Primary School Literacy Curriculum 2017

Comprehension – Reading skills

What does age expected reading look like?

How do we assess? Fluency – heard read by an adult in school (discretely or as part of a planned lesson) and at home (4 times a week) Expression – heard during reading sessions, assemblies, reading to younger or older children, reading to another adult and drama activities Reading for a variety of audiences and purposes – can they read a range of texts? E.g., poetry, non-fiction, narratives, classic novels Answering questions about the text… (assessed at least twice yearly and ongoing in lessons) Children with specific educational needs will have additional targets on their SSP that will be discussed with the parent and teacher

What should age expected discussion sound like? Further video clips can be found on the school website in the ‘Reading’ section.

Reading domain focus: 2a – vocabulary – what does that word mean, can they identify another word that might mean the same? 2b – retrieval – when, where or what happened? Tell me three things we know about…? How old is…? How is she feeling? Tick the statements that are true… Show parents last years SATs paper as an end of year goal. In year groups look at example 2a and 2b questions linked to texts (Primary Ed resoures)

How do we teacher 2a – vocabulary? Get them to regularly check any unfamiliar words they read. Ask them to read around the word and look for clues. Ask them to think of a similar word and try it in its place – does it make sense? If they are really stuck, tell them the meaning and get them to repeat it. Ask again a few hours / days later etc.

2a questions

2a questions - harder The text says, ‘there, they came to a patch where the stream was wider than before…’ If they come across new vocabulary, get them to think of other words that have similar meanings (synonyms). E.g., curious, inquisitive, nosey.

2a – more challenging The text says, ‘From time to time the little ones played round their parents in unwieldy gambols, bounding into the air and falling with dull thuds upon the earth.’

How do we teach 2b – retrieval? Get them to find keywords in the questions and look for them in the text. Read around the keywords. If the keywords aren’t there, are there any synonyms? Decide on the best possible answer. Let’s try some practise questions!

Reading domains continued… 2d – inference – using clues within the text to explain and justify an answer. E.g., How do we know… is upset? Why do you think … wants to leave home? How difficult was the Guinness Book of Records attempt? Explain fully using evidence from the text. Usually How and Why questions Example questions for all the reading domains can be found on the school website in the ‘Reading’ section. In year groups, look at 2d questions linked to texts.

Formal Assessment – End of Year tests AT the end of every year your child will take a reading comprehension test to assess their progress since September; Each child is targeted to make 6 points progress from their personal starting point in September; The test questions are weighted similarly to the SATs test that Y6 children take (with the highest number of marks available for 2b and 2d domains); In year groups, look at example end of year tests.

What can I do to help? Hear your child read 4 times a week; Ask them questions about what they have read and record any new vocabulary in their reading record for the teacher to see and use; Ask them for other words with similar meanings and keep going back to new words from the previous day / week etc. Encourage reading aloud and expression to help them understand what they are reading. Get them to pause as punctuation marks etc. Ask them retrieval questions or how and why questions.

www.readtheory.co.uk Ensure they access www.readtheory.co.uk as part of their 4 weekly reads; As a rough guide, their grade on readtheory should be one less than their current year group i.e. Year 6 – Grade5 (5G) Year 5 – Grade 4 (4G) Year 4 – Grade 3 (3G) Year 3 – Grade 2 (2G)

www.lovereading4kids.co.uk Encourage them to read age related texts – www.lovereading4kids.co.uk – and a range of texts such as poetry, fiction and non-fiction;