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.
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
- PhonicsPlay – (Phases 5 and 6)
- BBC Bite Size – Deep Sea Phonics
- OxfordOwl – (Expert help – Phonics made easy)
Reception Phonics Meeting
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.
Foundation Stage – Vocabulary, Grammar and Punctuation
In the Foundation Stage pupils are encouraged to use and explore language through play. Teachers will use lots of statements and fewer questions and foster children’s enjoyment of spoken language by providing interesting and stimulating play activities. Teachers will encourage the correct use of language by telling repetitive stories. All practitioners will use correct grammar and model Standard English using key vocabulary in a range of contexts. Pupils will be encouraged to talk in sentences and to understand how to create a sentence from an idea. They will be encouraged to explore and understand the difference between letters and words and the spaces between words. This will be done by making human sentences and exploring questions such as:
What is a sentence? Why do we have full stops?
Reading
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
- Click here for stories your child will love.
- Top Tips for reading to Children
Writing
Poetry
Poems to Learn by Heart
The Pancake
Mix a pancake,
Stir a pancake,
Pop it in the pan.
Fry the pancake,
Toss the pancake,
Catch it if you can.
Christina Rossetti
If you should meet a crocodile
If you should meet a crocodile
Don’t take a stick and poke him;
Ignore the welcome in his smile,
Be careful not to stroke him.
For as he sleeps upon the Nile,
He thinner gets and thinner;
And whene’er you meet a crocodile
He’s ready for his dinner.
Christine Fletcher
The Tadpole
Underneath the water-weeds,
Small and black, I wriggle,
And life is most surprising!
Wiggle! waggle! wiggle!
There’s every now and then a most
Exciting change in me,
I wonder, wiggle! waggle!
What I shall turn out to be.
Elizabeth Gould
Traditional Nursery Rhymes
Hickory Dickory Dock Rhyme
Hickory dickory dock
The mouse ran up the clock
The clock struck one
The mouse ran down
Hickory dickory dock
The Grand old Duke of York
The Grand old Duke of York he had ten thousand men
He marched them up to the top of the hill
And he marched them down again.
When they were up, they were up
And when they were down, they were down
And when they were only halfway up
They were neither up nor down.
Jack and Jill poem and story
Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a pail of water
Jack fell down and broke his crown
And Jill came tumbling after.
Up got Jack, and home did trot
As fast as he could caper
He went to bed and bound his head
With vinegar and brown paper.
Little Miss Muffet
Little Miss Muffet sat on a tuffet
Eating her curds and whey,
Along came a spider,
Who sat down beside her
And frightened Miss Muffet away.
Sing a Song of Sixpence
Sing a song of sixpence a pocket full of rye,
Four and twenty blackbirds baked in a pie.
When the pie was opened the birds began to sing,
Oh wasn’t that a dainty dish to set before the king?
The king was in his counting house counting out his money,
The queen was in the parlour eating bread and honey
The maid was in the garden hanging out the clothes,
When down came a blackbird and pecked off her nose!
Humpty Dumpty
Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.
All the King’s horses, And all the King’s men
Couldn’t put Humpty together again!
Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
Twinkle twinkle little star,
How I wonder what you are.
Up above the world so high,
Like a diamond in the sky.