1. Reading Workshop April 2015

2. Our aims are: To let you know what has changed in the new curriculum.
To explain how we teach reading at school.
To suggest how you can help your child at home.

3. 2014 Curriculum – what has changed?
A greater emphasis on reading for pleasure.
A greater emphasis on children being able to discuss their reading.
A focus on developing wider reading skills (reading a range of reading materials, both for pleasure and for information).
Ambitious expectations for reading at home.

4. There are eight main strands to reading
There are eight main strands to reading. We have to make sure we teach children skills in all of these areas:
Decode
Retrieve
Interpret
Organise
Choice
Viewpoint
Context
Perform

5. DECODE (Be a ‘Word Breaker’)
Can you ‘break the words’ and read them correctly?
Can you understand what they mean?
Tip: use a range of strategies to help you if you get stuck .

6. RETRIEVE (Be an ‘Information Finder’)
Can you find information in the text?
What do certain words mean? (Use a dictionary.)
Tip: look through the text carefully and highlight or underline the words which answer the questions.

7. INTERPRET How are the characters feeling? Why did they do or say that?
(Be an ‘Clue Unlocker’)
How are the characters feeling?
Why did they do or say that?
What might happen next?
Tip: unlock information from the clues given in the text.

8. ORGANISE Why has the author organised the book in this way?
How does the way it is organised affect your opinion or help you read the book?
Tip: look at how the text has been set out (e.g. the use of paragraphs and headings).

9. CHOICE (Be a ‘Language Thinker’)
Which words help you understand what is happening?
What techniques has the author used to describe?
Tip: think carefully about the author’s choice and what they have done to make the text interesting and enjoyable to read.

10. VIEWPOINT What can you tell about the viewpoint of the author?
Who do you think the author has written the text for?
What is your viewpoint?
Tip: think about the author’s purpose and the affect on you as a reader.

11. CONTEXT (Be an ‘Explorer’)
What does the book tell you about people, places and history?
What do you now understand or know that you didn’t before?
Tip: look for clues about the setting (where and when) and how this affects the characters.

12. PERFORM What do the words mean?
How can you make your performance entertaining?
Tip: look at the words, structure and punctuation which the author has used. Use the tone of your voice to make it exciting. Be confident!

13. How do we teach reading in school?
Instead of short guided reading sessions, we now devote two hour-long lessons per week to developing reading skills. This gives us the opportunity to tackle a text in greater depth.
Each class is reading a novel in an effort to foster a love of reading. The children also ‘free read/read for pleasure’ once a week for 20 minutes.
We use ‘Read with RIC’ frequently as lesson starters to familiarise children with using the main strands (retrieve, interpret, choice).

14. Reading with RIC
Monday 30th March 2015
Where is Emily sitting in the picture?
How is Emily feeling?
Why has Simon James chosen to show the
letters on the bed next
to Emily?

15. How can you help at home? Listen to your child read daily.
Encourage your child to read a range of texts, not just their school reading book (e.g. look at a newspaper together, find out about a topic of interest using an information book, read and follow a recipe).
Encourage your child to choose their own books to read – visit the library.
Ask your child a range of questions about their reading.

17. Please do not remove any resources.
Please feel free to ask questions and look through the resources.
Please do not remove any resources.