speed Sounds Lesson, Word Time Lesson, Storybook Lesson and Get Writing Lesson.
Click this link to the RWI Parent Page
Speed Sounds Lesson
Speed sound lessons teach a sound. Children will learn to say, read and write the sound. They also learn to ‘Fred Talk’ words containing the sound. ‘Fred Talk’ assists children in sounding out the word and blending the sounds together to say the whole word.
Parent Video – How to say the sounds
Word Time Lesson
Word time lessons teach children to blend sounds to say the whole word. Children also learn how to spell words using ‘Fred Fingers’.
Parent Video – How to blend sounds
Story Book Lesson
In the Storybook Lesson, pupils apply their phonic skills to books. They begin with sound blend books and then progress onto reading sentences in Red Ditty level. Once they are confident decoding these sentences, they move onto reading short books in Red Ditty.
As they become more proficient, they move onto longer books with more complex sounds.
During these lessons, pupils develop their fluency and comprehension skills.
Early Reading
Talk Through Stories
In Reception, pupils have a daily ‘Talk Through Stories’ session. This is a two week sequence of reading teaching based around exciting texts designed to encourage pupils to develop their reading talk.
The first week is focused on vocabulary exploration and in the second week pupils apply the new learned vocabulary to their own spoken word and demonstrate their understanding of the text through role-play and speaking and listening activities.
Drawing Club
Based around the mix of picture books, tales and animations, Drawing Club involves whole class reading of a text each day followed by time with children exploring their ideas and encouraging them to be creative.
Draw Club sessions are daily for Reception and they aim to develop pupils’ vocabulary, imagination and engagement with books.
