Reading
At Bowsland Green we are dedicated to delivering an exciting, innovative Reading curriculum which enables and empowers children to become articulate speakers, inspired writers and avid readers. To meet the needs of our diverse community of language learners, we strive to immerse all of our learners in language rich environments using high quality class texts for reading and writing stimulus, actively increasing the opportunities for oracy within the classroom and by providing a rich, creative and immersive language experience across the curriculum by interweaving our English curriculum with our wider curriculum projects.
Our aims are to empower our learners to be:
- able to read fluently, and with confidence, in any subject
- Lifelong, enthusiastic readers who strive to seek out new texts and learning
- confident and articulate speakers who will actively share ideas, thoughts and opinions from what they have read
Reading is taught through daily Read Write Inc phonics sessions in KS1 or in guided reading sessions in KS2. Guided reading happen four times a week where children read and explore a range of texts and extracts and all children visit our school library once a week to choose a book of their choice to share with their families.
Phonics and Early Reading
At Bowsland Green Primary School we teach synthetic phonics throughout the school. We follow the ‘Read, Write, Inc’ programme which provides a structured and systematic approach to the teaching of phonics. It aims for children to develop fluent word reading skills and have good foundations in spelling by the end of Key Stage One. Your child’s class teacher will be able to tell you which set they are working in. The teaching of phonics begins in Reception, using Read, Write, Inc to introduce sounds to the children. Children will then learn further sounds in line with Read, Write, Inc progression. Regular assessment is carried out and these groups remain fluid to ensure that children can move between groups as needed.
Read Write Inc:
Please see the following link for useful parents videos to introduce you to the Read Write Inc scheme.
https://www.ruthmiskin.com/en/parents
Reading Books
Children are assessed regularly to ensure that they have a reading book appropriate to their phonics skills. Our reading scheme is the Read Write Inc Book Bag Books. These books are taken home to share with parents. At the front of each book is guidance on ‘How to help your child read this book’. There is a list of the ‘story green words’ which the children can sound out and ‘red words’ which are the tricky words. In some books there is also a ‘vocabulary check’ which helps children to understand the meaning of different words. At the back of the book there is an ‘Explain/Retell the text’ with a story map to help children retell the story using the pictures. There are also ‘Questions to chat about’ to help their comprehension skills. It is recommended that the children read the book three times which cane be either in school or at home.
Hearing a child read their Read Write Inc Book Bag reading book:
First read:
- Talk through the front cover. Read title, discuss illustration, ask ‘what do you think will happen in the story?’
- Read through the story green words and the red books found in the inside page of the front cover.
- The child reads the story sounding out (decoding) the words as needed. The adult supports as needed.
Second read:
- Talk through the story from the previous day.
- Read through story again discussing different parts.
- At the end retell the story using the pictures prompts and then discuss the ‘Questions to chat about’.
Third read:
- Read through the story and focus on fluency and expression.
- Adult to model reading with expression to the child.
Year 1 Phonics Screening Check
In 2011-2012 the government introduced the statutory checking of phonics for Year One children. The Year One Phonics Screening Check is a national check of children’s phonic knowledge that all children in England are required to complete. The check comprises of a mixture of real and nonsense words which children have to decode/read. The check takes place at the end of Year One. An example of the check published by the Department for Education can be viewed here: media.education.gov.uk/phonics.pdf
The teaching of reading in Key Stage 2:
Once children are able to sufficiently decode tricky words and read fluently, they will focus on reading comprehension skills. In Key Stage two, we use the VIPERS skills alongside the National Curriculum objectives to structure our reading curriculum.
Over the course of a week:
- Children will have at four thirty-minute whole class reading comprehension lessons based around one extract from a text.
- Each lesson will focus on one or two of the national curriculum skills relevant to that year group.
- Lesson one will focus mainly on vocabulary and the understanding of a text, whilst lessons two and three will focus on one or two of the VIPERS skills / curriculum objectives.
- Throughout a short term, children will cover all of the VIPERS (Vocabulary, Inference, Prediction, Explain, Retrieve and Summarise) skills, with vocabulary and inference covered weekly.
Vipers
How can I help?
We are really grateful to all of our parents who spend time supporting the education of their child at home, and reading is one of the key areas where parents can help. The earlier children are exposed to books, the better they will perform with their reading, as well as with their use of their imagination and ability to be creative. We have provided links to the following websites which can provide activities and advice about how to use phonics at home.
Helpful Links
Mr Thorne does phonics: https://www.youtube.com/channel/
Read Write Inc: https://www.ruthmiskin.com/en/parents
Oxford Owl: https://www.oxfordowl.co.uk
Literacy shed: https://www.literacyshed.com/
