Reading at River in Key Stage 1

At River children will learn to read with confidence, fluency and understanding, providing them with the skills required to achieve a lifetime of enjoyment through reading. Children read in school independently, with peers and as a shared class session. They listen to adults and other children read, taking part in paired reading and discussions with their own and other age groups.

During the Early Years, many activities take place which promote pre-reading skills. Children become aware of print in their environment and match pictures and words. Language comprehension is developed by talking and reading to the children. As children gain phonic knowledge they start the process of decoding.

Initially, as children learn to read, they are given a picture book without words, with the intention that they will share the book and take part in a conversation generated by the pictures. Gradually, as the child’s knowledge of letters and sounds develop they begin to phonetically decode words.

Our home reading books are organised into coloured book bands and include books from a range of schemes. Children will also bring a 'Monster Phonics' book home as this is the Systematic Synthetic Phonics program used. These phonically decodable books are chosen to link directly to children's current phonics knowledge and learning.  Through both scheme books and ‘real’ (non-scheme) books, children are taught key comprehension skills using the VIPERS approach:

Children are assessed regularly and move onto the next book band when their fluency and comprehension show that they are ready.

How you can help your child at home with reading.

Daily reading practice will help develop children’s decoding and comprehension skills, although it is not expected that they will read a whole book every night. Children may only read three or four pages, but will spend longer discussing their understanding of what they have read in order to progress in developing their comprehension skills. We would encourage children to read a variety of texts on a regular basis, even taking opportunities to note and read texts in their environment such as road signs, leaflets, information posters, newspapers etc. Please feel free to share these experiences in their home reading record and encourage them to share their opinions about the texts they have read.

Top tips for reading with your child.

1) CHOOSE A QUIET TIME

Set aside a quiet time with no distractions. 10 to 15 minutes is usually long enough.

2) MAKE READING ENJOYABLE

Make reading an enjoyable experience. Sit with your child. Try not to pressurise if he or she is

reluctant. If your child loses interest, then do something else.

3) MAINTAIN THE FLOW

If your child mispronounces a word do not interrupt immediately. Allow your child to self-correct, using their phonics skills. You can always discuss mis-pronounced word at the end of your reading time.

4) SUCCESS IS THE KEY

Until your child has built up his or her confidence, it is better to keep to easier books. Struggling

with a book with many unknown words is pointless because the flow is lost, the text cannot be

understood, and children can easily become reluctant readers.

5) VISIT THE LIBRARY

Encourage your child to use the public library regularly. Remember our school library is open after school

6) REGULAR PRACTICE

Try to read with your child every day. Little and often is best.

7) COMMUNICATE WITH THE SCHOOL

Your child has a reading record book and we would love to hear the children’s opinions of the texts they read and their progress.

8) TALK ABOUT THE BOOKS

There is more to being a good reader than just being able to read the words accurately. Being able to

understand what has been read is just as important. Always talk to your child about the book; about

the pictures, the characters, how they think the story will end, their favourite part. You will then be

able to see how well they have understood and you will help them to develop good comprehension

skills.

9) VARIETY IS IMPORTANT

Remember that children need to experience a variety of reading materials eg. picture books,

hardbacks, comics, magazines, poems, recipes, instructions and information books.

10) RE-READING BOOKS

Re-reading books is encouraged to support children in applying their phonics skills and in order to develop reading fluency

Please see some question stems below, in the VIPERS style we use in school, that you can use to question your child when reading together at home.