Reading in KS1
Our reading in the Early Years and in Key Stage 1 is tightly linked to our writing as we use the Talk for Writing approach for a big and important immersion into a story every half term. We follow this process:
The children hear a story being read to them. They learn to orally recite the story (using story maps co-created as a prompt) and they act out the story. Once the children know the text really well they 'read it as a reader'. This involves in depth discussions around the text, focussing heavily on vocabulary and oral comprehension. The children are encouraged to express opinions on their likes and dislikes regarding the text in order to improve their own writing.
Reading comprehension strategies such as: summarising, imaging, predicting and making connections are taught explicitly.
Texts taught using this approach are:
|
Term/ Year Group |
Reception |
Year 1 |
Year 2 |
|
Autumn 1 |
Goldilocks
|
Billy Goats Gruff |
Rumplestiltskin |
|
Autumn 2 |
Little Red Hen
|
Cinderella |
Hansel & Gretel |
|
Spring 1 |
Jack & the Beanstalk |
Farmer Duck |
Meerkat Mail |
|
Spring 2 |
We’re going on a Bear Hunt |
The Tiger who Came to Tea |
Traction Man |
|
Summer 1 |
The Hungry Caterpillar |
Peace at Last |
The Lighthouse Keepers Lunch |
|
Summer 2 |
Dear Zoo |
Dogger |
Whole class text transition into juniors: Fantastic Mr Fox |
We also use a range of well-loved children's books and poems as well as non-fiction to support our English teaching throughout the year.
Reading in KS2
We teach reading through whole class books and occasional extracts. Each class has set texts and we have 30 copies of each. These have been carefully chosen for quality and appeal.
|
Year 3 |
Year 4 |
Year 5 |
Year 6 |
|
The Tear Thief by Carol Ann Duffy |
The Iron Man by Ted Hughes |
Holes by Louis Sach |
War Horse by Michael Morpurgo |
|
The Witches Tears by Jenny Nimmo
|
The Butterfly Lion by Michael Morpurgo |
Kensuke’s Kingdom by Michael Morpurgo |
Shadow by Michael Morpurgo |
|
The Hundred Mile an Hour Gog by Jeremy Strong |
The Witches by Roald Dahl |
Charlotte’s Web by EB White |
|
|
Diary of a killer cat by Anne Fine |
The Hodgeheg by Dick King Smith |
Krindlekrax by Philip Ridley |
|
Throughout the year we also use extracts, non-fiction texts and poems.
We focus on teaching children to understand the vocabulary within the text, how the text relates to them and teach them explicitly the reading skills of inference, prediction, explanation, retrieval & summary.
Our vocabulary teaching offers rich information about words and their uses. We want our teaching to provide frequent and varied opportunities for children to think about and use words that will enhance their language and comprehension.
It’s much more effective to learn about words orally because of the body language and the intonation.
Reading aloud and regularly discussing words will add much more than simply relying on incidental exposure to words through the whole class reading book.
Day 1. Vocabulary day
Day 2. Text to self / text to text / text to world
Day 3. Skills teaching (VIPERS)
Day 4. Reading Comprehension (VIPERS)
Day 5. Reading Comprehension (VIPERS)
The daily class reading book (in addition to whole class reader):
Each class has a book on the go that the teacher reads at the end of each day. This could be a novel with chapters, picture book, non-fiction book or poetry. It should be a relaxed time where children unwind at the end of the day, listening to a book being read really well.