Reading
Why is Reading so Important?
At Rowanfield Infant School our aim is that by the end of their primary education all children are able to read fluently and with confidence. Evidence shows that engagement in reading has the biggest impact on children’s future success. For this to happen, they need to learn to read as fluently as possible and be motivated to continue reading. We want children to have a love for reading that will stay with them for a lifetime.
What does reading look like at Rowanfield Infant School?
We would love children to read daily at home. However, our minimum expectation is that children will read at least 4 times a week.
Love for Reading
Look at all of the ways we promote a love for reading in our school...
How do we teach reading at Rowanfield Infant School?
The three key components in supporting children with reading are:
Phonics
At Rowanfield Infant School, we follow Essential Letters and Sounds (ELS) to support children with learning to read. ELS is a government validated systematic synthetic phonics programme. For more information please follow the link to our Phonics page or the link below to the Essential Letters and Sounds website.
Decodable reading books are sent home for children to reread at least 4 times a week. This supports children in developing their phonic knowledge and reading fluency. Decodable readers are matched to each child's phonic knowledge so that all children are accessing books with sounds they have been taught and can recall.
Fluency
Fluent decoding allows us to understand what we read. As children gain fluency, their motivation increases: they start to enjoy reading more and are willing to do more of it (DFE, 2023). We use a number of strategies to help children develop their fluency when reading aloud.
One to One Reading
One to One Reading is important for all children. It is a time when phonics and fluency can be developed, comprehension assessed and individual problems tackled. The teacher will hear all children read and extra support is provided by TAs, volunteers and parents.
Paired Reading
During the ELS review lessons, children practice and consolidate their learning through reading a decodable book with a partner. We refer to this as 'paired reading'. This involves both partners in the reading process, whereby one partner tracks the text with their finger while the other partner reads. Children read this text 3 times - once for decoding and blending, again to read it fluently (sight-reading where possible), and a final time with expression.
Comprehension
Reading is one of the principal ways we learn new things. So, a key way to improve comprehension is for pupils to read a lot and read widely. Teachers support reading comprehension strategies through modelling and support children to understand the texts they read. Teachers develop reading strategies including:
-Prediction
-Questioning
-Clarifying
-Sequencing
-Activating Prior Knowledge
Assessing Reading
Reading can be assessed in many different ways.
Formative assessment can be done through:
- Listening to children read
- Asking them questions
- Having a group discussions
- ELS Workbooks
- Phonic Assessments
Summative assessment is done through:
- Phonics Screening Check (Year 1)
- Fluency Assessments
However, these assessments are not be used in isolation to form a judgement of a child’s reading. All aspects and forms of evidence are taken into account in order to build a picture and assess against the year group expectations for reading.
Important Links
To find the National Curriculum English Programmes of Study for KS1 and KS2 click here.
To find the Reading Framework (DFE 2023) please click below.
Reading
