ENGLISH including Early Reading
English
Good English skills underpin all the other subjects, offering children the means to access the other areas of the curriculum. It is through speaking, reading and writing that children gain access to Maths, Science, Humanities, Computing, Religious Education, Personal and Social Development, Art, Music and PE. With this principle in mind, at Firs Farm we strive to offer all our children the best start in life by supporting them in the acquisition of language, reading and writing.
At Firs Farm English is taught as a discrete subject. Children are exposed to diverse range of texts to read and study in class. Non-fiction units use the texts used in the foundation to build on existing knowledge and develop the skills being taught.
In the Early Stages, children start their Literacy adventure through listening to stories, role- playing, creating narratives or re-telling stories; through the early introduction of sign making- in water, sand, foam, paper and other surfaces; through the discrete teaching of phonics using Little Wandle (revised Letters & Sounds) phonic scheme. Children are encouraged to love books and read them, starting with the early stages of the Little Wandle Scheme. Children have opportunities to write and develop their handwriting.
As children move to KS1, they develop their reading skills further, progressing through the books in The Little Wandle Scheme. They read with an adult-led group in class and then take these books to read home. Parents/carers are encouraged to complete a weekly entry in the Home School Reading Book. Children may also take a Reading for pleasure book, from the class or school library, that they may need to have read to them. Children may become a "free" reader during KS1 - this means they are no longer on a scheme and chose a home-reading book from a range in the class/school library.
Children in Year 1 and 2 will still have regular Little Wandle phonic sessions; with most children finishing their phonetic education in Year 2. They start writing words more consistently, reading and writing the spellings including learning key words for weekly spelling tests. Their writing becomes recognisable stories or simple information texts, culminating with the very accomplished writing that our children develop by the end of Year 2. Our pupils are also encouraged to take part in class discussions and have the opportunity to speak publicly during their class assemblies.
By KS2 our focus is on honing listening, reading and writing skills that children have started to develop in the Early Years and KS1.
In KS2 each class takes part in Whole Class Reading (minimum 3x a week). This includes texts chosen to develop a particular skill or to improve children's inference/deduction. The school uses the VIPERS mnemonic as a framework for improving comprehension.
Writing in KS2 is delivered throughout a vertically sequenced curriculum that allows children to develop a range of writing techniques that they can apply in English and across other subjects. Children write with increasing levels of complexity and teachers use Talk For Writing to plan and deliver extended writing lessons.
The emphasis is on using, in ever greater detail, the conventions of different genres of literature and, later on, in unpicking the fabric of the texts themselves at word, sentence and text level. This analysis leads to the creation of pieces of writing that follow the conventions and features. In reading, children demonstrate their ability to decode words of increasing difficulty; they develop their skills of understanding, initially through simple information retrieval, followed by discovering implied and suggested meanings and culminating in the ability to understand and comment on language choices made by the author.
Grammar and punctuation is taught within English Units. Spelling is taught as a discrete subject and handwriting is taught using the PenPals scheme.
Some children may still need support with their early reading skills during KS2. These children receive additional group reading or individual reading support. In KS2 we use CODEX as a framework for improving reading. We may use other interventions/schemes as needed.
Speaking and listening are promoted throughout lessons, assemblies and the various clubs and activities that children get involved with.
Medium Term Plans Spring 2024
Medium Term Plans Autumn 2023
Book Week 2024
WOW! What a week it has been! We have definitely celebrated book week in style here at Firs Farm. Thank you to everybody involved in supporting this fantastic week: staff, children, parents and our wonderful PTA. It really is a team effort and wouldn’t be half as successful without everyone pulling together.
Jeanne Willis
Here are some quotes from children about our author visit.
"I loved Jeanne Willis because she makes all types of books! She loves animals and has made lots of books about them."
"Jeanne has very cool animals at home!"
"Her books inspire us to make our own books about animals."
"I like it that she wrote Bog baby about her and her sister."
“We made Bog Babies using balloons, glue, sequins and googly eyes. We showed Jeanne our Bog babies and she liked them – she even let us touch her Bog Baby that she brought in.”
“We got to learn about her and the books she write. This was the best bit of the week!”
THANK YOU for donating money and materials to facilitate this visit and workshop.
Image Theatre Company
We watched a wonderful, dramatic version of The Selfish Giant during Book Week which some children also got to act in! We all spent time learning the songs to join in with the performance. Here is what we thought!
"I liked the show because it had a good ending and it was fun!"
"I liked the bits where they used puppets to climb the rock."
"I liked it when the boy saved the giant - it was about showing kindness which is one of our school values!"
“The giant learnt his lesson and knew that he had to knock the wall down and be friends with Rose and Joe.”
“It was fun that we all got to be in the show because we got to do all the singing!”
A huge THANK YOU to the PTA for funding this wonderful performance.
D.E.A.R & Book Bingo
Here are some of the children's thoughts of our book week activities:
"With our book bingo, I had to read a recipe and I got to cook pancakes with my Mum. My baby sister listened to my Mum reading."
"I like it that we all get a chance to listen to stories AND read out load to someone!"
"It's given me something to do at home when I am bored."
"When we drop everything and read, it calms us down and we get a chance to just read."
"It's nice and peaceful in the classroom so we can relax."
"We get to practice our reading!"
Thank you for supporting our book bingo.
French books and Masked Reader
We are fortunate enough to have many French speaking adults in our school and, this week, the visited all the classrooms with a book to read in French!
Thank you Madame Dejonghe for arranging this experience.
We all loved the masked reader!
"I thought it was fun but a bit tricky working out who the teachers were!"
"It was funny because the teachers changed their voices!"
"I liked guessing who it was and testing myself on teacher names!"
"It was named after my favourite show so I loved it!"
Thank you to Mrs Hughes for organising and filming these and to all the staff that took part.
Share a good book
During Book Week we joined forces with other year groups to listen to each other read. Here's what we had to say about it:
"I really liked the way the younger children would sit and listen to us read. It helps us bond with other year groups."
"We took turns reading pages and I was asking my partner questions."
"I enjoyed having another child to read to us because it's normally an adult."
"It was good hearing other children read."
Dress up day
To end this wonderful week, the children and staff came into school dressed up as a book character! We had a celebration of all of the outfits, efforts and authors that were represented whilst reciting class or year group poems that were inspired by the late, great Benjamin Zephnaiah. These poems will be turned into a Firs Farm anthology, which will take pride of place in our library.
Thank you to our whole school community for their support during book week, we couldn’t do it without you.
