Nursery - Year 1
At Kingsfield reading is immersed into our curriculum. 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:
- Guided reading
- Phonic lessons
- Individual reading
- Story time
- Read at Home/Take home books
Below gives you more information to what reading looks like in each year group (YN-Y1)
Many activities take place which promote pre-reading skills. Children become aware of print in their environment and match pictures and words. Language comprehension is developed by talking and reading to the children.
Initially, as children learn to read, they are given a picture book with no words with the intention that they will share the book and take part in a conversation generated by the pictures. Gradually as the children's knowledge of letters and sounds develop they begin to phonetically decode words. They are also given a library book - this is a book for the adult to read and share with the child, to feed them with rich and wonderful vocabulary that hopefully one day they will use themselves!
Children in reception have opportunities to apply their developing phonic knowledge and skills in the context of shared reading and writing across all subjects.
In reception these are the reading opportunities each child receives:
- Book of the week - each weeks learning is based around a book, which is based around the half term topic.
- Half termly 'class books to know' - a focus story each half term for children to know by heart. This is read, explored through drama and specific role play area linked to it.
- Story time - this happens daily - storytelling or general story time with a book that is chosen for pleasure.
- Reading sessions - all children receive 3 reading sessions a week using a book that matches their phonic ability. Each session has a different focus, decoding, prosody and comprehension. This book from the reading sessions is also sent home for the child to practise.
- Individual reading - using an appropriately pitched decodable book – each child is listened to every 6 weeks by the teacher and they record a teacher reading review. This is a review about the child's phonic and reading journey that half term, celebrating success and next steps.
- In addition to the decodable book, a reading book for pleasure is taken home from the school library
- Daily phonic lessons are taught in ability groups
- Phonics is applied through the provision
- Reading area in the classroom and a box of favorites is available for the children to access.
For children in year 1, children continue to read books closely matched to their phonics knowledge and opportunities continue where the children can develop and apply their reading skills.
In year 1, these are the reading opportunities each child receives:
- Topic linked English book - each genre year 1 covers in English will be based around a high quality text that is linked to current topic.
- Daily phonic lessons are taught in ability groups
- Reading skills are taught in English lessons. Sometimes specific reading skills will be taught during the lesson in ability groups; other times it may be done through the initial teacher input before writing.
- Story time - this happens daily - it is either ERICA, storytelling or general story time with a book that is chosen for pleasure.
- Individual reading - using an appropriately pitched decodable book – each child listened to every two weeks by the teacher and it is recorded in a reading diary; those children who do not read at home have additional reading; books are changed regularly.
- In addition to the decodable book, a reading book for pleasure is taken home from the classroom collection or the school library.
- Guided reading in ability groups for those children that need extra support.
- Reading area in the classroom where children can choose from either the 'box of favourites', the decodable box or the topic book box.
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 mentioned in the panels above, when your child is able to decode and start to read themselves they will receive a book closely matched to their phonic ability. It is recommended that in particular for book banded books pink - gold they are read 3 times.
1st time - to decode and practise phonics
2nd time - to build fluency (read it at a quicker pace)
3rd time - for comprehension (the understanding of the story, they should be more fluent, therefore understand a little more about what is going on in the story)
The document below is a chart showing the progression of book bands and links to phonic phases
For more information on reading at home, expectations of the child and parent and other support materials click on the box below!
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.
More specifically to early reading, children in Foundation Stage start with Lilac wordless books as stated above. We have created activities to go with each of these including cooking, crafts and story-telling to encourage an engagement with and a love for books straightaway.
We also give children the best start we can by teaching them to read as soon as possible but, when they are ready. We want to provide them with the skills they need for their future, reading being a big one! Therefore, this means if a child in nursery is ready to move forward with phonics and decoding then we would support and guide them through that! We work with your child and their needs!
In year 1 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.