Earlsheaton Infant School

Phonics is a key part of children learning to read. However it is only one part. Phonics teaches children the different sounds letters and combinations of letters make and how to read a word by segmenting it into these sounds, then blending it back together to make a coherent word. Over time children build thier bank of words they recognise on sight and they stop needing to segment and blend. 

Book Talk is what we call the other part of teaching children to read. This involves training them to think about what they have read. To ask questions and make predictions about what might happen next. It also looks at character development, plot and setting. At the earliest stages in Reception we start by looking closely at wordless pictures. What can we see? Why is it there? Who are the people? What might happen next? Developing fluency in asking questions and being curious allows children to fall head first into a story, helping them on their journey to become life-long readers. 

We follow our phonics scheme, Essential Letters and Sounds, with fidelity. This means that children have a daily session and bring home a reading book matched to the sounds they have learned in class.

However,  Book Talk is different. It allows us to use pictures and words to develop children's abilities in thinking deeply about books and talking confidently about stories, plots, settings and characters. It doesn't matter what phonic stage a child is at, everyone can contribute something during a Book Talk session. 

The graphic opposite is Scarborough's Reading Rope. It demonstrates how phonics and language skills bind together to make a skilled reader. Put simply, you cannot have one without the other.