Writing at Batchley First School
We use a programme called Read Write Inc. Phonics to teach our children to read and write. We make sure every child can read the last set of phonic stories before they progress to our higher-level programmes, Comprehension and Spelling. Some children complete the programme in Year 1 and others in Year 2. Year 3 and 4 children who need extra support follow this programme too.
During this time, we group children by their reading progress for one hour a day (20 to 45 minutes in Reception) and re-assess children every half-term so we can place them in the group where they’ll make the most progress. We provide extra daily one-to-one sessions for children who need a bit of a boost to keep up.
How do we make phonics easy for children to learn?
Read Write Inc. Phonics depends upon children learning to read and write sounds effortlessly, so we make it simple and fun. The phonic knowledge is split into two parts.
First we teach them one way to read and write the 40+ sounds in English. We use pictures to help, for example we make ‘a’ into the shape of an apple, ‘f’ into the shape of a flower. These pictures help all children, especially slower-starters, to read the sounds easily. Children learn to read words by sound-blending using a frog called Fred. Fred says the sounds and children help him blend the sounds to read each word.
Then we teach children the different spellings of the same sounds, for example, they learn that the sound ‘ay’ is written ay, a-e and ai; the sound ‘ee’ is written ee, e and ea. We use phrases to help them remember each sound for example, ay – may I play, a-e – make a cake?
How do we teach children to spell confidently?
We use just two simple activities: Fred Fingers to spell regular words and Red Rhythms for tricky words.
Fred Fingers
We teach children to spell using ‘Fred Fingers’: we say a word and then children pinch the sounds onto their fingers and write the word, sound by sound.
Red Rhythms
We teach tricky words with Red Rhythms. We say the tricky letters in a puzzled voice and build the letter names up into a rhythm, for example, s-ai-d.
Children learn to spell new words and review past words every week, they practise spelling them with a partner and – when they’re ready – we give them a test to celebrate their spelling success.
How do we make writing simple for children to learn?
We teach handwriting, spelling and composition separately, gradually bringing each skill together step-by-step.
We teach children to form letters with the correct pencil grip and in the correct sitting position from the very beginning. They practise handwriting every day so they learn to write quickly and easily.
Once children can write simple words, we teach them to ‘hold’ a sentence in their heads and then write it with correct spelling and punctuation.
Very soon children are able to write down their own ideas. We try out different sentences together, drawing on new vocabulary and phrases from the Storybook they’ve just read. They practise saying their sentences out loud first so they don’t forget their ideas while they’re writing. They also learn to proofread their own writing using ready-made sentences containing common grammar, punctuation and spelling errors.
CUSP Writing
Children from Years 1 to 4 also follow CUSP Writing. High-quality models sit absolutely at the heart of the CUSP Writing curriculum. These are used throughout each unit to exemplify key concepts and as a worked example to model the application of key concepts in context. We know that pupils will be more successful if they have a clear vision and structure to work towards. Each CUSP Writing units begins with identifying the context, purpose and audience for pupils’ writing. Pupils thrive when they understand this, particularly if the audience is a ‘real’ audience and they are personally invested in the reason for writing. Pupils are immersed in high-quality models which exemplify each of the concepts that they will learn in context. Teachers zoom into these in each part of their explicit instruction. This means that pupils will be really familiar with the language and structure of the model text before they even think about writing their own.
In Block A, teachers will use the structure of the model text to demonstrate how to plan their own version of the same type of text in a different context. In Block B, teachers can reduce some of this scaffolding so that pupils can practise doing this more independently. We strongly advocate that pupils spend as much time ‘talking the text’ as they do writing it. They should have a clear view of exactly what they want to write before they write it, articulating and experimenting with each sentence before pen hits paper. Finally, teachers will model the process of editing for different purposes.
