Reading

At St. Mary Magdalen’s RC Primary School, reading is at the heart of our curriculum. We believe that learning to read is an essential life skill that all children should access; therefore, reading is a priority within all curriculum areas. Evidence suggests that children who read for enjoyment every day not only perform better in reading tests than those who don’t, but also develop a broader vocabulary, increased general knowledge and a better understanding of other cultures. It is essential that we provide all children with the tools needed to read for enjoyment.

How do we teach reading?

Early Reading

From the beginning of Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS), children are taught using the Read Write Inc. phonics programme (see Early Reading and Phonics). Once pupils complete the programme, they take part in lessons which focus on developing fluency and reading comprehension.

Establishing and Practising Fluency

During reading lessons, a range of strategies are adopted to fit the purpose of the lesson. Children may engage in choral reading (teacher and pupils reading simultaneously), paired reading (alternating after each paragraph), repeated reading (reading a section multiple times), teacher modelling or reading individually one at a time. As research suggests that reading aloud individually is the least effective way to develop fluency, other strategies are used to ensure reading opportunities are maximised in each lesson.

Once children have achieved fluency, silent reading is also encouraged. Evidence suggests that individual silent reading allows fluent readers to cover more text and allows individual readers to employ strategies such a re-reading an unclear section of the text which cannot be utilised when reading as a whole class. As children progress through school, the strategies used within reading sessions will adapt to suit the purpose of the lesson and confidence of the reader.

VIPERS Comprehension Skills

Reading comprehension skills can be divided into six categories which we know as ‘VIPERS’ (vocabulary, inference, prediction, explaining, retrieval, summary and sequencing). Teachers regularly refer to VIPERS within reading lessons to create links between question types and the skills needed to provide high-quality answers.

The Reading Rainbow

Alongside VIPERS, lenses from Jane Considine’s Reading Rainbow are used within lessons which provide further direction to pupils as they read for meaning  and become ‘reading detectives’ within all areas of the curriculum.

‘Hooked on Books’

To ensure children receive a balance of guided teaching, independent comprehension and dialogic approaches to the teaching of reading, we use Jane Considine’s ‘Hooked on Books’ across Key Stage One and Key Stage Two. Through this approach, our pupils are exposed to a wide range of high-quality texts and given daily opportunities to practise both fluency and reading comprehension skills in a range of contexts. ‘Hooked on Books’ consists of 4 different reading approaches which are intertwined within our reading curriculum: demonstration reading, book talk, whole class reading and independent comprehension.

• Demonstration Reading

It is important that our pupils develop a love of reading and our daily reading for pleasure sessions allow both teachers and pupils to share a class reader for enjoyment. Teachers ensure that reading is modelled effectively with pace, expression and enthusiasm and this is very much a part of the day that staff and children look forward to. Within this modelled session, teachers choose one sentence to ‘wring for meaning’ by orally deconstructing the sentence and drawing emphasis upon vocabulary and sentence structure.

• Whole Class Guided Reading

Whole class guided reading sessions provide pupils with high-quality modelling of comprehension skills and enable teachers to showcase an outward thinking process in demonstrating how to create in-depth answers. These sessions are essential in teaching pupils the step by step process of using VIPERS skills within a range of contexts. In Key Stage Two, pupils engage in various linked texts (fiction, non-fiction and poetry) which explore themes and provide children with a wide range of text types and genres to interrogate. In Key Stage One, children use their class reader within whole class sessions to ensure context is familiar; however, teachers may choose to include linked texts from other genres to include non-fiction and poetry.

• Book Talk

Our reading timetable consists of Book Talk sessions which focus on pupils’ ability to form answers orally. Pupils practise fluency within small groups, reading through lenses of the Reading Rainbow, then work together to create answers to comprehension questions using sentence stems and high utility tier two language. This oral approach develops confidence and fluency when reading aloud, allows pupils the opportunity to support each other in developing use of tier two language and creates a bridge from guided teacher modelling to independent written work.

• Independent Comprehension

Each week, pupils participate in independent comprehension which allows them to practise skills they have learnt through Book Talk and Whole Class Reading. Pupils complete written tasks independently to ensure skills are embedded and misconceptions are addressed effectively in marking and feedback.

Reading in the Wider Curriculum

Where appropriate, class novels are used to reinforce teaching and provide a stimulus for writing. Care is taken not to choose texts based on tenuous links; instead, texts are chosen to provide high-quality, challenging reading material (this could be through the themes explored or the difficulty of the syntax) or to add another dimension to the teaching of a topic. Where appropriate, non-fiction texts are chosen to explore reading opportunities within the wider curriculum.

Why do our children love to read?

Story Time/Reading for Pleasure

Every class, regardless of age, experiences daily story time. The aim of this session is to allow children the freedom of reading a text purely for enjoyment. This session could take many forms: teacher modelling, independent reading, class novel, sharing authors etc.  We also use one session each month to allow children to experience the storytelling of other teachers in school. This session is eagerly anticipated by both staff and pupils and has proved to be a huge success in promoting a love of reading.

Reading Raffle

We recognise that children work incredibly hard at home to ensure reading takes place regularly and feel that it is important to reward children for the effort and time spent reading outside of school. A termly raffle in each class rewards regular readers with reading prizes chosen by the children. Each week, children who have read four times at home, evidenced with an adult’s signature in their reading journal, are given a raffle ticket. At the end of the term, prizes are distributed and classes choose what they would like for the following term.

Reading Buddies

In EYFS, children ‘Bag a Buddy’ – choose a soft toy to take home and read to every day. This encourages children to practise their early reading skills outside of school.

Children in other year groups are partnered with a reading buddy. They spend time reading and supporting each other which develops positive relationships between year groups.

Mystery Books

Key Stage 2 classrooms showcase ‘mystery books’ in their reading areas. This is to encourage readers to choose books based on interest in the blurb rather than relying on cover illustrations. This also allows teachers to showcase new texts and authors throughout the year.

100 Recommended Books

To encourage children to read high-quality texts, the 100 recommended reading books for each phase are readily available to all children.

Author of the Term

To encourage children to find new and exciting texts, our ‘Author Spotlight’ displays are located in every phase. This allows children to explore the texts of a particular author and learn more about their journey to becoming a children’s author. This could be linked to topics, aimed at highlighting a new author or guiding children to reading new material linked to previous interests.

Book and Bake Sale

Parents and carers are invited into school for our book and bake sale. This allows parents and children to purchase books and sweet treats or simply share a story. We always enjoy sharing our passion for reading with parents and our book and bake sale is a fantastic way to engage parents and carers in something we feel passionate about.

World Book Day and Poetry Day

Both children and teachers look forward to our themed days to celebrate reading. On World Book Day, children are invited to dress up as book characters or bring their favourite book to school to share with their class. Poetry Day brings together reading, writing and performance as children share their creative work in a whole school assembly.

Home Reading Bags

We know just how special it is to share a story with an adult at home and our reading bags and boxes are one way to encourage adults and children to spend time together with a book in the midst of busy lives. Each week, one child from each class is allowed to choose a book and treat to share with their adult before bed. Children are encouraged to share their experience of home reading bags on our school Twitter account.

Reading at Home

At St. Mary Magdalen’s Primary School each child is expected to read at home daily, whether that is to an adult (for developing readers) or independently (for fluent readers). This should be recorded in reading journals and evidenced with a signed comment from an adult. At St. Mary Magdalen’s Primary School, we know how important it is for teachers and parents to work together to give a child the best start. Reading together at home is one of the easiest but most important ways in which parents and carers can support their children.

From EYFS, children work progressively through the Oxford Reading Tree scheme. They begin using picture books then move onto phonics books which closely match their phonics learning – allowing them to feel confident when practising their early reading skills. Early readers are encouraged to re-read books to develop fluency and confidence and also take home a book of their choice to share with their family to promote a love of reading. Our reading scheme ensures good coverage of fiction, non-fiction and poetry books to expose children to a range of text types. Children continue to use the Oxford Reading Tree scheme in Lower Key Stage 2 and we would expect that children become ‘free readers’ as they progress through Upper Key Stage 2. When children are confident and competent readers, they select their reading material from a range of age-appropriate books within their class library, guided by their teacher if necessary. Reading records are monitored regularly and books changed accordingly.

Our reading leaflet provides information on how to support children in their reading at home. Click on the reading link above.

How do we assess reading?

Reading is assessed in line with our Assessment Policy. Termly summative assessments provide reading ages for all children and identify areas of strength and need to inform planning and intervention.

Book Talk allows teachers to work closely with a small group which enables them to assess children at regular intervals throughout the term. Formative assessment is used in a range of ways to suit the purpose of the lesson: verbal feedback, written feedback, whole class feedback, peer assessment and self-assessment. Children are targeted as appropriate within the lesson and smaller guided groups may be used to target the more able and less able readers.