Phonics at Measham​

"Reading is to the mind, what exercise is to the body." Sir Richard Steele
​

We use the Sounds-Write scheme as our approach to phonics. Sounds-Write is a quality first phonics programme acknowledged by the DfE as meeting all of its criteria for an effective phonics teaching programme. It is an exciting and highly successful approach to the teaching of reading, spelling and writing.

Sounds-Write is effective in teaching pupils to read, spell and write because it starts from what all children know from a very early age – the sounds of the English language. From there, children are taught in small steps how each of the 44 sounds in the English language can be spelt. Children begin by learning simple alphabet code(EYFS) and then progress through to more complex coding(Years 1 and 2)

All staff who teach the program have been certified by Sounds-Write. The children are taught in classes or small groups to ensure targeted delivery and maximum impact.

The programme teaches the following concepts:

• that letters are spellings of sounds: visual language is a representation of spoken language
• that a spelling can contain one, two, three, or four letters - examples are: s a t, f i sh, n igh t and w eigh t
• that there is more than one way of spelling most sounds: the sound 'ae', spelt as in 'name', can be represented as in 'table', in 'rain', in 'eight', in 'play', and so on
• that many spellings can represent more than one sound: can be the sound 'e' in 'head', 'a-e' in 'break', or 'ee' in 'seat'

Reading and spelling also require expertise in the skills necessary to make use of the alphabet code and pupils need to be able to:

• segment, or separate sounds in words
• blend, or push sounds together to form words
• manipulate sounds: take sounds out and put sounds into words

Sounds-Write provides opportunities for practising these skills on an everyday basis until pupils achieve the automaticity required for fluent reading and spelling.

​Find out more by watching the following video: https://www.sounds-write.co.uk/page-96-video.aspx
​

Our Wonderful Library

Phonics Parent Workshop

Miss Moore has put together this presentation for parents, to explain how we teach Phonics at Measham CE.

Watch a phonics session! 

Miss Moore demonstrates a simple phonics lesson. 

Reading at Measham

"You can find magic wherever you look. Sit back and relax, all you need is a book" Dr Seuss
​

Children read decodable reading books from Sounds-Write and Dandelion Readers. These books are fully decodable texts that build on the knowledge or ‘code’ that is being taught during Sounds-Write phonics lessons.

The books are carefully graded with a step-by-step introduction to new sounds and spellings and provide children with opportunities to practice and consolidate their reading skills of blending and segmenting throughout the text as well as the opportunity to practice reading fluency.
 
We also believe that children need exposure to high quality, rich texts to develop a love of reading and this is something that we want to promote at Measham CE. Children also have access to class libraries which are made up of collections of different books, for example:

• Story books
• Picture books
• Favourite books
• Traditional tales
• Topic related books
• ‘Book Banded’ books

 
These books have been carefully chosen so that children will enjoy sharing them and gain pleasure from reading them. They will also support the children’s development of personal book preferences meaning they are more likely to be motivated to read, read widely and develop lifelong reading habits.
​
We also teach a wide range of nursery rhymes and songs and read good books to and with the children. This helps to increase the number of words they know– their vocabulary – and helps them talk confidently about books. ​

Reading at Measham CE Primary

Bedtime reading event