Reading
At Turnditch, Reading is at the heart of the curriculum. We aim to develop a love and appreciation of reading which will stay with our children for life. Through a range of carefully planned, daily lessons, children learn to become successful, confident and active readers, drawing on a range of taught reading strategies.
Children in EYFS and Key Stage 1 receive daily 30 minute Phonics sessions, using the Little Wandle programme. The programme is designed to teach the forty-four phonemes of the English language in a progressive sequence. The phonemes are shared between three sets and this engaging programme is designed so that each phoneme has a rhyme to support children’s learning and retention. Read more about our phonics scheme here.
Children in EYFS and Key Stage 1 receive weekly small group guided reading sessions. In each session the children have the opportunity to segment and blend, applying their phonics knowledge to their reading. As a result of these sessions, our children have the opportunity to become more fluent and confident readers.
In addition to their small group guided reading sessions, all children receive whole class shared reading sessions. These sessions follow the structure of VIPERS, where initially each of the six key reading skills are explicitly taught and modelled, by the teacher as the expert. As the learning progresses the lessons amalgamate several reading skills and the children begin to become confident in identifying and utilising each skill independently.
It is during our whole class shared reading sessions that we foster a love for a language rich curriculum and have the opportunity to immerse our children into and expose them to, a vast range of high-quality texts.
All children in EYFS, KS1 and LKS2 read with an adult at least once a week, with specific feedback given to ensure that further practise at home builds on this learning. Children needing additional support are read with daily to help them to make accelerated progress. Fluent reading is constantly modelled to the children through shared reading within whole class shared reading sessions, English lessons and throughout the curriculum, as well as developing a love for reading through class stories, novels and poems.
We want our school to be a place where children are read to, enjoy, discuss and work with high quality books. These ‘essential reads’ would be a store of classics, creating a living library inside a child’s mind. This is the ‘Reading Spine’. We have provided the Pie Corbett reading spine in our classrooms so that children have access to these high quality texts. In addition to these quality reads, we have also provided ‘ 6 To Get You Started,’ for each year group. These books include: a funny book, a classic, a picture book, a poetry book, an adventure book and a non-fiction book.
Pie Corbett says…
Great books build the imagination. The more we read aloud expressively, and the more children are able to savour, discuss and reinterpret literature through the arts, the more memorable the characters, places and events become, building an inner world. A child who is read to will have an inner kingdom of unicorns, talking spiders and a knife that cuts into other worlds. The mind is like a ‘tardis’; it may seem small but inside there are many mansions. Each great book develops the imagination and equips the reader with language.
Great stories speak to us as individuals and some children will return to certain books again and again. Great stories also build our language because around 75 per cent of our vocabulary comes from our reading. Reading develops the ability to think in the abstract; to follow lines of thought. Schools that have a reading spine, build a common bank of stories that bind the community together. These are shared and deeply imagined common experiences.
pie-corbett-with-page-no-1393983.pdf (scholastic.co.uk)
Reception Reading Spine
The books for the 4–5 age group build on the Nursery selection. They still mainly use patterned language but begin to have a stronger emotional connection with the reader. There is also plenty to discuss and to wonder about. Many of them lend themselves to retelling and creating new versions or further adventures featuring the same characters.
Year 1 Reading Spine
The picture books in Year 1 offer deeper exploration of emotions and wonder. They are mainly rooted in the everyday crises of life. Again, most of these books lend themselves to setting up a variety of play situations – using toys, costumes and puppets – but the children also need to be involved in careful reading of the books, paying close attention to the detail and entering imagined worlds to experience the stories deeply – then talking it all through.
Year 2 Reading Spine
In Year 2, it is important to start to move from sharing picture books into sharing chapter books. These will not only provide a meaty read, but also demand that the children use their imagination. Of course, there are also many Reception and Year 1 children who will
sit and enjoy a chapter book and this should form part of their reading experience. Many of the chosen books operate on different levels – from the satisfaction of good stories to the exploration of deeper themes.
Year 3 Reading Spine
Whilst I have selected just one picture book for Year 3, there are many more which will intrigue and provide a challenge for this age group such as The Day the Crayons Quit (HarperCollins) or John Brown, Rose and the Midnight Cat (Puffin). Children of this age need a great storyline, but should also be experiencing deep and rich books.
Year 4 Reading Spine
This selection covers a range of stories that extends to fantasy as well as introducing Anne Fine’s wonderful books. I came across Perry Angel’s Suitcase by Glenda Millard in Australia. It is a deeply moving book, both sad, but also full of hope – a lovely book. Read it yourself before reading it with the children to judge whether it is right for your class.
Year 5 Reading Spine
It was only when I had made my list for Year 5 that I realised how animals feature heavily – cats, wolves and foxes! These are romping reads as well as stories that touch deeply. I have listed them in a suggested order that leads towards what I would say is the greatest novel ever written for children.
Year 6 Reading Spine
Here is my selection of great novels for Year 6 children. Do also look out for Doris Lessing’s Through the Tunnel (HarperCollins), which is a fabulous and challenging short story. These books are the reading rites of passage that pave the way for the great literature that lies ahead. The books are intense reads, meaty books that are crafted beautifully. They will stay with the reader forever. These books are life-changers. Do read them before sharing with the class as some touch on challenging themes.
‘6 To Get You Started.’
These books are recommended by Mister Bodd:
6 to get you started | Mister Bodd