Reading in Nursery
Children are read to each day and are introduced to a range of texts, including fiction and non-fiction books. Children are encouraged to retell and extend stories in order for them to develop their book language. Each week the children have a library session and take a library book home.
Reading in Reception
Children are grouped by ability for Guided Reading. All children have at least one Guided Reading Session with an adult per week. This consists of a balance of phonics, word and sentence level reading. Comprehension of the text underpins all reading. Children are encouraged to share their own experiences thus linking them with the book and fostering a life-long love of reading. Children are given sets of words to learn in order to build up a sight vocabulary. These are monitored and updated regularly.
A Reception Workshop for parents is held early in the Autumn term to share our approach to reading and to pass on information and resources that will help at home.
Guided Reading in Key Stage One.
Guided Reading lessons take place daily. Children are grouped according to ability and read books appropriate to their reading level, using the Reading Stars Phonics books that matches our phonics scheme Unlocking Letters and Sounds. There are 225 books that offer progression on a week-by-week basis. The books are fiction and non-fiction, offer a variety of text types, and share diverse stories, topics and characters that ensure every child has the chance to ‘find themselves’ in the pages of the books. The books support all Phases of the programme, from Phase 1 (books without words) through to Phase 5. The book matching chart shows which books may be introduced in each week. For nearly every week, there are always at least two new books than can be introduced, for the entire duration of the programme. Children learn with a teacher in groups that are no bigger than six pupils. Within group reading the teacher and pupils focus on a specific learning objective. If any additional adults are present for a Guided Reading lesson, they will support group reading. During the session, teachers have a reading focus linked to the national curriculum as well as questions to develop comprehension.
When children are not learning with an adult in a guided reading session, they learn independently. The independent tasks aim to develop a love of reading, comprehensive skills and phonic knowledge. Some tasks are completed in exercise books and marked according to the school marking policy.
All children in Reception and Key Stage One also choose a book from the school library each week to take home. This gives children an opportunity to have a book of choice to read for pleasure at home with their families.
In order for children to become confident, fluent and enthusiastic readers, when following Unlocking Letters and Sounds with Reading Stars Phonics books, we give them opportunities to develop these skills in different ways as seen below: