Reading at St Joseph's
At St. Joseph's Catholic Primary, our aim is to instil a passion for reading and a confidence with words - written and spoken - in all our children.
Our Reading Journey
Learning to read is the most important thing your child will learn at our school. We put as much energy as we possibly can into making sure that every single child learns to read as quickly as possible.
We want your child to love reading and to want to read for themselves. This is why we strive for them to develop a love of books as well as simply learning to read.
'All pupils must be encouraged to read widely across both fiction and non-fiction to develop their knowledge of themselves and the world in which they live, to establish an appreciation and love of reading, and to gain knowledge across the curriculum. Reading also feeds pupils’ imagination and opens up a treasure-house of wonder and joy for curious young minds.'
National Curriculum 2014
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How do we teach reading?
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Phonics- Read Write Inc
From the beginning of Reception, children are taught to read following a Read Write Inc systematic approach. This, combined with teaching of high frequency words, allows children to build confidence and fluency in reading, giving every child the best chance of success.
Phonics lessons are predominantly taught in Reception and Year 1, however, Year 2 and KS2 phonics is used as an intervention for those children who have been identified as needing additional support with phonics. These children are identified through teacher's formative assessment and through the use of tracking.
All teachers at St Joseph's receive training and support from the phonics lead, to ensure we meet our aim for all children to become confident and enthusiastic readers.
What does a Phonics Lesson look like?
Revisit/ ReviewTo start, we will do a recap of previously taught sounds using the RWI (read write inc) flashcards. |
TeachAt this stage, we will teach the next sound in the order. Click here to see the order we teach in. We will also teach the daily tricky word. Click here to see the order we teach high frequency/ tricky words in.
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PracticeAt the practice stage, we will practice the sound by reading words containing that phoneme (sound). We decode the word. This means we identify the letter/ digraph/ trigraph/ split digraph and put the sound buttons on.
We then use our Fred arm to say each unit of sound and blend together. This clip demonstrates how we do this. |
ApplyFinally, we have a go at applying our new sound and tricky word. This could be through writing words/ captions/ sentences containing the sound or we may do a reading activity. |
How can you support your child?
Any additional support you can give your child at home has a great impact on your child's reading ability.
to access phonics resources to support you at home
KS1 Reading Assessment - Phonics Screening
In Year 1, children are assessed using a Government Statutory Assessment Tool known as the Phonics Screening Check. This screening check confirms whether the child has learnt phonic decoding to an appropriate standard and will identify sounds needing further consolidation in Year 2.
Children will read a variety of real and alien (nonsense) words where they will need to decode words and blend them together.
For further information and tutorials on how to support your child learning to read from Ruth Miskin, go to: http://www.ruthmiskin.com/en/parents/
English Lessons Using a text based approach
At St.Joseph's Catholic Primary, we embed the 'write stuff' approach into our curriculum. This has proven success to enhance vocabulary and embed a love of reading into our daily English lessons through a text based approach to planning.
We expand our vocabulary by creating word banks of words.
For example big, colossal, huge, enormous, vast, gigantic
We are committed to ensuring that all our children have the opportunity to engage with a rich range of quality texts, (fiction, non-fiction, poetry), so they develop into engaged and informed readers and writers, who understand the relationship between reading and writing.
Each class will use a key book as a stimulus for teaching reading and writing through the use of high quality books and creative teaching approaches. Our children are immersed in the text through shared reading, ‘experience’ days which offer the opportunity to develop their understanding through music, art, drama, discussion and role-play.
Here are the texts we are looking at this half term.
Story Time and Reading aloud is a key part of both our English sessions and group reading sessions. Children are encouraged to express their thoughts on the text and infer as to what they think could happen in an environment that enables all children to access quality texts. Story Time is a designated time on our timetables that enables the teacher to model expressive and fluent reading to the children.
Home Reading
Evidence strongly suggests that parents and the home environment are essential to the early teaching of reading and fostering a love of reading.
Key findings from the evidence include:
Parental involvement in a child’s literacy has been reported as a more powerful force than other family background variables, such as social class, family size and level of parental education (Flouri and Buchanan, 2004 – cited in Clark and Rumbold, 2006);
Children are more likely to continue to be readers in homes where books and reading are valued (Baker and Scher, 2002 – cited in Clark and Rumbold, 2006).
Reading Books Coming Home
At St Joseph's we ensure children are taking books in line with their both their phonetic ability and comprehension skills. These reading books will be sent home for your children to read independently or read to you.
They will know all of the sounds used in the text because they match the sounds in the books they are being taught in class. This means they will be able to read the text with fluency and confidence – like a storyteller. They will enjoy reading to someone else or to themselves.
EYFS and KS1
In Key Stage One, Children progress in their reading through the coloured “book band” system. This provides them with a range of fiction, non-fiction and poetry books for the children to choose from. These reading books are designed to build fluency at an age appropriate level and to broaden their reading experience.
The order of book bands gives you an indication of where your child should be at the end of each year. If you child is not reaching the set colour, speak with your child's teacher and they will be able to tell you what they are doing to support this.
Children on colour banded books will select 3 books a week. Each book should be read twice to build fluency and understanding.
Once a week, children will independently select a story book to read with you. This exposes children to a wide variety of texts for them to enjoy at home.
Additional free reading e-books: https://www.oxfordowl.co.uk/for-home/find-a-book/library-page
Accelerated Reader
According to their individual reading needs, children may also be put onto the Accelerated Reader scheme at an appropriate level.
The Accelerated Reader scheme is also used by pupils to consolidate their comprehension skills through follow-up quizzes and other activities.
Children use the Accelerated Reader programme to engage and enhance their reading skills.
They end each half term by completing a Star Reader test determines the level of book they will be able to read independently. The children then choose a book within this certain range, they can take it home to read and they can read each afternoon in their classroom. When the book is finished, the child takes a quiz to check comprehension and vocabulary.
