Reading

Phonics and Reading at Manor Primary School

Phonics 

In Reception, Year One and Year Two, the teaching of early reading is primarily taught through daily phonics lessons. At Manor, we follow Little Wandle Letters and Sounds where a high quality systematic synthetic phonics programme is followed and children are taught consistently to use phonics as the route to reading all unknown words. All graphemes that are taught are practised in words, sentences and fully decodable books. For this, we use Collins Big Cats Letters and Sounds books that are decodable and match each letters and sounds phase. Children who are not keeping-up with their peers will be given additional practice immediately through keep-up sessions. 

Our aim is for the children to learn to read as quickly as reasonably possible, so they can move from learning to read, to reading to learn, giving them the access to the treasure house of reading. 

Click the links below to see the sounds that your children learn in each phase and year group.  

For more information on how we teach phonics please click here and/or see the video and documents attached below. 

Early Reading

In addition to daily phonics, children in Reception, year 1 and year 2 will take part in three group reading sessions each week.  Children will assessed every 6 weeks and will be grouped based on their phonics knowledge with no more than 6 pupils per group. These sessions will be taught by highly trained  teachers and teaching assistants who will listen to each child read during each session. 

The sessions will focus on: 

• Decoding
• Prosody – reading with rhythm, stress, intonation and expression.
• Comprehension

After the third reading session, children will bring home their phonics books to share and read at home. By this point we expect that the children will be able to read the text fluently with a 95%+ accuracy. 

Supporting your child with reading

Although your child will be taught to read at school, parents can have a huge impact on their reading journey by continuing their practice at home.

There are two types of reading book that your child may bring home:

A reading practice book. This will be at the correct phonic stage for your child. They should be able to read this fluently and independently.

A sharing book.  Your child may not be able to read this on their own. This book is for you both to read and enjoy together.

Reading practice book

This book has been carefully matched to your child’s current reading level. If your child is reading it with little help, please don’t worry that it’s too easy – your child needs to develop fluency and confidence in reading.

Listen to them read the book. Remember to give them lots of praise – celebrate their success! If they can’t read a word, read it to them. After they have finished, talk about the book together.

Sharing book

In order to encourage your child to become a lifelong reader, it is important that they learn to read for pleasure. The sharing book is a book they have chosen for you to enjoy together.

Please remember that you shouldn’t expect your child to read this alone. Read it to or with them. Discuss the pictures, enjoy the story, predict what might happen next, use different voices for the characters, explore the facts in a non-fiction book. The main thing is that you have fun!

Whole Class Reading Year 2 onwards 

Most days we teach a 20-30 minute Whole Class Reading session (WCR)  from year two (once they have completed their Little Wandle journey) to year six. This is when much of the structured teaching of reading takes place. 

Teachers plan a whole class text for the children to work on through the unit. The text is read together with any new vocabulary explored and understanding ensured. Teachers set challenging and enriching follow up activities that link to the text the group has been reading and that develop the different domains of reading skills such as inference and deduction, information retrieval and understanding of vocabulary. We use a combination of tasks to develop greater understanding of reading that will extend the children's thinking. The class teacher keeps a close record of the progress and achievement made by each pupil.

The main skills we cover in our reading lessons are: 

Comprehension Skills 

• Prediction - to use evidence from a text to say what may happen next, what events may unfold or how a character may behave
• Sequencing - to sequence and order events in a text 
• Retrieval - to find and pick out information from a text in order to answer questions about it.
• Inference - to use evidence provided by the author to draw our own logical conclusions
• Vocabulary - to use knowledge of vocabulary (words) in order to understand the text. 

Reading Strategies 

• Prosedy -Fluency  - to read at a comfortable pace without undue hesitation 
• Visualising - a reading strategy that helps children to create a picture in their head of what they're reading.
• Clarifying - to understand meaning of a text by using strategies such as questioning, reading on to gather meaning, using a dictionary to clarify word meaning and using our knowledge of a text or real life experiences. 
• Questioning - to question what you have read to make your understanding of the text clearer.

To help our children learn and use these skills and strategies, each lesson is focused on one of the areas above. We use  Twinkl's 'Reading Dogs' to help teach these skills in a more child friendly way. 

Meet.... 

Accelerated Reader (AR).

To support our whole class reading sessions  we have adopted the Accelerated Reader program as part of our comprehensive English curriculum here at Manor Primary. The only way to become really good at understanding what we read is through practice. Reading is a skill; so just like an athlete, if we have a good coach who teaches us ‘how’; it is up to us to practice perfecting that skill. The only way to get better at reading is to … READ!

What is Accelerated Reader?

AR is a program used to motivate pupils to increase their reading & vocabulary comprehension and guide them to independent reading. AR is a very popular reading program; used in nearly 60,000 schools. There is a proven link between strong reading skills and academic success – great readers make great pupils! This compliments the school’s goal of having each Manor pupil read independently at least 20-30 minutes per day at home.

Online Program

With the AR Online web-based program, our pupils are no longer limited to read only the books in our library to participate. Pupils not only have access to over 1,000 books available through our school library, but the public library, home library & book shops as well. You may check for AR test availability at AR Book Find.

How does AR work?

1. Each pupil is tested & assigned a reading range known as a ZPD (Zone of Proximal Development – basically, the right level of challenge to stretch the child’s ability without being too hard) & given a point goal.

2. Pupils then choose an AR book based on their interest and reading level (ZPD).
3. When they have finished reading the book, the pupil takes the AR quiz to assess comprehension.
4. The pupil earns points for mastering the material on the test. They earn full points by answering all test questions correctly. (Pupils who average at least an 80% on tests taken are considered to understand what they read at an average level.)
5. The class teacher or the child will write in their reading record book when they have completed a quiz and what they scored. If your child scored less than 50% they will be asked to re-read the book, between 50%-100% they will be able to choose another book at the same ZPD point. Once they have scored between 80%-100% 3 times in a row they will be able to move to the next ZPD point in their range. Of course, the class teacher’s professional judgement may mean that some children move up after one or two times or may need to go to the ZPD below. This will be judged on an individual basis.
6. The tests are repeated termly to track changes in ZPD. These tests will help to inform teachers and their planning.

What makes it FUN?

We strongly support the AR reading program. It’s a great way to encourage reading and have a positive, fun experience. Pupils love enjoying reading and are motivated to reach personal points goals and enjoy the challenge of completing quizzes online. We have also introduced an element of competition to see who can read the most words in each class and be a 'Reading Champion' each half term. 

How can you help your child?

1. Promote reading at home: encourage them to read; read to them, let them see you reading & encourage them to carry their book wherever they go – so they are always ready to read!
2. Ask about the current book they are reading and their point goals. Congratulate them when they reach their goal.
3. Donate AR books from our book fairs to the library so we can continue to expand our offerings for the pupils.
4. Cheer on your child and start growing a reader today!

If you have any concerns or queries about this exciting system please speak to your child’s class teacher or Mr Robson