The Teaching of Reading and Phonics
The teaching of reading and phonics is a key part of the curriculum at St Helen's. We follow the Little Wandle Scheme for phonics in Reception and Year 1. Children in Year 2 upwards follow Little Wandle's Rapid Catch Up Scheme, if required.
Children in Reception and Year 1 have 5 phonics lesson per week. In addition, the children read the same book three times in a week. The first time we work on decoding (sounding out) the words, the second time we work on prosody which is reading with expression – making the book sound more interesting – and the third time we look at comprehension. We read the books three times at school because we want to develop the fluency. The more they see words the more they begin to read them automatically without having to sound them out. Children in Reception and Key Stage 1 have three books to bring home - their reading book, a family sharing book and a book from the school library.
As children progress through the school, reading becomes whole class reading focusing on comprehension and understanding, whilst continuing to develop fluency.
If you require any further information regarding the teaching of phonics, please contact the Reading Lead - Claire.thompson@sthelens.herts.sch.uk
The Reading for pleasure documents offer ideas for children regarding which genre of reading they like:
