Reading Overview
Reading Overview
At Sandford Hill Primary School, we strive to develop a lifelong love of reading and language. We immerse the children in a wide variety of stories and texts to inspire, interest and excite! Across the curriculum, opportunities are provided for the children to read a variety of high-quality texts to develop increasing levels of fluency and understanding. The children are taught how to use reading to gather information to support their learning across the whole curriculum as well as developing good reading habits that will support them throughout their education, their personal life and beyond.
Individual Reading Books
Early Reading
Starting in Nursery, the children are taught early reading skills using the Twinkl systematic synthetic phonics programme. Our Nursery children take story books home to share and have visits to the local library. Starting in Reception, all children have a phonically decodable reading book matched to their phonic ability. We use Bug Club and Floppy Phonic Reading scheme books which have been carefully aligned to match our progression in phonics. When children can read fluently and independently, they start the Accelerated Reader programme. The purpose of these reading books is to further develop and sustain a love of reading whilst regularly assessing comprehension skills.
Whole Class Reading
Reading Across School
Our reading curriculum is designed to produce productive, creative and well-educated children with a love of reading. The whole class teaching of reading, while being fully inclusive, allows teachers to plan activities that enable children to practise using the relevant reading skills:
- understanding vocabulary
- inference
- prediction
- explain
- retrieve
- sequence and summarise.
READING AT HOME
Reading at home
At Sandford Hill Primary School, we request that the children read at least four times a week at home as part of their home learning. Please take time to enjoy and share a story with your child and then sign your child’s diary so that their class teacher knows they have read. Even when your child becomes a confident reader, it is still important to read with your child so that a love for reading can continue to grow.
If you would like to borrow any additional reading books, or would like any further help or advice, please contact your child’s class teacher.
Below are Ten Top Tips to support reading.
1. Choose a quiet time to read
Set aside a quiet time with no distractions. Ten to fifteen minutes is usually long enough.
2. Make reading enjoyable
Make reading an enjoyable experience. Sit with your child. Try not to pressurise them if they are reluctant. If your child loses interest then do something else.
3. Maintain the flow
If your child mispronounces a word do not interrupt immediately. Instead allow opportunity for self-correction. It is better to tell a child some unknown words to maintain the flow rather than insisting on trying to build them all up from the sounds of the letters. If your child does try to ‘sound out’ words, encourage the use of letter sounds rather than ‘alphabet names’.
4. Be positive
If your child says something nearly right to start with that is fine. Don’t say ‘No. That’s wrong,’ but ‘Let’s read it together’ and point to the words as you say them. Boost your child’s confidence with constant praise for even the smallest achievement.
5. Success is the key
Parents anxious for a child to progress can mistakenly give a child a book that is too difficult. This can have the opposite effect to the one they are wanting. Remember ‘Nothing succeeds like success’. Until your child has built up his or her confidence, it is better to keep to easier books. Struggling with a book with many unknown words is pointless. Flow is lost, text cannot be understood and children can easily become reluctant readers.
6. Visit the Library
Encourage your child to use the public library regularly.
7. Regular practice
Try to read with your child on most school days. ‘Little and often’ is best. Teachers have limited time to help your child with reading.
8. Communicate
Your child will most likely have a reading diary from school. Try to communicate regularly with positive comments and any concerns. Your child will then know that you are interested in their progress and that you value reading.
9. Talk about the books
There is more to being a good reader than just being able to read the words accurately. Just as important is being able to understand what has been read. Always talk to your child about the book; about the pictures, the characters, how they think the story will end, their favourite part. You will then be able to see how well they have understood and you will help them to develop good comprehension skills.
10. Variety is important
Remember children need to experience a variety of reading materials eg. picture books, hard backs, comics, magazines, poems, and information books.