Reading

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Reading is an important skill to learn and benefits a child’s development in many ways.

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Aims:

• for every child to be a reader;
• for early readers to have the skills to decode words in order to be able to read fluently;
• for children to understand what they have read;
• for children to respond with curiosity about what they and others have read;
• for children to become enthusiastic and motivated to read for pleasure;
• to develop children’s confidence in reading a wide variety of genres and text types;
• to develop children’s knowledge of a wide range of authors and illustrators.

Early Reading/Phonics Scheme (EYFS and KS1):

In school we have a Reading Scheme for children who are developing their early reading skills. This means that children’s books will reflect their phonics ability. Research suggests that when books are closely matched, children become more confident readers and enjoyment levels increase as a result. The books will be labelled Independent Read. This is because children should be able to read the book with 95% accuracy to an adult.

Books will only be changed once a week (Friday). This is to allow a child to read the book more than once. Each time we encourage parents/carers to focus on a different target, for example:

Enjoyment Scheme:

In addition to the independent phonics book, every child will take home a book of their choice from the classroom reading area. This book will be labelled Enjoyment. This book is for parents to read to children and enjoy time together as a family.

School Reading Scheme (Year 2-Year 6):

When a child moves on from the Early Reading Scheme they will be provided with a colour banded book from school. This will be matched to their reading ability. We encourage children to read regularly but not to rush through the book. It is important that children understand the text they read and are able to answer questions about it. Click the link below to access a range of questions that you can use to discuss with your child what they have read and gauge their level of understanding for each band.

Children are encouraged to access a range of books at home for the further enjoyment of reading but this must not replace the school reading scheme. On completion of the scheme, children will move onto free readers.

Reading Logs: Seesaw

The importance of communication between school and home is vital in your child’s progress.

Each week your child will be assigned their ‘Reading Record’ activity on Seesaw. The page has been designed in a way that your child can choose how they respond to their teacher about their reading book. There is also an ‘open text’ box for you as a parent/ carer to comment. We value your comments and observations of your child’s reading and look forward to reading your feedback of how well you child is doing. The page you will access will look like the one below.

By using this facility on Seesaw, children are also able to record themselves reading using either the microphone function or the video. It would be lovely for staff to see and hear children in the comfort of their own home, reading to family and experiencing the love of reading.

Whilst Seesaw is a relatively easy app to use, we do understand that it may take time to use it fully. We have created a video guide for you to access in order to help you at home. We have of course asked the children to help us make this guide – they are very often more confident with technology than we are!

Please access the support video using the link below:

VIPERS (Vocabulary, Infer, Predict, Explain, Sequence/Summarise):

As your child becomes more confident with the decoding of words it is important to promote their comprehension. At Junction Farm we use reading VIPERS to help children develop their comprehension skills. It would be great if you can refer to VIPERS when you are listening to your child read at home. See the link below for some suggested questions you could ask. You only need to focus on one skill during a reading session with your child and let us know how they responded using the reading log.

Guided Reading – EYFS & KS1 (Sounds4Life):

Please see below for guidance on how guided reading sessions are taught in EYFS and Year 1.

Guided Reading – KS2:

Please see below for guidance on how guided reading sessions are taught from Y2 to Y6.

Additional Support for Reading:

How we assess reading at Junction Farm

Reading Spine:

At Junction Farm Primary School, we have developed a ‘Reading Spine’ of core, high quality texts for each year group from EYFS to Year 6. Teachers have carefully chosen a selection of books that sit at the very core of the curriculum for their own year group. The books sometimes link to our topics but not always. They are shared with all children in different ways – they may be read to the children, used a stimulus for writing in English lessons or during Guided Reading lessons.

Poetry:

At Junction Farm Primary School, we have developed a ‘Poetry Spine’ of core, high quality poetry for each year group from EYFS to Year 6. Focus poetry has been carefully chosen by teachers and sits at the core of our curriculum. Poetry is taught across subjects and not just in English lessons for example some poems are explored through performance, dance, art or music, whilst others through writing or discussion. Each term children become familiar with at least one key poet. Additionally, we encourage the reading of poetry on a regular basis. This could be a new poem, or old favourite, shared by the teacher, a child or a group performing. We also enjoy listening to poets reading their own work.

Ensuring that children have poetry read to them on a regular basis over the years increases their familiarity with poetry’s many possibilities.

How we enjoy reading at Junction Farm:

World Book Day 2024

A massive thank you to all of the children, staff and parents that made this year’s World Book Day a huge success. The children were so enthusiastic, sharing their reading books in class in the morning. Throughout the day, the children completed a huge range of reading activities and took great delight in designing their World Book Day t-shirts – a huge success! In the afternoon, the children had the opportunity to share their reading book and their love of reading with other children across school – an amazing whole school reading event. A special thank you to Mrs Portas and Mrs Pearson, who came into school to read to the children in Year 1, Year 2 and Year 3 – the children said that you were amazing.

A really lovely day at Junction Farm – “Changing lives through a love of books and reading.”

Mr Men and Little Miss Read-a-Thon

We hosted a sponsored Mr Men and Little Miss Read-A-Thon to raise money to further develop the School Reading Scheme.

On this day, we encouraged all children to come dressed up as their favourite Mr Men or Little Miss character to celebrate 50th years of the book collection. All children took part in the fun run within their class dressed as their characters and also took part in ‘Stop and Read’ intervals throughout the day. KS1 and KS2 were asked to bring in a book from home to read for the ‘Stop and Read’ intervals), whilst Nursery and Reception listened to stories read by their teachers.

Early Years Bedtime Reading session

Teesside Rock Books