Parents & Carers

Reading at Greatwood and Phonics

Library 1Our Library

Reading is very high on our priority at Greatwood, so much so that the first thing that Mrs Yeoman did when she arrived was to move our library.

Our beautiful Library is open all day every day, it is the first room that you arrive at when you enter our school.

Many children and staff members like to visit the library and read a good book! 

You will find a vast range of fiction, non-fiction, picture books, magazines and poetry. There is no limit as to how many books you can take out at once! 

Look how welcoming our library is...

 Library

Book Vending Machine

Heading into our school library you will notice our 'one of a kind' Greatwood Book Vending Machine. This is a very special way that we reward our children for showing a dedication to reading. thumbnail_Greatwood - Book Vending Mockup

Bedtime Reading Suitcases

This term we have introduced to the ‘Snuggle up Suitcase’. This allows different children to take home the suitcase each weekend, snuggle up to a Jelly Cat teddy, enjoy a hot chocolate and share a book at bedtime with someone that they love.

Some children have already been chosen to take this home and we have had some wonderful feedback from parents.

Lets keep promoting a love for learning through bedtime reading!thumbnail_image0

Cerys our Therapy Dog

Here at Greatwood we are extremely lucky to have our very own ‘therapy dog.’ Meet Cerys; a Finnish Lapphund. Since September 2018 Cerys has come to visit us at school every Wednesday afternoon. She brings her owner Kate with her and together they listen to us read! We love reading with Cerys.

Dog

Greatwood primary 20 (14) (Custom)Phonics at Greatwood

What is Read, Write, Inc?

"Since the introduction of the Read, Write, Inc. programme in September 2018, we firmly believe it is has contributed to raising our Literacy standards"
- Katie James, English Leader.

Read, Write, Inc. is an inclusive literacy programme for all children and develops a range of skills enabling all learners to achieve their full potential. All lessons are lively, exciting and fully engaging, reinforcing our creative approach to teaching. Learning is structured with purpose, pace and passion allowing pupils to progress through the units at an accelerated rate. The stimulating resources are carefully chosen to develop the essential skills of reading, writing, thinking, speaking and listening.

Our highly trained staff members deliver first class, high quality daily phonics sessions.  Our children are taught in small groups by our 7 phonics experts.  

Having so many 'staff experts' enables us to teach and tailor each group to the level and sound set that they are working at. Our groups are very flexible and this enables children to make rapid progress in their early reading.

Children from Reception, Years 1,2,3,4 and 5 currently access our daily sessions.

This approach ensures that we are enabling children to not only reach the Reading by 6 Standard, but that we are also equipping our parents and families with the skills needed to support successful reading and writing at home.
At the end of each half term the children will be assessed again to check they have made progress.  In addition to the Read Write Inc programme the children will also be working on reading,  writing  and oracy skills in their classes with their own class teacher.

Reading
Using Read Write Inc the children learn to read effortlessly so that they can put all their energy into understanding what they read. When using 'Read Write Inc' to read the children will:

* Learn 44 sounds and the corresponding letter/letter groups using simple picture prompts
* Learn to read words by blending the sounds together
* Read lively stories featuring words they have learnt to sound out
* Show that they understand the stories by answering 'Find It' and 'Prove it' discussion questions.

Writing
Read Write Inc allows the children to spell effortlessly so that they can put their energy into 
working out what they want to write. When using 'Read Write Inc' to write the children will:

* Learn to write the letters/letter groups which represent the 44 sounds (graphemes)
* Learn to write words by sounding them out and then writing the corresponding graphemes
* Learn to write simple and then increasingly complex sentences
* Compose a range of texts using discussion prompts
* Compose stories based on picture strips.

What can I do to help my child at home?

* Revise the sounds taught in class.
* Practice the given spellings and dicsuss the meanings of the words.
* Read regulary with your child, encouraging the pleasure of reading within different genres.
* Look for opportunities for your child to enhance their reading skills by alternatives means, such as food packaging, road signs, web pages, posters, magazines and newspapers.


PhonicsParent phonics sessions

In January 2023 we opened our doors once again to our Reception parents. The parents observed differentiated phonics sessions alongside their own children. 
Parents feedback, as always was very positive.

Below are links to Green words

RWInc Set 1 Green Words

RWInc Set 2 Green Words

RWInc Set 3 Green Words

Our Phonics Experts:

Miss Carter Mrs Yeoman Mrs Done
Mrs Bealey Mrs Colley Mrs Hanks
Mrs Mahila

 

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