Research shows that children who ‘read for pleasure’ experience higher levels of well-being, engage in learning and are more successful in life. Therefore, our aim at Slimbridge is to give our children access to a wide range of reading materials which enthuse, challenge and ignite their imagination.
Starting from the Early Years, our children follow the synthetic phonics programme: Animaphonics. We use ‘Big Cat’ phonics books as our reading scheme and these are matched to the children’s knowledge.
We are lucky to have a fiction and non-fiction library, which has an wide variety of reading books for different ages, interests and abilities. We encourage children to visit the library regularly to look at books, talk about books and explore genres. Each class has their own classroom library too – our aim is to make reading central to all that we do and help our children develop a love of reading that lasts a lifetime.
Reading is taught in a variety of ways at Slimbridge – but predominantly through the ‘whole class reading’ approach whereby texts are explored together and discussion is centred around the key elements of comprehension: vocabulary, inference, prediction, explanation, retrieval, sequencing and summarising.
How do we choose which books we use?
We want children to feel immersed in their learning, so carefully choose texts which fit well with our curriculum topics. Children’s written work is often inspired by the books we study in our English lessons.
Our Curriculum
Our reading curriculum is always evolving as we continue to explore new authors and books, adapting these to the needs of our children. Our reading curriculum is specific to our school; it outlines books we use within each class and covers a variety of genres and cultures.
Key Learning through Years 1 to 6:
Whilst teaching the whole English reading curriculum as detailed above, we also focus on key elements within the programmes of study, that, if mastered, demonstrate a child’s grasp of understanding of that facet of the national curriculum. These have been taken from guidance published by the National Association of Head Teachers, and are set out for each year group below.
In Year 1, children learn to:
respond speedily with the correct sound to graphemes (letters or groups of letters) for all 40+ phonemes, including, where applicable, alternative sounds for graphemes;
read accurately by blending sounds in unfamiliar words;
read common exception words;
read aloud accurately books that are consistent with their developing phonic knowledge and that do not require them to use other strategies to work out words;
develop pleasure in reading, motivation to read, vocabulary and understanding by:
1. listening to and discussing a wide range of poems, stories and non-fiction at a level beyond that at which they can read independently;
2. becoming very familiar with key stories, fairy stories and traditional tales.
understand both the books they can already read accurately and fluently and those they listen to by:
1. checking that the text makes sense to them as they read;
2. as they read, correcting inaccurate reading;
3. discussing the significance of the title and events; and
4. predicting what might happen on the basis of what has been read so far.
In Year 2, children learn to:
read accurately by blending the sounds in words that contain the graphemes taught so far especially recognising alternative sounds for graphemes;
read accurately words of two or more syllables that contain the same graphemes as above;
read most words at an instructional level 93-95 per cent quickly and accurately without overt sounding and blending, when they have been frequently encountered;
read aloud books closely matched to their improving phonic knowledge, sounding out unfamiliar words accurately, automatically and without undue hesitation;
re-read these books to build up their fluency and confidence in word reading;
develop pleasure in reading, motivation to read, vocabulary and understanding by:
1. listening to, discussing and expressing views about a wide range of contemporary and classic poetry, stories and non-fiction at a level beyond that at which they can read independently;
2. discussing the sequence of events in books and how items of information are related;
3. becoming increasingly familiar with a wider range of stories, fairy stories and traditional tales;
4. retelling a range of stories, fairy stories and traditional tales; and
5. being introduced to non-fiction books that are structured in different ways.
understand both the books they can already read accurately and fluently and those that they listen to by:
1. checking that the text makes sense to them as they read and correcting inaccurate reading;
2. answering questions; and
3. predicting what might happen on the basis of what has been read so far.
In Year 3 children learn to:
develop positive attitudes to reading and understanding of what they read by:
– listening to and discussing a wide range of fiction, poetry, plays, non-fiction and reference books or textbooks;
– using dictionaries to check the meaning of words they have read; and
– identifying themes and conventions in a wide range of books.
read further exception words, noting the unusual correspondences between spelling and sound, and where these occur in the word;
understand what they have read independently by:
– drawing inferences such as inferring characters’ feelings, thoughts and motives from their actions, and justifying inferences with evidence; and
– predicting what might happen from details stated and implied.
retrieve and record information from non-fiction.
In Year 4 children learn to:
apply a growing knowledge of root words, prefixes and suffixes (etymology and morphology) – as listed in English appendix 1 of the national curriculum document – both to read aloud and to understand the meaning of new words that are met;
listen to and discuss a wide range of fiction, poetry, plays, non-fiction and reference books or textbooks;
use dictionaries to check the meaning of words that have been read;
identify themes and conventions in a wide range of books;
read further exception words, noting the unusual correspondences between spelling and sound and where these occur in the word;
check that the text makes sense to the individual, discussing their understanding and explaining the meaning of words in context;
draw inferences such as inferring characters’ feelings, thoughts and motives from their actions and justifying inferences with evidence;
predict what might happen from details stated and implied;
identify main ideas drawn from more than one paragraph and summarise these;
retrieve and record information from non-fiction.
In Year 5 children learn to:
apply a growing knowledge of root words, prefixes and suffixes (morphology and etymology) – as listed in English appendix 1 of the national curriculum document – both to read aloud and to understand the meaning of new words that are met;
increase familiarity with a wide range of books including myths, legends and traditional stories, modern fiction, fiction from our literary heritage, and books from other cultures and traditions;
check that the book makes sense to the reader, discussing the individual’s understanding and exploring the meaning of words in context;
summarise the main ideas drawn from more than one paragraph, identifying key details that support the main ideas;
retrieve, record and present information from non-fiction;
participate in discussions about books that are read to the child and those that can be read independently;
provide reasoned justifications for their views about a book.
In Year 6 children learn to:
apply a growing knowledge of root words, prefixes and suffixes (morphology and etymology) – as listed in English appendix 1 of the national curriculum document – both to read aloud and to understand the meaning of new words that are met;
increase familiarity with a wide range of books, including myths, legends and traditional stories, modern fiction, fiction from our literary heritage, and books from other cultures and traditions;
check that the book makes sense to the reader, discussing the individual’s understanding and exploring the meaning of words in context;
summarise the main ideas drawn from more than one paragraph, identifying key details that support the main ideas;
retrieve, record and present information from non-fiction;
participate in discussions about books that are read to the individual and those that can be read independently;
provide reasoned justifications for their views about a book.