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Plains Farm Academy

Plains Farm Academy is the heart of the Plains Farm community and offers a safe, secure and nurturing environment to learn.

Reading/Phonics

We want our children to be ‘Inspired Readers’

 

We are delighted to announce that Gabriella has been awarded the Reading Plus Champion role for this academic year!

Gabriella was hand-selected by the Reading Solutions team after a careful review of all the outstanding nominations they received. A massive congratulations to Gabriella for all of her passion, hard work, and commitment – the team were very impressed by her nomination and can’t wait to see what she continues to achieve.

Gabriella received a  Reading Plus Champion kit. Within her kit, she receives a letter and checklist explaining in detail what her new role entails. 

One of Gabriella’s tasks is to complete book reviews and you can read her first book review blog very soon. In the meantime, Gabrielle would like to tell you a little bit about herself.

 

 

What do you enjoy about reading?

I enjoy the fact that reading can cure boredom and how you can get lost in your favourite book so easily.

 

Can you tell us about your favourite author/book?

My favourite author is Jacqueline Wilson because I love all her stories about empowering, feisty female characters.

 

Out all the books you have ever read, do you have a favourite character?

Out of all the books I have read, my favourite character is Tracy Beaker from the Tracy Beaker series due to her feisty and funny personality.

 

What is your favourite hobby?

My favourite hobby is writing up stories in my free time and playing Roblox on my iPad.

 

If you had a superpower, what would it be? Why did you pick this?

If I had a super power, it would be to have the ability to see the future and past. I would pick this because it would be really useful if something bad happened or is happening.

 

What do you want to be when you are older?

I’m not to sure what I want to be but I’m sure when the time comes I’ll be able to decide.

 

Imagine you just won a million pounds, what would you do with it?

I would use the money to buy a plane ticket to Disneyland Paris and purchase a mansion.

 

If you found a genie in a bottle, what would be your three wishes.

For my first wish, I would wish for the ability to draw whatever I want permanently. For my second wish, I’d wish to stop global warming and for my third wish, I’d wish for someone to find another genie lamp and get 6 wishes.

 

 

Our new school library

We were super excited to have SAFC player, Dan Neil, open our new school library. Click on the link below to read the full story.

 https://www.sunderlandecho.com/sport/football/sunderland-afc/safc-star-dan-neil-goes-back-to-school-to-open-new-library-and-inspire-the-citys-children-4550777

Phonics

 

How we teach reading at Plains Farm Academy – answers for parents

 

The Read Write Inc. Phonics programme

Learning to read is the most important thing your child will learn at our school. Everything else depends on it, so we put as much energy as we possibly can into making sure that every single child learns to read as quickly as possible.

 

We want your child to love reading – and to want to read for themselves. This is why we put our efforts into making sure they develop a love of books as well as simply learning to read.

 

How will my child be taught to read?

We start by teaching phonics to the children in the Reception class. This means that they learn how to ‘read’ the sounds in words and how those sounds can be written down. This is essential for reading, but it also helps children learn to spell well. We teach the children simple ways of remembering these sounds and letters. Ask them to show you what these are.

The children also practise reading (and spelling) what we call ‘tricky words’, such as ‘once,’ ‘have,’ ‘said’ and ‘where’.

 

The children practise their reading with books that match the phonics and the ‘tricky words’ they know. They start thinking that they can read and this does wonders for their confidence.

The teachers read to the children, too, so the children get to know all sorts of stories, poetry and information books. They learn many more words this way and it also helps their writing.

 

How long will it take to learn to read well?

By the end of Year 2, your child should be able to read aloud books that are at the right level for his or her age. In Year 3 we concentrate more on helping children to understand what they are reading, although this work begins very early on. This happens when the teacher reads to the children and also when the children read their own story book.

 

What can I do to help? Is there anything that I shouldn’t do?

Your child will bring different sorts of books home from school. It helps if you know whether this is a book that your child can read on their own or whether this is a book that you should read to them. Your child will have brought home a letter that explained which is which.

Help your child to sound out the letters in words and then to ‘push’ the sounds together to make a whole word. Try not to refer to the letters by their names. Help your child to focus on the sounds.

 

You can hear how to say the sounds correctly at this link: https://ruthmiskin.com/en/find-out-more/parents/#lg=1&slide=2

 

We know parents and carers are very busy people. But if you can find time to read to your child as much as possible, it helps him or her to learn about books and stories. They also learn new words and what they mean. Show that you are interested in reading yourself and talk about reading as a family. You can find out about good stories to read to your child here: https://www.facebook.com/miskin.education

 

Does it matter if my child misses a lesson or two?

It matters a lot if your child misses school. The way we teach children to read is very well organised, so even one missed lesson means that your child has not learnt something that they need to know to be a good reader.

 

What if he or she finds it difficult to learn to read?

We want children to learn to read, however long it takes us to teach them. We will find out very quickly if your child is finding reading difficult. First, we move children to a different group, so that we can make sure that they have learnt what they need to know. If they still struggle, we give them extra time with an adult, on their own. These adults are specially trained to support these children. Your child will still be in the same group with the other children and won’t miss out on any of the class lessons.

 

If we have any serious worries about your child’s reading, we will talk to you about this.

Some children take a bit longer to learn to put sounds together to read a word, e.g. c-a-t to make the word ‘cat’.

 

Reading stories to your child

What can you do to help at home?

  1. Read the same stories aloud again and again
  2. Read with enthusiasm – love each story
  3. Use a range of vocabulary with your child