Developing as a Reader through Infants What we do in school and how you can help your child at home St. Aldhelm’s Church Primary School

Our School Aims for Reading To teach children the necessary skills to enable them to become fluent and independent readers. To develop a love of reading. To develop and extend the skills of analysis, prediction and interpretation. To enable children to respond to a range of texts and show an understanding of ideas, themes, events and characters.

Key aspects of Reading oWord recognition: odecoding - phonics osight reading of High Frequency words oComprehension: ounderstanding and interpreting texts oengaging with and responding to texts oEnjoyment and Confidence

Simple view of Reading

We encourage ‘phonics first’ approach: Developing the technical skills of working out what the letters say – decoding –Daily phonic sessions, for reading and spelling –Regular practice at sight reading High Frequency words, corresponding to Letters and Sounds phonic phases –Guided reading sessions with a phonics focus

Shared and guided reading We do lots of shared reading of texts within English time, from the Interactive Whiteboard and from Big Books, noticing words, predicting, discussing details of plot and character. Guided reading sessions Phonics focus Comprehension focus - prediction, talk about story events, characters, and our responses.

Individual reading Daily opportunities for independent reading within lessons and within dedicated reading time at start of day Timetabled 1:1 reading with teacher, teaching assistant and adult volunteer readers, often at lunchtime NB: Many schools no longer require teachers to hear children 1:1, but we do, as we value the 1:1 time with the child and ability to monitor /encourage individual progress. Reading targets – helping children to know their next step Children have phonic readers and progress through the colour book-banded scheme books - NOT A RACE !

Always about enjoyment and learning Focused reading tasks – finding out information from books / using ICT, to support learning in eg. Science End of day story time - hearing books read aloud regularly

Texts used Phonic readers: show examples Stories, rhymes, poems and non-fiction (fact) books: show examples

To progress as readers, children in Y1 and Y2 children need to be able to: -sight read High Frequency words -use and apply phonic knowledge -take note of how punctuation is used -develop a broad vocabulary -develop fluency when reading aloud -talk about what they have read, noticing some details -begin to make simple inferences and deductions about how characters are feeling and why -know simple features of fiction and non-fiction texts

Reading Focus Strands In Year One and Year Two, for most children, the main focus is on three of the seven assessed aspects of reading: Read It! (AF1) Use a range of strategies including accurate decoding of text, to read for meaning Find It! (AF2) Understand, describe, select or retrieve information, events or ideas from texts Think about it! (AF3) Deduce, infer or interpret information, events or ideas from texts AF3 is a key aspect for children’s comprehension, as it is about children taking the step from being ‘readers of words’ to ‘readers of meaning’.

National Tests at KS1 Phonics screen in June of Year 1 –pass/fail (Government speak!) –real and nonsense words –testing PHONIC SKILLS End of KS1 Reading Test in summer of Y2 –tests ability to read a quantity of text accurately, recall key points –testing COMPREHENSION

So how can you help? Ten ways you can help your child to be a great reader

1 Encourage your child to enjoy reading eg. picture books, rhymes, stories and non-fiction books related to their latest interest…

2 Listen to your child read …REGULARLY Establish a daily ‘read to me’ routine’: At this stage, children need this daily practice. Regular reading aloud to an adult helps children build stamina and to work on expressive reading. It also allows them to ask about the meaning of unknown words and to discuss the story or information they are reading. Parents/carers need to make a brief comment and sign their child’s reading journal each time. See our Reading Miles Booklet.

3 Talk to your child about their reading Ask them questions, to get them making predictions of what will happen and why spotting how someone is feeling talking about: characters, places and events; their likes & dislikes. Use your child’s reading target (sticker/bookmark) to support their reading development at home.stickerbookmark Discuss the meaning of unknown words: this is hugely important as studies have shown that VOCABULARY development is CORE to improving your child’s comprehension of more advanced texts.

Example Level 1 Stickers

Example Level 2 Bookmark

4 Help your child to take pride in their Reading Journal Encourage your child to see themselves as a reader who thinks about what they read, by getting them to draw or write (with support) about what they have read. Make sure your child completes their reading homework carefully.

5 Read to your child regularly – bedtime story Children LOVE it! and there are HUGE benefits… You can read ‘higher level’ books to them… You can bring stories alive with voices… You can explore some of the big themes which affect your child’s life (friendship, family, worries, funny events…)

6 Vary the voice! Story tapes/story CDs Dad/Mum/Grandma/Older siblings 7 Make sure your child sees you reading – then they will value it. This is especially true for boys. 8 Visit bookshops 9 Join your local library in Shepton 10 Reading Rewards – money ONLY to spend on books, magazines or comics

Curl up with a good book…or magazine… or comic… Book Club: every Thursday lunchtime Our School website – Classes page – for further advice and links to book websites

Ten ways your child can help himself/herself become a great reader Practise reading every day Practise reading every day Practise reading every day Practise reading every day Practise reading every day Practise reading every day Practise reading every day Practise reading every day Practise reading every day Practise reading every day

Home-school reading partnership: using Reading Detectives and Reading Response Activities Designed to develop children’s comprehension and to improve their depth of response to reading Used within whole class, group and individual reading sessions Used for reading homework

Reading Detectives Illustrator Word Finder Question Finder Feelings Finder Link-maker Actor These are the most pertinent Reading Detectives for children in Year One and Two.

Illustrator Draw what you read about – a picture, cartoon or diagram. Label with phrases from the text to show why you have drawn what you have drawn. AF 1 and AF2 Word Finder: Look for words that are interesting or confusing or new. Write them down and, where necessary, look up their meaning in a dictionary. Use them in a sentence. AF1, AF2, AF4, AF5

Question Finder Make up questions about what you have read. Where, what when, who, how, why etc… for someone else to answer. Put the page number next to the question. Also, write the answers (turn page upside down!) so that the person can check if they have the same as you! AF1 – 3, AF7 Actor Prepare and present a passage, reading fluently and expressively and responding to punctuation. AF1, AF3

Feelings Finder Find the parts that tell you about feelings – happy, sad, exciting, scary etc… AF3, AF6, AF7 Link Maker Does the passage or story remind you of something else – a book, film, TV programme, a person or something that’s happened to you? AF3, AF7

And finally… We are always keen to recruit parents and grandparents as Volunteer Adult Readers to listen to children read on a 1:1 basis in school. If you are interested, please see you child’s class teacher.