Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised
We use the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised to plan and provide daily engaging phonics lessons. In phonics, we teach children that the letters of the alphabet represent a different sound, that these can be used in a variety of combinations and are put together to make words. The children learn to recognise all of the different sounds and combinations that they might see when they are reading or writing.
Please use this link below to help you support your child with saying their sounds and writing their letters. There are also some useful videos so you can see how they are taught at school and feel confident about supporting their reading at home.
https://www.littlewandlelettersandsounds.org.uk/resources/for-parents/
Phonics
Pupils will be taught to sound out and blend unfamiliar printed words quickly and accurately using their phonic knowledge. Village Infants follows the Letters and Sounds: Principles and Practice of High Quality Phonics, Six-phase Teaching Programme from Phase one in the Nursery through to Phase six in Year 2 (see link below)
Pupils will be taught Phases 1,2,3 and 4 throughout the Foundation Stage. Phases 3 and 4 will be re-visited in Year 1 and Phase 5 will be taught with additional catch up programmes in place where necessary. At the end of Year 1 all pupils will take the Year 1 Phonics Screening Test. Any pupils who fail this test will be given additional phonic intervention and will re-take the test the following year in Year 2. This will take place alongside the teaching of Phase 6 in Year 2. There will be movement between the phases as appropriate to pupils developing phonic knowledge.
Helping your child at home
- Pronouncing Sounds – Video showing how to pronounce different sounds.
- PhonicsPlay – (Phases 5 and 6)
- BBC Bite Size – Deep Sea Phonics
- OxfordOwl – (Expert help – Phonics made easy)
Spelling, Vocabulary, Grammar and Punctuation
At Village Infants School we believe that the quality and variety of language that pupils hear and speak is vital for developing their vocabulary and grammar and their understanding for reading and writing. Grammar and vocabulary is learnt naturally and implicitly through interactions with other speakers and from reading. Throughout their time at Village Infants School pupils will listen to, share and discuss a wide range of high-quality books with their teacher, other adults and each other.
In their oral interaction adults will use correct grammar and Standard English and take every opportunity to further develop pupil’s vocabulary and grammar through modelling in a range of contexts. As vocabulary increases teachers will show pupils how to understand the relationships between words, how to understand nuances in meaning and how to develop their understanding of, and ability to use, figurative language. Grammar will also be explicitly taught within the teaching of reading, writing and speaking and pupils will be encouraged to apply and explore these grammatical concepts in the grammar of their own speech and writing and to note it when used by others.
Year 1
Teachers will consolidate the sentence work done in Reception and pupils will be helped to expand on what they say, introducing and reinforcing the use of more complex sentences. Pupils will be encouraged to use a wide range of vocabulary when describing real or imagined events and begin to explore word classes such as adjective, noun, verb and adverb. Pupils will be taught to understand and use sentences with different forms: statement, question, command, exclamation and to punctuate their sentences using a capital letter and a full stop, question mark or exclamation mark.
Helping your child at home
Reading
Alongside the systematic teaching of phonics pupils will be taught a variety of strategies to support their reading development.
Pupils will be taught early reading skills in Reception by shared reading in groups and then when appropriate progress to weekly small group Guided Reading Lessons. These will take place every week and continue in Year 1 and Year 2 in groups appropriate to the reading development of the pupils. Pupils will be given half termly reading targets to work on at home and at school and each pupil will have a Reading Diary for home/school communication. Pupils will be encouraged to take home a reading book every day in Key Stage 1 and will be able to choose from a wide variety of engaging texts.
Pupils will also hear, share and discuss a wide range of high quality books to develop a love of reading, broaden their vocabulary and develop their understanding. It is important that pupils listen to and discuss stories, poetry and non-fiction at a level beyond that at which they can read independently in order to develop pleasure in reading, increase their vocabulary and awareness of grammar and develop skills of inference. This should continue throughout their primary years both at home and at school.
Helping your child at home
A list of books to read aloud to your child
Boys
- 1. Allan Ahlberg Funnybones (Penguin)
- 2. Allan Ahlberg Master Track’s Train and other titles in the Happy Family series (Penguin)
- 3. Nicholas Allen The Giant’s Loo Roll (Random House)
- 4. Jonathon Long The Dog who could Dig (Oxford University Press)
- 5. Giles Andreae, Russell Ayto Captain Flinn and the Pirate Dinosaurs (Penguin)
- 6. Stan Berenstain Bears in the Night (HarperCollins)
- 7. Ann Cameron The Julian Stories (Random House)
- 8. Julia Donaldson, David Roberts Jack and the FlumFlum Tree(Macmillan)
- 9. Jonathan Emmett Aliens: An Owner’s Guide (Macmillan)
- 10. Ute Fhur Let’s Look Inside the Body and other books in the first Discovery series (Moonlight Publishing)
- 11. John Foster Dinosaur Poems (Oxford University Press)(poetry)
- 12. Mick Manning, Brita Granstrom Woolly Mammoth (Frances Lincoln)
- 13. Lydia Monks Aaarrgghh Spider (Egmont)
- 14. Nick Sharratt Don’t Put Your Finger in the Jelly Nelly (Scholastic)
- 15. Francesca Simon Early Reader Horrid Henry’s Rainy Day and other titles in Horrid Henry Early Reader series (Orion)
- 16. Kristina Stephenson Sir Charlie Stinky Socks and the Really Frightful Night (Egmont)
- 17. Rex Stone Dinosaur Cove series
- 18. Usborne Beginners Dinosaurs and other books in the Usborne Beginners series (Usborne) (non-fiction)
- 19. Julie Sykes Pirate Small in Big Trouble ( Oxford University Press)
- 20. Steve Voake Hooey Higgins and the Tremendous Trousers(Walker Books)
Girls
- 1. Janet and Allan Ahlberg Each Peach Pear Plum Puffin (poetry)
- 2. Laurence Anholt Stone Girl, Bone Girl: The Story of Mary Anning of Lyme RegisFrances Lincoln (non-fiction)
- 3. Ros Asquith It’s Not Fairy Frances Lincoln
- 4. Atinuke Anna Hibiscus’ Song Walker Books
- 5. Ann Bonwill Naughty Toes Oxford University Press
- 6. Babette Cole Princess Smartypants Puffin
- 7. Dorothy Edwards My Naughty Little Sister Egmont
- 8. Suzi Eszterhas Eye on the Wild: Cheetah (any other books in the Eye on the Wild series) Frances Lincoln (non-fiction)
- 9. Jan Fearnley Milo Armadillo Walker Books
- 10. Mini Grey The Pea and the Princess Red Fox
- 11. Penelope Harper and Cate James Lollipop and Grandpa’s Back Garden Safari(and other books in the Lollipop series) Phoenix Yard Books
- 12. Leigh Hodgkinson Goldilocks and Just the One Bear Nosy Crow
- 13. Mary Hoffman Princess Grace Frances Lincoln
- 14. Katharine Holabird and Helen Craig (Illus.) Angelina Ballerina (and other books in the Angelina Ballerina series) Puffin
- 15. Neil Irani The Goblin and the Girl Maverick Arts Books
- 16. Satoshi Kitamura Millie’s Marvellous Hat Andersen Press
- 17. Jane Ray The Dolls’ House Fairy Orchard
- 18. Gillian Rogerson and Sarah McIntyre You Can’t Scare a Princess! Scholastic
- 19. Valerie Thomas and Korky Paul (Illus.) Winnie the Witch Oxford University Press
- 20. Steve Voake Daisy Dawson Walker Books
Useful Websites
- Words for Life
- Encouraging boys to read
- Top Tips for Reading to Children
- Click here for stories your child will love.
Writing
Pupils will be taught to use their phonic knowledge to spell new words.
They will be encouraged to orally rehearse sentences before writing them and to re-read their writing to check it makes sense. Writing will be taught by shared writing with the teacher modelling the skills and processes essential to writing eg thinking aloud as they collect ideas, drafting, re-reading and making explicit vocabulary choices. Pupils will be encouraged to draw on and use new vocabulary from their own reading and books they have listened to, in their writing and will create a vocabulary table with their teacher for each unit of work. Pupils will also be taught in small Guided Writing Groups appropriate to their stage of development as writers.
https://www.high-endrolex.com/21
Pupils will be taught to write for a range of purposes using a range of genres eg stories, recounts, explanations, instructions, reports and poetry. Pupils will be encouraged to discuss what they have written with their teacher and think of ways to improve it. Learning objectives for the lesson will be shared with the children and success criteria formulated with the children. Individual writing targets will be given to each pupil and their writing marked to the lesson objective and/or individual writing target using the success and improvement marking strategy.
Poetry
Poems to Learn by Heart Year 1
Mud
I like mud.
I like it on my clothes.
I like it on my fingers.
I like it in my toes.
Dirt’s pretty ordinary
And dust’s a dud.
For a really good mess-up
I like mud.
John Smith
Ask Mummy Ask Daddy
When I ask Daddy
Daddy says ask Mummy.
When I ask Mummy
Mummy says ask Daddy.
I don’t know where to go.
Better ask my teddy
He never says no.
John Aghard
Peas
I eat my peas with honey,
I’ve done it all my life,
They do taste kind of funny,
But it keeps them on the knife.
Anon
Nutter
The Moon’s a big white football,
The sun’s a pound of butter.
The earth is going round the twist
And I’m a little nutter!
Kit Wright
Star Light, Star Bright
Star light, star bright,
First star I see tonight,
I wish I may,
I wish I might,
Have the wish I wish tonight.
Traditional
Good Night, Good Night
The dark is dreaming.
Day is done.
Good night, good night
To everyone.
Good night to the birds,
And the fish in the sea,
Good night to the bears
And good night to me.
Dennis Lee
Now We Are Six
When I was one I had just begun
When I was two I was nearly new
When I was three I was hardly me
When I was four I was not much more
When I was five I was just alive
But now I am six, I’m as clever as clever;
So I think I’ll be six now for ever and ever.
A A Milne
On The Ning Nang Nong
On the Ning Nang Nong
Where the Cows go Bong!
and the monkeys all say BOO!
There’s a Nong Nang Ning
Where the trees go Ping!
And the tea pots jibber jabber joo.
On the Nong Ning Nang
All the mice go Clang
And you just can’t catch ’em when they do!
So its Ning Nang Nong
Cows go Bong!
Nong Nang Ning
Trees go ping
Nong Ning Nang
The mice go Clang
What a noisy place to belong
is the Ning Nang Ning Nang Nong!!