Phonics Support
At Over Hall, we use Floppy's Phonics in Key Stage 1.
All children in Reception and Year One have a daily phonics lesson in school. We follow the Oxford Reading Tree scheme called Floppy's Phonics through which children are taught about letters and the sounds that they make using a variety of approaches. These sounds are taught in a specific order to equip children with the knowledge and skills they need to decode words and read them accurately. The content of the phonic scheme is split into stages of which there are five across Key Stage One. Children in Year Two continue with a daily phonics lesson until they are secure in level 5, where they then begin spelling lessons following the No Nonsense Spelling scheme of work. This supports children to continue to improve their spelling accuracy by consolidating and using their phonics knowledge.
Generally, levels one to three (inclusive) are taught throughout Nursery/Reception. Level four and five are taught throughout Year One. Pupils in Year Two will consolidate level five (where appropriate) alongside their Year Two reading and spelling objectives. Childen in Reception and Year One will also complete guided reading sessions following our 'Phonics Diet'. Children in Year Two will complete shared reading sessions following Literacy Counts, Steps to Read, scheme of work. During Summer term, children in Year One will begin Steps to Read sessions to further develop their reading skills and support their transition into Year Two.
The scheme requires children to be supported in their learning at home through the use of phonetically decodable reading books and activity sheets linking to the daily phonics focus sound. Each time your child has completed the activity sheet for the focus sound, they will come home with a copy of it. This includes the focus sound they have been learning that day and the words they have looked, containing the focus sound. 10 minutes a day looking at this with your child will support their ability to learn this sound.
Your child will also come home with two reading books a week. One book will be carefully matched to your child's phonics ability (ensuring they can read with 95%+ accuracy) and the other book will be a reading for pleasure book (this may contain words which your child can't yet read indepedently); the aim is for this book to be read and enjoyed with your child to promote a love of reading. The expectation is that children reread their phonics book as many times as possible to develop fluency in their reading and improve their comprehension skills.
We appreciate the continued support from home so that we can work in partnership to ensure your child achieves their full reading potential.
Floppy Phonics Online
You can access the Floppy’s Phonics sound books online through the Oxford Owl website. Login (oxfordowl.co.uk) Your child has their class login for this on their weekly spelling homework sheet and it is also shared weekly on your child's class dojo. If you would like this to be reshared with you, please speak to your child's class teacher or Mrs Whitehead. Once you have logged in, please access books via the 'Extra Practice Zone' where you can choose a book with the specific sounds you would like to focus on. This will support the progress of your child's reading by enabling them to revisit sounds they are finding more difficult to recall.
Below you will find videos and links which will provide guidance for supporting your child at home with their phonics.