Let’s Get Reading! Introduction and thank you for inviting me Literacy has been at the forefront of educational reform for the past five years Have seen great gains in achievement for children at all stages of their education. The NLS has shaped the way reading, writing, S & L are taught. Wherever children are taught across the country schools will have adopted NLS and it will have made a difference to children’s education Money into schools for resources and training Teachers recognise that reading is at the heart of learning both at school and as children move into adulthood Also recognise that home environment and home support shapes way see themselves as readers

Reading is a basic life skill Reading is a basic life skill. It is a cornerstone for a child's success in school, and, indeed, throughout life. Without the ability to read well, opportunities for personal fulfilment and job success inevitably will be lost. -- Becoming a Nation of Readers: The Report of the Commission on Reading

By reading with your child you are Stimulating imagination Helping develop language skills Demonstrating that reading is important Giving a great start to your child’s education So why read Talk through points Develops creative ideas Opportunity for talk Primary is only beginning - long way ahead - reading is important for all subjects

So why is reading so important? It helps children to develop curiosity about words. Reading helps to increase vocabulary development. Children learn how language works. Good writing starts with good reading. Helps children to understand the world around them. Research has shown that reading has a direct link to academic success and good job prospects . Crucial to learning and becoming an independent learner

What makes a good reader? Learning to read What makes a good reader? Decode Comprehension Attitude Helpful to know how we read What is going on? Very complex - have not cracked it by seven - or eleven Set of building blocks which need firm foundation Decoding - knowing letter sounds, letter stings, recognising words, using pictures, understanding how words work in sentences - both fiction and non-fiction Understanding - once decoded can talk about what is happening - get information from the text - but also read between lines think about why stories are exciting, predict, talk about characters, skim scan for information Respond - begin to be more critical, have opinions - likes dislikes, know why one text is more useful than another. Attitude - most important - need to value reading see as a life skill as well as pleasure - will get much more from it Respond

Reading in other subjects Reading in School Independent Reading Story time Shared Reading Guided Reading Individual Reading Reading in other subjects So what happens in school? Most lessons will involve some reading or development of some reading skill. Talk through each aspect During shared and guided reading teacher teaches reading skills ie contextual cues, re-reading something does nor make sense modelling decoding etc - this a key change since introduction of NLS - before hearing children read but not necessarily teaching now teaching very focused - skills gradually built up Individual reading is important because this is where the children practise the skills taught in reading. Teachers monitor individual reading but shared and guided is where the key teaching takes place. Signs around school Whole class texts

Guided Reading Children read in small groups with children of a similar ability (usually on the same book band) Specific reading skills are taught and assessed during the session We will stamp your child’s book when they have taken part in a guided reading session

Book Banding at St Pauls A variety of reading schemes banded into coloured boxes. Within each box is a range of reading schemes and a wide range of texts – fiction ,non fiction, plays, phonics reading books. Bands get progressively harder A good book should be 95% ease and 5% challenge Yellow Green Pink Red Blue

So what can we do at home? Lots Most important to believe in your child Reading is a difficult - made up of a complex web of skills Children are just learning how to bring these skills together at the primary school and understand themselves as readers - need nurturing, not all will progress at same pace. Apprentice readers Try not to compare or worry Won’t always be smooth - sometimes plateau then make another jump Lots can be done at home

Be a good role model Read lots yourself - be seen reading! Talk about what you are reading Look for reading opportunities in everyday life Read to your child Be willing to share different books and texts Most important thing is to value reading yourself Invite talk about what you are reading ‘listen to this…’ ‘ have you seen…’ ‘ you should read…’ Newspapers, maps, cereal packets, cinema times, locating something in supermarket Read to your child - definitely most valuable even children who don’t like reading will listen to books Joke books magazines internet pages argos catalogue leaflets etc Share in the experience

Let your child see that reading is important in your life. A good ten minutes reading is better than a difficult half hour Reinforce from previous slide Children are influenced by what you think and believe in - they pick up things that are said and unsaid both at home and at school Is yours a reading home? Basket of books Books for car journeys Children’s bookcase Recipe books/ how to books Attitude! Be Positive!

So what should we read? CD roms TV listings Books Magazines Newspapers Internet pages packets messages A few ideas The reading book that children bring home is just small part - opportunity to practice skills learned in school but other opportunities to practice which are real and relevant Give purpose to reading Signs and captions leaflets teletext instructions

Helping your child to become a confident and expressive reader Talk about the text Ask questions and make predictions. Encourage your child to point underneath the words. Offer your own ideas Encourage the children to make up their own stories. Use the pictures for clues. Support school reading. Most important to talk about it not just read - that’s where children develop deeper understanding, respond and foster positive attitude Readers don’t just read Don’t expect it all to happen overnight - takes a long time for children to really learn to read and not have to think too much about it. Your children just starting out and having the right start can make a big difference to the final outcome - not at eleven but when become independent thinking adults who have many choices to make. Hope that has been helpful in focusing on the importance of good partnership between home and school. Any questions Enjoy !

Why did Ravi say they can’t play there Why did Ravi say they can’t play there? How was Ravi feeling how do you know? Do you the big will let Josie and Ravi play on the tyre?

Why was mum cross? Why was scruffy looking sad?

Phonics Phonics is an approach to teaching reading and spelling that enables a child to identify, Blend and segment the individual ‘phonemes’ or sounds that combine to form words

What is a phoneme? A phoneme is the smallest unit of sound in a word. In English there are 44 different phonemes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwJx1NSineE

What is a grapheme? A grapheme is a symbol of a phoneme, that is a letter or group of letters representing a sound. There is always the same number of graphemes in a word as phonemes. The alphabet contains only 26 letters but we can use them to make all of the graphemes that represent the phonemes of English.

c a t b ir d f i sh kn igh 1 2 3 phoneme grapheme Terminology A sound in a word A letter or sequence of letters that represent a phoneme. 1 2 3 c a t b ir d f i sh kn igh These words each have three phonemes (separate sounds). Each of these phonemes is represented by a grapheme. A grapheme may consist of one, two, three or four letters.

How many phonemes are there in the following words?

v e t

f or k

t ee th

ee n z ch i m p a

Blending and Segmenting Blending and segmenting are reversible key phonic skills. Blending consists of building words from their constituent phonemes to read. Segmenting consists of breaking down words into their constituent phonemes to spell. Both of these skills are important.

Sound Buttons bag fish sheep

Phonics at St Pauls Jolly Phonics scheme which introduces actions and activities for the 44 Phonemes. We use a scheme called letters and sounds The children work in phonics groups for 20 minutes every day Phonics is fun, visual and active

Happy Reading!