Reading, Spelling and Phonics
Reading
At Carlton Hill we believe, above all, that reading should be a pleasure. All children read, or are read to, every day.
As part of their reading journey, children need to hear high quality books read aloud. We have a 'Reading Spine' running through the school, to ensure that children hear teachers read inspiring stories in each year group.
To see our Reading Spine CLICK HERE.
Children are taught to read in various ways. For example, small group guided reading with carefully selected texts, individual reading in pairs or with an adult and through a rich literacy environment. Each class has its own book corner and library, and we have a well-stocked and popular school library.
Many of our books are banded according to level; these go from the earliest Reception levels to high-end Year 6 books. Children are carefully monitored as they progress through these levels and, in the earlier levels, children may borrow these books to take home.
Until children are able to confidently de-code at any level, they have a daily phonics lesson. These sessions use a scheme devised by us, based on Jolly Phonics and Letters and Sounds. The aim is to make this fast, fun and relevant.
We are also lucky to have a Reading Specialist teacher who oversees and runs reading interventions.
For more information, please read our phonics and reading policies.
If your child is in Reception or Year 1, please download the booklet below.
Spellings
If you would like to see the spelling patterns, rules and word lists taught in each year group, CLICK HERE.
Helping at home!:
All children have a SumDog account, and this website has excellent spelling games. See the class teacher for log in details. https://www.sumdog.com/
Phonics
You can help your child to work with their phonics by:
- Watching this film showing the articulation of each phoneme CLICK HERE
- Learning the agreed Carlton Hill actions to go with the sounds
- Helping your child to do the agreed action when they say a sound
- Making sure you say the sounds in the correct way – (don’t accidentally add an extra vowel sound on the end!)
- Helping your child to hear the sounds in words and blend them for reading
- Helping your child to hear the sounds in words and segment them for spelling
- Praising all attempts made at reading and writing and giving support in a positive way
- Reading lots of books and pointing out particular sounds as you come across them
- Being a sound detective, look out for particular sounds as you read / in the environment
- Finding as many opportunities to write the letters as possible (e.g – painting letters, drawing in chalk, drawing the letters in shaving foam)
- Following the guidelines to form the letters correctly, starting at the right place and making sure the pencil goes the right way around. Please only use capital letters in the appropriate places!
- Having a list of tricky words available for them to look at when they write at home
Audio books for listening online
National Curriculum - Reading
For more information on the reading skills taught at primary school, please CLICK HERE and have a look through the 'word reading' and 'comprehension' sections of the English programmes of study. This is part of the National Curriculum.
