September 2014
Miss Connell
• To provide useful information to support
your child at home with areas of English.
• Inform you about the New English
Curriculum
• New Curriculum updates
• Phonics and Spelling
• Reading strategies
• Writing and VCOP
• Handwriting
• Drama/Speaking and listening
• Opportunities for questions
The new English Curriculum has been introduced at the school and its
main focus is to promote high standards and equipping the children with
strong command of written and spoken language. There is also a big
focus on reading for enjoyment.
How will we achieve all of the objectives?
All year groups will be teaching English through their Topic lessons.
This makes lessons more enjoyable, interactive and diverse.
For example Year 2’s topic is Transport. The children will be writing a
diary entry as if they are a child on the Titanic expressing their
thoughts and opinions about what they have experienced. They will be
taught all the language and the features of the text type before they
begin writing. This may include drama, art, music etc.
Expectations in Year 1 and 2
In Year 1 children will be required to:
-recite poetry by heart
-learn suffixes and prefixes
-sound and blend unfamiliar printed words quickly
-hear, share and discuss a wide range of high-quality
books to develop a love of reading and broaden their
vocabulary.
In Year 2 children will be required to:
-retell stories confidently
-learn subordinating and co-ordinating conjunctions
Year 1
Writing
Reading
-
-
Narrative
Traditional and Fairy Tales
Labels, lists and captions
Instructions
Recounts
Information texts
Poetry
-
-
-
Hear, share and discuss a range
of books
Apply phonics knowledge and
skills
Read words with suffixes
Read and answer questions
about stories
Retell stories they have read
Appreciate rhymes and poems
and learn some by heart
Speaking and Listening
-
Role-play
Drama
- Discussions
- Retelling stories
Year 2
Writing
-
Reading
-
Narrative
Real events
Poetry
Write for different purposes e.g.
instructions, information, reports -
Plays
Classic and contemporary poetry
Story and poetry langauge
Inference – read and answer
questions about stories, non
fiction and poetry
Non-fiction
Sequence and re-tell
Continue applying phonics
knowledge
Speaking and Listening
-
Role-play
Drama
- Discussions
- Retelling stories
• Phonics is the back-to-basics method of reading
that teaches children to recognise the different
sounds represented by letters.
• Before children are introduced to books, they are
taught individual sounds to construct words. For
example, when taught the sounds for the letters t,
p, a and s, the children can build up the words "tap",
"pat", "pats", "taps" and "sat".
2 aspects to reading…
Word recognition
and
Language comprehension
That’s where phonics comes in…
- 44 sounds
- We teach children to read and write them.
- Unfortunately, they can be spelt in different ways.
How can you help your child learn their
sounds at home?
• Flashcards
• Let your child test you!
• Pairs/Snap
• Matching sounds to words
• Phonics Bug
More activities in booklets provided
Strategies you can use
• Oral Blending
Oral blending exercises help children hear how sounds are put together to make
words, so that they can begin sounding out independently as they read
• Blending for reading
Blending is putting together individual sounds to produce a word.
For example, the individual sounds /m/ - /a/ - /p/
are blended together to produce the word map.
.
How to use phonics to support
spelling at home
Play word building games….
• Magnetic letters on the fridge
• Fish and spell games at bath time
• Spelling in sand, shaving foam, paint etc.
• Use websites like BBC
Phonics Screen Check
• The phonics screening check is a quick and easy check
of your child’s phonetic knowledge. It helps the Year
1 teachers to confirm whether your child has made
the expected progress.
• The check will take place during the week commencing
Monday 15th June 2015.
• Children in Year 2 that did not meet the expected
standard in Year 1 will need to be retested during the
same week.
•
* Let’s look at examples Phonics Screen Checks
Our school reading programme
that joins books with eBooks to
support our phonics scheme of
Letters and Sounds
What is Bug Club?
• A reading programme that the school uses to
help teach reading through phonics
• Carefully graded reading books and eBooks
• Children can take home the books as well as
accessing eBooks via a personalised website
Why are we using eBooks?
• Children can enjoy reading books onscreen and
completing fun quiz questions found in the
eBooks.
• The quiz questions will help the children practise
their reading skills.
• The eBooks are also audio-books, so children can
enjoy hearing an expressive reading of the book.
•www.spelling.hemscott.net Really useful website with lots
of advice about various spelling strategies.
•Magnetic letters
Discuss the book!
•Who, what, where, when questions
•Why do you think…?
•What would you do if….?
•How do you know…?
• What word would you like to steal?
Mr Smith saw red. “Sit down and be quiet!”
he hissed, through clenched teeth.
• What else tells us how Mr Smith is feeling in
this extract?
• “Understanding all the words” is not the
same as “reading the text”.
• Fluency
Is the ability to read a text accurately and quickly.
• Expression
To express the text well, to read it with feeling that
matches what it means, is one of the best ways to
understand it. Expression is such a powerful
comprehension strategy because it instantly increases
your access to meaning as you read.
• On the lines (finger)- find the answer in the text. E.g
How old is Cinderella.
• Between the lines (head)- find the answer in the text
but using your head. E.g Why has Cinderella got her
back to the ugly sister?
• Beyond the lines (finger/head)- higher order skill,
making meaning and evaluating the text. E.g What
are the similarities/differences between Cinderella
and The Fairy Godmother?
•Vocabulary
•Connectives
•Openers
•Punctuation
•Vocabulary
In looking at and using VOCABULARY, the children are
encouraged to use ‘WOW’ words or ‘AMBITIOUS’ words.
For example –The alien sat down.
The children would be urged to use a more vibrant word in
the sentence perhaps a word that would give the reader
more understanding about the character or situation.
The green alien sat down.
Or
The angry alien sat down.
• Connectives
These are words that the children will be encouraged to use
to join sentences. Sometimes children will be asked to
identify the connectives used in a piece of text.
Initially the connective the children will use is - and.
This is often followed by – but, so, then, because and when.
Eventually the higher order connectives – in addition to ,
despite, contrary to- will be introduced in KS2.
•Openers
Some connectives can also be used as sentence openers.
Sometimes children will be asked to identify sentence
openers in a piece of text.
When they start writing, children tend to start sentences
with I, My, or The.
They are then encouraged to use First, Then, Next, Last……..
• Punctuation
The teaching of punctuation is based on the
‘Punctuation Pyramid.’
Children start by using full stops, then question marks
followed by commas and an exclamation mark.
Eventually in KS2 they should use the higher order
punctuation such as ( ) - ; : etc.
We teach cursive as it…
•Encourages a natural flow of writing;
•Demands correct letter formation;
•Encourages perception of whole words;
•Involves no re-learning as with printing then joining
later.
•Aids spelling as the joining helps them learn the
spelling pattern.
•
• Rockin' Round Letters:
a d g q c
• Climb 'n' Slide Letters:
i u w t
• Loopy Letters:
e l h k b f j
• Lumpy Letters:
n m v x
• Mix 'n' Match:
p r s o y z
• Practise makes perfect!
• http://www.activityvillage.co.uk/printabl
e_lined_paper.htm provide handwriting
paper that you can download and print
off.
• Journal writing
• Write letters in shaving cream or bath pens,
focusing on forming letters correctly and consistently
to help develop a feel for each letter and improve
letter formation.
• Make a weekly shopping list. Start by looking around
the kitchen and writing down the names of common
items you buy (milk, eggs, bread etc.) It can become
the child’s responsibility to do an inventory and keep a
shopping list (in cursive of course.)
• Plan an outing. Ask your child to think of all the
things you may need. You can help your child write
them out one time and then ask them to copy it out as
neatly as they can. They can circle the letters that
they feel are their very best handwriting.
KS1 SATs for Year 2 will happen May 2015.
Children will complete the following English tests:
Level 2 Reading Paper
Writing Task – Teacher Assessed (evidence throughout the year)
Some children will complete the Level 3 Reading Paper – these children
must be a secure Level 2a to do these tests.
Children do practise tests throughout the year