Phonics
Phonics
Our Vision and Aims for Phonics
Phonics is an essential ingredient in learning to read. At Dingle Community Primary we prioritise the teaching of reading systematically early on. Children in Foundation Stage and Key Stage One take part in phonics sessions every day from entry into Reception. Phonics is taught using the Sounds-Write programme, a validated systematic phonics programme which breaks the teaching of phonics and early reading into two sections: the Initial Code and the Extended Code.
Phonics is a method of teaching children to read and write through demonstrating the relationship between the sounds of the spoken language (phonemes) and the letters or groups of letters (graphemes) or syllables of written language.
Children in Reception start learning the Initial Code, the majority of which involves teaching children to read simple word structures and sounds where one letter represents one sound. Children are taught to read sounds in the contexts of words right from the start, rather than as individual letters. Teaching children to blend the sounds represented by letters together helps them decode unfamiliar or unknown words by sounding them out. For example, when a child is taught the sounds for the letters t, p, a and s, they can start to build up the words tap, taps, pat, pats and sat.
Reading Books
In Early Years and Key Stage 1, Sounds Write reading books are used to support the phonics programme in school.
Dandelion Launcher and Dandelion Readers follow the Sounds Write sequence of units. These will be sent home every week for the children to practice. The sounds in the books align with the phonemes they have learnt in school that week.
Phonics will be taught as a whole class for most children with some smaller focus groups. Any children having difficulty will be supported by an adult during afternoon intervention sessions.
For more information about the Sounds Write programme, please click below.