Reading at Callis Grange School

Our approach to teaching Reading not only supports the development of phonics and reading skills but also nurtures a passion for reading for enjoyment and enjoying a variety of texts. Children are exposed to a wide range of quality texts and opportunities to explore language, enrich vocabulary and broaden experiences. 

All children are encouraged to read widely across both fiction and non-fiction to develop their knowledge of themselves and the world in which they live, to establish an appreciation and love of reading, and to gain knowledge across the curriculum. Reading widely and often increases pupils’ vocabulary because they encounter words they would rarely hear or use in everyday speech. Reading also feeds pupils’ imagination and opens up a treasure-house of wonder and joy for curious young minds (National Curriculum 2014). 

Environments that encourage a reading for pleasure culture is promoted throughout the school and prescribed reading spaces such as the library and book areas which are well stocked and up to date with books that are class appropriate (in age, difficulty, interests or topics etc).  Children are given ample opportunity to spend time in these spaces, allowing them to choose and discuss the books that they are selecting and reading. 

Home Reading records are given to each child to record what they have read each night and an adult signature should be recorded in the diary every time as evidence the child has read to an adult. 

We ensure we pay close attention to the following aspects of reading: 

• Word recognition 

• Fluency 

• Using strategies when reading texts 

• Language, reading comprehension and enjoyment 

To find out more about Reading in the Primary English curriculum click the link below 

Phonics - Little Wandle          

Phonics skills are taught using the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised scheme. Phonics is taught in 5 progressive phases across Reception and Year 1. Year 2 children will apply their phonic knowledge by focusing on GPS (Grammar, Punctuation & Spelling). Children in Year 2 who are not secure in reading words that include Phase 5 phonemes, will continue to have a daily phonics session. 

Please click on the link below to access the Little Wandle website: 

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

We aim that children will read 1:1 with an adult at least twice a week as well as in groups during reading practice We also encourage children to read at home regularly with an adult to support their learning. Children take home a high quality text book which are used to teach skills such as fluency, intonation, comprehension and enjoyment. Children also have access to a phonic e-book which is matched closely to their phonic level and is used to support children’s letter (grapheme) recognition, sound (phoneme) recognition and segmenting and blending practise. This e book matches the phonic book the children will read in school with their phonic teacher. Each class will have access to the school library . 

Useful links to websites that support reading: 

Oxford Owl - https://home.oxfordowl.co.uk/ 
Little Wandle Parent Support - https://www.littlewandlelettersandsounds.org.uk/resources/for-parents/ 

(useful videos to support the pronunciation of sounds and the teaching of blending can be found on the parent support page) 

As part of our teaching of phonics, we teach children how to say the sounds. The smallest units of spoken sound in a language are called phonemes. Click here to hear the articulation of each phoneme.

Writing at Callis Grange

Handwriting
Handwriting is taught from Year R onwards in the cursive style. Children begin by learning how to form individual lower case letters cursively. Additional guidance for parents on the cursive style and correct formation used is freely available from the school. In Years 1 and 2 there is a weekly formal handwriting lesson and we use specific handwriting books for this purpose. Children also practise letter formation using individual whiteboards and pens. Children learn how to link letters together using the correct joins and then this cursive style is encouraged in all the writing tasks that they do. Children are also taught how to form capital letters and numerals correctly in Handwriting lessons.

Writing
Young children begin their Writing journey by mark-making. As individual letters are introduced and taught, this emergent mark-marking begins to become more structured and identifiable letters shapes are used. Children are taught to blend individual letters together to form words. This is called encoding and begins with very simple two and three letter words.

Children in Years 1 and 2 also have a weekly Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar (SPaG) lesson. Further information regarding SPaG is contained within our useful leaflet entitled “Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar: A Guide for Parents” which is freely available from the school.

Children are encouraged to ‘have a go’ and to ‘sound out’ words, using the skills taught in the daily Little Wandle phonics lessons, daily Spelling Shed (for Year 2) and weekly SPaG lesson. Children gradually build up a bank of High Frequency Words which they can spell and they use their knowledge and understanding of Phonics and of SPaG to begin to write simple sentences. By Year 2, children will have the stamina to be able to write at greater length, using paragraphs for example, to organise their writing. Children also use tablet computers to carry out word processing activities using a lower case keyboard. Across the school, children are taught to write in a range of genres and styles which include fiction (for example stories and poems) and non-fiction (for example lists, instructions, questions, descriptions, explanations and recounts). Throughout the school year, children at Callis also have the opportunity to enjoy a range of exciting activities such as Book Week and at our Forest School, which are used as a stimulus for Writing.

Spelling
Spelling is a component part of the daily Little Wandle Phonics lesson which occurs across Reception and Year One.  Children in Year Two are then taught spelling rules using daily Spelling Shed lessons. Further information regarding Phonics is contained within our useful leaflet entitled “Phonics: A Guide for Parents” which is freely available from the school and on our website. In addition, children in Years 1 and 2 have a daily Spelling Spot session, in which high frequency words are taught and practised. Children may practise their spelling on individual whiteboards or in their Busy Book (note book). There is a Spelling Spot test each Friday and we use a specific Spelling Spot book for this. These weekly spellings are also reinforced (retrospectively) as part of the weekly Home Activities sent home with each child.

Please see our useful guide  'Help Your Child With Spelling' below.