At The Grove, we teach children to read and Spell using Sounds-Write.
● Sounds-Write is a linguistic phonics approach (speech to print) and a systematic synthetic phonics programme validated by the Department for Education in England.
● It is a highly structured, cumulative, multi-sensory approach to teaching reading and spelling across the whole school (Reception to KS2).
● Students are taught the Initial Code in Reception and cover the Extended Code and how to read Polysyllabic Words during Years 1 and 2. They consolidate this knowledge with a focus on spelling during the rest of KS2.
● Phonics is taught for 30 minutes daily in KS1 and also taught regularly in KS2.
Sounds-Write teaches children:
- Letters are symbols (spellings) that represent sounds.
- Each sound may be represented (spelled) by a 1, 2, 3 or 4-letter spelling.
- The same sound can be spelled in more than one way (goat, slow, note, toe, over).
- Many spellings represent more than one sound (ea in bead and bread).
The following skills are taught throughout the Sounds-Write program:
- Blending – the ability to push sounds together to build words (c-a-t = cat)
- Segmenting – the ability to pull apart the individual sounds in words (pig = p-i-g)
- Phoneme manipulation – the ability to insert sounds into words and delete sounds out of words. This skill is necessary to test out alternatives for spellings that represent more than one sound.
It is important to note that speed and accuracy need to be achieved for all three of the above skills in order for them to become automatic.
How Can Parents Support?
- Use letter sounds rather than letter names with their children at home. This will avoid confusion for the children and will reinforce the learning being done at school.
- Avoid adding an extra vowel when pronouncing letter sounds eg ‘buh’ ‘duh’
- When listening to your child read encourage them to have-a-go at unfamiliar words by encouraging them to: “Say the sounds and read the word”.
- Visit the Sounds-Write website for further information, support and resources: http://www.sounds-write.co.uk/
- Attend the Parent Workshop when your child starts in Reception (this usually takes place in September).
- There is an online course that parents can complete that is aimed specifically at parents and carers and will further your understanding of the Sounds-Write program and teaching. You can find the course by going to: https://www.udemy.com/help-your-child-to-read-and-write/
- If you have any questions regarding phonics or phonic teaching please contact your child’s class teacher or Miss Haines- our English Curriculum Leader.