Reading

Reading at Skelton Primary School

– Daily Read Write Inc Phonics sessions from Reception to Year 2.
– Daily 30 minute Jane Considine Hooked on Books reading sessions in KS2.
– Daily storytime sessions (EY/KS1 Talk through Stories/ KS2 whole class novel)
– KS2 daily independent reading.
– Once a week KS2 and KS1 reading buddies.
– Once a week KS2 library session.
– Reading is recorded in Home Reading Records and Class reading charts (every child reads at least 25 times a half term) certificates and wristbands are rewarded for bronze, silver and gold readers.

Reading Environments:
Reading is at the heart of everything we do. We have recently revamped our school library and each classroom has a reading area with a variety of books. Each class has a dedicated time every day for the teacher to share a story. In Early Years and KS1 each class has a selection of core books which they regularly revisit. We use Read Write Inc Talk through Stories to support story time in EY and KS1 and we have a 10 minute daily vocabulary session linked to the previous week’s story. KS2 classes have a whole class novel (every child has a copy of the text) and they also read a selection of supporting texts including poetry, song lyrics, non-fiction and articles.

Jane Considine Hooked on Books:
In Key Stage 2, we follow Jane Considine’s Hooked on Books two week timetable with a daily 30 minute reading session. There are 3 types of lessons over the two week cycle:
Book talk – children work in groups to read a text at their reading level and develop verbal comprehension answers for questions linked to 3 lenses from the reading rainbow.
Demonstration Comprehension – the teacher uses a shared text to model how to answer questions linked to 3 of the lenses from the reading rainbow.
Independent Comprehension – once a week children answer comprehension questions using the same lenses they focused on in the Demonstration Comprehension lesson.

Phonics:
We teach Phonics following Read Write Inc.
From the beginning of Reception until Year 2 phonics is taught daily in homogenous groups by members of staff trained in Read Write Inc.
Children take home phonetically decodable books that they have read in school and a matching book bag book to practice, they also borrow a picture book to share with adults at home.
In Year 1 all children take a Phonics Screening Check. Children are assessed regularly each half term and Fast track Tutoring is used to ensure all children keep up.
Some children in KS2 may still require daily phonics sessions and we use RWI Fresh Start sessions for any pupil in Year 5 and 6 that need it.

Online Resources:
To support the teaching of reading in Early Years and Key Stage 1 we have a subscription to Read Write Inc Phonics ebook library where families can access the books that match their child’s phonetic knowledge and take a quiz.
Key Stage 2 we use Accelerated Reader to support reading. Children are assessed every half term and given a ZPD reading level. Children choose books at their reading level from the school or class library and then complete an online quiz when they have finished to show their understanding of the book.

Parent Workshops:
Throughout the year we invite parents and carers to play and stay sessions in Early Years and Key Stage 1.
These include:
Family phonics sessions
Nursery Rhyme Week
Book Breakfasts

Meeting Authors:
In partnership with St Olaves, we have been lucky enough to meet some amazing authors. Our Key Stage 2 children have met Maz Evans, Robin Stevens and Tom Palmer.
The author James Nicols kindly came into school to donate some books for our library.
The whole school had a workshop with author and illustrator Rob Biddulph and he was kind enough to sign some copies of his books for us.