Early Reading

1. Early Reading

2. Home Reading at Jeavons Wood Every day, your child will have the opportunity to bring home a book from school. These books will either be ‘Free Choice’, where the children select themselves from a range of library books or ‘Schemed Readers’, where children are given a book at their reading level.

3. Reading Records • Please read with your child every night and record the date, title and any comments. • Staff will record weekly to communicate with you about a particular skill we are working on or to praise the child. Sometimes it may be in the form of a stamp, sticker or written comment. • Please ensure this booklet is always kept in the book bag.

5. Re telling http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=micheal+Rosen+bear+hunt&docid=4612709733629974&mid=932F08CBDB4FD54F5D3D932F08CBDB4FD54F5D3D&view=detail&FORM=VIRE1

6. High frequency words

8. Expectations: 30 – 50 months Enjoys rhyming and rhythmic activities. Shows awareness of rhyme and alliteration. Recognises rhythm in spoken words. Listens to and joins in with stories and poems, one-to-one and also in small groups. Joins in with repeated refrains and anticipates key events and phrases in rhymes and stories. Beginning to be aware of the way stories are structured. Suggests how the story might end. Listens to stories with increasing attention and recall. Describes main story settings, events and principal characters. Shows interest in illustrations and print in books and print in the environment. Recognises familiar words and signs such as own name and advertising logos. Looks at books independently. Handles books carefully. Knows information can be relayed in the form of print. Holds books the correct way up and turns pages. Knows that print carries meaning and, in English, is read from left to right and top to bottom. 40 – 60+ months Continues a rhyming string. Hears and says the initial sound in words. Can segment the sounds in simple words and blend them together and knows which letters represent some of them. Links sounds to letters, naming and sounding the letters of the alphabet. Begins to read words and simple sentences. Uses vocabulary and forms of speech that are increasingly influenced by their experiences of books. Enjoys an increasing range of books. Knows that information can be retrieved from books and computers. ELG 1. Children read and understand simple sentences. 2. They use phonic knowledge to decode regular words and read them aloud accurately. 3. They also read some common irregular words. 4. They demonstrate understanding when talking with others about what they have read.

9. Early Writing

10. Becoming a writer Before you can write you need to be a talker and a thinker. Children don’t write for the sake of writing there needs to be a purpose. In EYFS settings most of the writing often goes on in role play area where children are writing in role. This initial mark making is vital as children begin to communicate meaning through shapes and squiggles. Often they can tell you what it says and ascribe meaning to marks. Sometimes there may be strings of letters which have particular significance to them. Children in their early years learn best through play and imitation.

11. Ideas to encourage your child to write for a purpose: • Shopping lists • Thank you cards • Invitations • Christmas cards • Writing their own comment in their reading diary • Writing a diary when on holiday to share with the class

12. Activity: • Curly caterpillars • Zigzag monsters • Long ladders • One armed robots

13. Letter Formation We teach letter formation using the four ‘shape’ families: long ladder letters: l, i, j, t, u, y one-armedrobot letters: r, b, h, k, m, n, p curly caterpillar letters: c, o, a, d, g, q, f, s, e zigzag letters: z, v, w, x, Referring to these ‘shape’ families helps children to remember the direction in which letters are formed. Whilst teaching and supporting the children to form their letters we will consistently use the words: up, down, around and flick. Regularly using this vocabulary also helps trigger memory for letter formation. • ..\..\letters and sounds\Letter and Sounds training activites\Letter_formation_sassoon (2).ppt

14. How You Can Support the Teaching of Handwriting at Home Encourage your child to hold their pen/pencil correctly; thumb and forefinger gripping the pencil and middle finger supporting. Take some time to check that you really do know and understand how we are teaching your child to form letters at school. Demonstrating an alternative formation really isn’t helpful at this stage! Apart from the capital letter at the beginning of your child’s name, teach them only lower case letters.

15. Make handwriting fun! • Air writing (imaginary letters or words in the air) • Writing on a partner’s back (partner feels for the correct pattern in letters or words) • Modelling with malleable materials like playdough and clay • Drawing in sand and sand and water play in general, including sieving, pouring and picking up toys using tools e.g. fishing rods and cranes • Sewing and weaving • Chopping and peeling when cooking • Develop the pincer movement by using tweezers to pick up sequins, beads and feathers, sprinkling glitter, sand and salt • Scribbling and drawing with chalk, dry wipe pens, felt tip pens and paints on small, large boards and easels and on small and large paper • Playing with tactile and magnetic letters • Tracing letters/words written on paper • Copying letters/words written on paper

16. Useful resources to have at home • Newspaper • Corn flour • Mark making tools: pens, pencils, chalks, paint brushes. • Tweezers • Beads or pasta • Sand/ glitter • Jelly • Baby lotion • Regular trips to the play park

17. Useful websites: • www.bbc.co.uk/schools/parents • http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/wordsandpictures/index.shtml • http://www.familylearning.org.uk/phonics_games.html • http://www.ictgames.com/phonic_fighter4.html • http://www.phonicsplay.co.uk/ • http://www.starfall.com/

18. Expectations: 30-50 40-60 ELG

21. Your task! • Grab some post its • Find your child • Share an activity Write an observation Please remember Post its need Your child’s name and the date. Please initial it at the bottom to show who carried out the observation.