Reading and Phonics
At Mark First and Pre-school CE Academy we promote a 'phonics first' approach and in both our guided reading sessions at school and in the books children take home, texts are very closely matched to a child's current phonics knowledge so that every child can experience real success in their reading.
In these crucial early stages of reading we primarily use books form Ransom Reading Stars Phonics to ensure complete fidelity to the Unlocking Letters and Sounds progression we follow.
To support children with their reading at home, we advise that each book sent home is read three times before being changed. Please see the video link below to highlight the importance of three times and the progress made by the child in terms of confidence and reading fluency.
Once children progress beyond decodable texts, they move on to the National Book Banding System so that they can continue to progress in their decoding, fluency and comprehension skills to become avid, expert readers. This allows us to draw from a variety of publications to ensure a range of choice is available for our young readers.
These publications include: Oxford Reading Tree, Songbirds Phonics, Collins Big Cats, TreeTops, Rapid Readers, Story Sparks, Planet X and Rigby Stars.
All children access this scheme and can choose a book that is most suitable for their ability and interest.
Home/School Learning - Support for Parents
Please see the phonic video links below to show how the children are taught to pronounce each phoneme and the action to match.