So how do children learn to read? - The simple version

Learning to read is a complex task that our brains were not actually designed to do. Explicit teaching is usually needed to connect all the parts of our brain that are required to get the words off the page and then comprehend what they say. 

Reading happens on the left side of the brain. For some children e.g. those with dyslexia, the right side of the brain gets involved, and the pathways need to be redirected with many repetitions of  basic concepts.

In the Classroom

The first steps are all about hearing and speaking and have begun to develop in the toddler and preschool years. We continue to practise with activities explicitly designed to target these skills

Letter Level is the next step. Children learn to match phonemes (sounds) with graphemes (letters). As each phoneme is explicitly taught, it joins a sound pack that is practised at the beginning of every lesson. Letter formation is part of this process as well.

The Sound Pack step continues into the senior classes, sometimes using a digital slideshow rather than cards. The phonemes become more complex and represent multiple sounds e.g /ea/ as in bread, seat & steak.

Next is Word Level. Once a child is familiar with a few letters, they begin to use these letters to read and write words. A combination of real words and non-words are used to consolidate sound knowledge. Again this process continues into senior classes with spelling patterns and rules being explicitly taught.

At Sentence Level, children learn to combine ❤ words with words they have been learning to read and spell. The teacher dictates a sentence, the children repeat it then write it and finish by reading it. This task also helps to develop the working memory - a child's ability to remember in the short term.

Finally a book!

Giving the children a book to read used to be the start of our process when teaching reading but as you can see, with the Structured Literacy approach, a lot of preparation has been done before the book is introduced. This is designed to ensure the child has everything they need to tackle the book with confidence, and without the need to guess.

Heart Words

❤ words are those that need to be memorised because they have irregular spellings or have a phoneme that hasn't been taught yet. By Year 3, most words can be worked out using phonemes so no longer need to be memorised.