Early Reading

During children's early development the importance of reading is not just about physically reading books. Children who listen to books being read and are frequently talked to directly become more familiar with words and build larger expressive vocabularies. Encouraging a love for books at an early stage is of great benefit to children as they become early developing readers. Creating enjoyment around books and rhymes also allows children to gain positive experiences of reading. 

Children being read to at home as well as reading their own books is of high importance. This is based on research that strongly suggests that the more words children experience, the greater their own reading development with progress. A snapshot of research found that how many words children would have heard by the time they were 5 years old based on how many times they are read to:

Never read to, 4,662 words;

1–2 times per week, 63,570 words;

3–5 times per week, 169,520 words;

daily, 296,660 words;

and five books a day, 1,483,300 words

At DCS we use reading books that are closely matched to children's current phonics knowledge and ability. These books allowed children to practice recently taught sounds and words in order to support their development. Inside these books you can find all the sounds that children have covered including red 'tricky words' that they have been learning. 

The largest contributing factor for children making strong progress with their reading is practice! Parents can support this by engaging in reading activities with children as much as possible. Reading school books is just one way to support your child. Sharing any further reading in all aspects of life support children's development. 

Oxford Owl eBook Library

At DCS we subscribe to Oxford Owl eBook Library. Here your child can access an extensive range of texts related to their current phonics ability. Using the log in details below your child can access these at home at anytime using a laptop, tablet or smartphone. 

The information leaflet attached gives more information on how to navigate the website. 

Nursery and Reception
Login - dcseyfs Passcode - DCS123

Year 1 and 2
Login - dcsks1 Passcode - DCS123

Year 3 and 4
Login - dcs34 Passcode - DCS123

Year 5 and 6
Login - dcs56 Passcode - DCS123

Early Writing

During early writing children utilise their phonics knowledge and understanding to help spell words. During early writing children are encouraged to make phonically plausible attempts at words. Children are not expected to spell words using sounds that they have not been taught yet. For example, if a child is yet to learn the 'ai' sound as in rain, but they have learned the 'ay' sound as in play then spelling the word rain as 'rayn' would be a phonetically plausible attempt and children would be praised for this. However, once they had learned the correct sound they would be encourage to select the correct sound for that word.

Below are some examples of early writing where children have used phonetically plausible attempts at words in their writing.