Reading
Reading in Reception and KS1
Children in Reception and Key Stage 1 follow the synthetic phonics approach, using the Letters and Sounds programme. It’s an approach to teaching phonics in which individual letters or letter sounds are blended to form groups of letters or sounds, and those groups are then blended to form complete words. Letters and Sounds is divided into six phases, with each phase building on the skills and knowledge of previous learning. There are no big leaps in learning. Children have time to practice and rapidly expand their ability to read and spell words.
Children in Reception are also taught ‘Jolly Phonics’ actions to go with the sounds. We use a combination of reading schemes which include a variety of fiction and non–fiction books to develop children’s reading range. Children learn to read at different rates. Once they finish the reading scheme, we encourage them to become ‘free readers’ and choose their own books.
Our daily phonics sessions in Reception and Key Stage 1 are fun, involving lots of speaking, listening and games. The emphasis is on children’s active participation. They learn to use their phonic knowledge for reading and writing activities and in their independent work.
They are also taught to read and spell ‘tricky words’ – words with spellings that are unusual or that children have not yet been taught. These include the words ‘to’, ‘was’, ‘said’ and ‘the’ – you can’t really break the sounds down for such words so it’s better to just ‘recognise’ them as sight vocabulary.
When children are ready they select, with guidance, reading books from a range of ‘real books’, written by children’s authors. Guided reading is carried out with multiple copies of books sourced from a range of suppliers, such as OUP and Pearson and good quality ‘real’ books.
Children also borrow fiction and non-fiction books from our library. In addition to the ‘formal’ teaching of reading there are many opportunities to develop reading skills in the context of the wider curriculum. Emphasis throughout the school is on developing reading skills, comprehension and application, appreciation and an abiding love of books of all kinds.
Children and classes visit the library regularly with the school librarian.
Parents are encouraged to come with their children to change books before or after school.
Once a week the school runs Buddy readers where children read together.
Reading in EYFS
Provision
• Two 10 minute phonic sessions a day leading to one 20 minute session by the final half term. (Jolly Phonics, Phonics Play)
• Reading on an individual basis twice a week or once a week and a guided reading session.
• Children read their first 100 high frequency words
• Children review their sounds using sound fans/flash cards twice a week.
• Displaying books around the classroom, including in role play area.
• Children take home a teddy in a bag to share a story with at bedtime.
• Children are encouraged to bring in stories from home linked to our topic.
• Book corner
• Outside book area.
• Outside story sacks.
• Rhyme bags.
• We read stories to children each day.
• We send home sound games to support phonics and high frequency words.
Monitoring
• Reading comment sheet, which is completed every time a child is heard read.
• Reading diary which is used for parents and staff to comment on the reading.
Assessment
• Use professional judgement and phonic assessment to gauge when the child is ready to move onto the next level.
• All children know which colour band that they are on.
• During reading sessions we develop the children’s comprehension skills.
Reading in Year 1/2
Provision
• 20 minute phonics session a day
• Books are grouped according to colour bands
• Books are separated into non-fiction and fiction.
• Children are encouraged to change their own books and replace in the correct place.
• Display of topic books.
• Books are displayed in the role play area.
• Children have opportunities throughout the day to explore the reading corner and share books with peers.
• Class story at some point in the day.
• Home learning reading activities including phonics and key word recognition.
• Celebration of chosen authors.
• Guided reading twice a week.
• Wave 3 reading and reading recovery help some children.
• children are heard read three times a week by an adult (includes the group reading)
• Visual displays, learning objectives, literacy lessons etc
Monitoring
• Tick lists
• Group guided reading sessions
• Reading diary comments and/or individual reading record sheets
Assessment
• All children know what colour band they are selecting from and some know what they need to do to progress to the next step.
• We use our knowledge of the colour bands and how this relates to National Curriculum and also consider this alongside our knowledge of their reading.
• Year 2 assessment tests and tasks.
Reading in Year 3/4
Provision
• Guided Reading small group sessions at least once a week
• Individual reading according to children’s needs
• Every classroom has a Reading corner with a range of colour banded books and fiction books
• Library Service used to keep books new and fresh
• Non-fiction library shared with Year 5/6
• Selection of Topic books termly from Library service displayed and used
• Home Learning includes daily reading
• Reading diaries are purchased for all children and parents are encouraged to comment on listening to their child’s reading
• Cross-curricular links
• Comprehension strategies taught in English and Guided Reading sessions
• Weekly phonics session continued from Year 2 for some children
Reading in Y5/6
• Guided reading sessions take place three times a week – these sessions include a variety of reading based activities such as: the reading of fiction, non-fiction, ICT based research, comprehension skills, children reading their own choice of book and completing structured follow on tasks. Children have regular slots working in a small group with their teacher or another adult.
• Children are encouraged to read during registration periods.
• Daily spelling lesson includes work on phonics and letter patterns.
• Work in English is regularly planned around a class text which is read alongside the other activities.
• We have a visual literacy unit each term.
• Regular “Flash book reviews,” when children review books they have read.
• Reading occurs in all curriculum areas
In KS1 and 2
Children requiring additional support with independent reading strategies have access to intervention programmes