Canon Johnson C of E Primary School

Teacher -Reception; Mrs K Dickinson Nursery; Miss E Walapu 

Supported by-  Mrs N Smeaton and Miss J Clayton. 

Class email address-  reception@canonjohnson.co.uk

Spring 2 newsletter - What are we doing this term?

Here’s some pictures of our classroom.

Long Term Overview

Family Groups

In Early Years we have four Family Groups 

Reading

What does it mean to be a reader?

A reader is someone who loves to read. Being a reader means that you understand not just words but whole sentences. It means that you can comprehend everything you are reading.

In Early Years at Canon Johnson, we aim to foster a love of reading and for all of our children to become good readers!

Children learn to read in different ways and at different ages. The first part of a child’s journey towards being a successful reader starts when they are a baby, listening to stories and rhymes. This encourages a love of language and stories and develops the child’s vocabulary and understanding of language as they start to become familiar with word meaning and what words look like.

Even though many children begin their Early Years journey without reading words, most children are able to ‘read’. They can recognise familiar signs they see daily and begin to internalise the shapes these letters make. Discussing and reading signs you see with your child will support them in the recognition of those letters later in their reading journey.

How we teach reading at Canon Johnson

In our Early Years, the children’s education in reading begins with the development of speaking and listening skills, which lay the foundations for the further teaching of phonics. The emphasis is for our children to be attuned to the sounds around them and ready to begin blending and segmenting words. These initial skills are taught through the whole class sharing of texts, followed by book talk/discussions, singing songs and nursery rhymes, sharing news and personal experiences.

As a school we use Read, Write Inc to teach phonics and writing, which is a complete literacy programme that helps all children to learn to read fluently and accurately at speed, so that they can focus on developing their skills in comprehension, vocabulary and spelling.

All children are assessed regularly by our RWI Lead Teachers (Miss Pollard and Mrs Perkin) and are placed in small groups with a member of staff from either Early Years or Key Stage 1. Children in each group all work together at the same level.

In Nursery, children will be introduced to the initial sounds in short sessions, when appropriate.

In Reception, all children will learn how to read the sounds in words and how those sounds can be written down.

• Children will learn 44 sounds and the corresponding letters/letter groups using simple picture prompts
• Children will learn to read words using Fred talk and sound blending
• Children will read from a range of story books and non-fiction books matched to their phonic knowledge
• Children will learn to write and form the letters which represent the sounds
• Children will learn to write words by using Fred talk
• Children will learn to build sentences by practising sentences out loud before they write 

Your child will start to bring home a reading book to practise, once they can confidently segment and blend the Set 1 sounds… 

Even if your child is not yet given a RWI reading book to bring home, we would still encourage you to read and share as many books with your child as possible. We offer a Library Session every Thursday, where you can come into school to help your child choose a new book to share at home.

Click the Read Write Inc. logo below to access free Phonics eBooks you can read with your child at home…

Homework

Each Friday, children in Early Years bring home a Home School News Book. We will share some learning that has taken place in school that week or we may set you a task to have a go at completing. We expect children to bring their books back to school each Monday so that they can share their news/activity with their peers in their Family Group Snack Time session. This is another way that we are encourage children in Early Years to develop their speaking and listening skills.

For more information about uniform CLICK HERE to visit our uniform page.