At Kingsfield, reading is an integral part of our curriculum and children are immersed into it throughout the day. It is taught specifically during phonics and English lessons, but children are practising and applying their reading skills constantly across all subject too.
There are many different methods of teaching and practising reading such as:
- Shared reading (ERICA)
- Group Guided reading
- Spelling/Phonic lessons
- Storytelling
- Individual reading
- Story Time
- Read at Home/Take home books
Reading Schemes
We ensure that our reading schemes encourage children to apply the new phonological knowledge they have gained by providing them with decodable home reader reading books from schemes such as Big Cat Collins Phonics, Oxford University Press and Project X . Alongside these schemes we use Rigby Star and Oxford Reading Tree and a wide range of appropriately levelled real books to ensure children develop a great love of reading and have an opportunity to embed the application of key reading skills.
As children become confident readers, they read books that closely matched to their reading ability. Children are encouraged to read books more than once to focus on different aspects of reading such as building fluency, reading aloud with confidence and verbal comprehension skills.
1st time – to decode and read unfamiliar words or new words
2nd time – to build fluency (read it at a quicker pace and self-correcting as required)
3rd time – for comprehension (the understanding of the story, they should be more fluent, therefore be able to answer questions about the text including inference, when the words do not tell you everything!)
The document below is a chart showing the progression of book bands and links to phonic phases
Developing a love of reading!
At Kingsfield we try to encourage a Love of Reading from the off! There are many things we do to try and create excitement and enjoyment of reading, please click the link below for more information.
In years 2, 3 and 4 children access a range of high-quality engaging texts across a range of genres. These are linked across subjects and areas of learning with teachers sharing them and modelling a range of reading strategies.
Click her for more detailed information on love of reading at Kingsfield!
For more information on reading at home, expectations of the child and parent and other support materials click on the box below!
Assessment of Reading
At Kingsfield reading is assessed regularly and monitored on the school tracking system. In addition, children are continually assessed as to what book band they are reading and their development in phonics in which the two should link. Evidence is gathered from guided reading and ERICA notes, individual reading and phonics to make a well rounded judgement.
From KS1 on wards, all children complete reading assessments each term to provide staff with a reading age.
Liaison with the school SENCO and external agencies is arranged for children who require additional support and reading intervention strategies.
Click on the links below to see end of year expectations for reading:
Nursery Reception
Inspiring Reading at home
At Kingsfield, we expect family at home to read these books with their child 3 times a week, ideally daily and make comments in their child’s reading record. By the time children leave Kingsfield they are competent readers who can recommend books to their peers, have a thirst for reading a range of genres including poetry, and participate in discussions about books, including evaluating an author’s use of language and the impact this can have on the reader.
We recognise that reading at home can sometimes become a struggle for some parents, especially when they have done a full day at school! Here are some top tips to keep them motivated!
Find the right time – don’t leave it too late where your child is too tired, the library reading book is a great book to share at bedtime as it will be you doing most of the talking!
Find the right place – get comfy! Find somewhere quiet where you can snuggle up together and have 5 minutes reading.
Little and often – Little and often is far better than trying to read the whole book twice a week. It would be much more beneficial to read daily but just a couple of pages – drip feed, practise and apply!
No distractions – Make sure there are no distractions. Have they had a drink, maybe a snack before hand so no excuses. Could even have a biscuit whilst reading!
Take turns – There is no reason why you can’t read a line or few, especially if you can see them going off task. Just say ‘Oh can I read this line!?’
Be positive – PRAISE, PRAISE, PRAISE! If they get stuck, help them – model to them, that is fine – you are teaching them.
The link below is a more detailed document of reading at home, expectations and ways to support.