Reading at Folly Hill Infant Academy
Reading at Folly Hill Infant Academy Reading starts with listening to stories and sharing books. Teaching reading starts with phonics, and we use a synthetic phonics programme called ‘Little Wandle’ for teaching reading. This method teaches the children the 44 phonemes (sounds) in the English language, linking letters or groups of letters with words. The children in Years R -1 have a daily phonics session. They begin with their early phonics and then this is built on, introducing blending and segmenting words and then learning to read ‘Tricky words’ which do not use phonics. The Little Wandle website can offer advice and support about synthetic phonics.
The children all work in a focused Practice Reading groups three times a week in reception and year 1. This is planned according to the reading level the children are working at and will involve decoding, and language activities. In year 2 they have daily focused reading sessions.
Children read individually to an adult in school at least once a week. – We are also lucky to have helpers who hear readers in school. They will date and initial this in your child’s reading diary. – Reading activities will happen at many other times, linking their skills through curricular learning. An example of this may be researching a topic using information books or online searches.
Children will also take part in shared reading sessions which takes place as a whole class and incidental reading over the day such as reading signs, labels and other environmental print.
Reading Scheme
When your children start school, they will bring home books to enjoy with you ‘Sharing book’ and a ‘Phonic Book’. It is the school’s role to teach reading. However, parents/carers play a vital role, too. It is important that children have plenty of practice reading at home in order to become fluent, confident readers. Your support is needed to help your child practise reading and develop fluency
with a book they have already read at school ‘Phonics Book’. This book needs to be matched to their phonic stage and be fully decodable. If books are sent home that the child cannot decode, it will lead to frustration for the child and you. To ensure that reading at home is an enjoyable experience and does not feel like a chore, we send home reading practice books in which the child can read 95% of the words. It does not have to be a different book every time; it may need to be the same book if the child still needs to develop fluency.
We also use a range of other books, these cover fiction, non-fiction, plays and poetry as ‘Sharing books’. In year 2 once the children are fluent in their reading, they will have the opportunity to select books from our reading scheme within the band they are confident in. We encourage children to read a range of texts through practice reading, individual reading, quiet reading, reading for pleasure, reading partners and they will have the opportunity to select a library book weekly.
These books, together with the reading record, should be kept in the reading folder and brought to school every day so that they are available for any reading activities which may have been planned. A book bag printed with the school logo is available to buy from our uniform supplier.
Helping your child to read at home.
READ, and read and read, read everything, signs, ingredients, recipes, letters, bills! And especially a Bedtime Story. Bedtime stories are a fantastic way to send your child off into a deep sleep. If children are to become lifelong readers, it is essential that they are encouraged to read for pleasure- its great to share that favourite book. If you can’t read one night how about a story on the radio (BBC sounds CBeebies has many).
All (any reading) reading that is done at home must be noted in the reading diary and initialled by an adult. We monitor reading at home closely.
Please support your child by reading their school reading book with them five days a week. This only need be a couple of pages, but regular practice is key to a developing reader. Visiting the local library is a great way of widening your children reading experiences and its free.
Questions you can ask at home whilst sharing books
• What can you tell me about this book so far?
• What sort of book is this? (Poetry, fiction, non-fiction)
• What do you think will happen next?
• Can you tell me about the characters in the story? Why has the character behaved in that way?
• Does this book remind you any others that you have read before? How are they similar?
• What can you see happening in the picture?
• What image comes into your head when you read this text?
• How do you use this punctuation as you read? (Full stop, italics, bold text, inverted comma, exclamation marks)
• What was the funniest/scariest moment in the book?
• What descriptive words has the author used that you would use in your own story?
• Does this book have a contents page/glossary/index? (Non-fiction books) What do you use them for?
Year group questions
Rainbow
- What do you think will happen next?
- What can you see happening in the picture?
- What was the funniest/scariest moment in the book?
- How did the book make you feel?
- Why do you think (the character) did that?
- How do you think (the character) feels here?
Sunshine
- What do you think will happen next?
- What can you see happening in the picture?
- What was the funniest/scariest moment in the book?
- How did the book make you feel?
- Why do you think (the character) did that?
- How do you think (the character) feels here?
- What can you tell me about this book so far?
- What sort of book is this? (Poetry, fiction, non-fiction)
- Does this book remind you any others that you have read before? How are they similar?
Moonbeam
- Can you tell me about the characters in the story? Why has the character behaved in that way?
- Does this book remind you any others that you have read before? How are they similar?
- What can you see happening in the picture?
- What image comes into your head when you read this text?
- How do you use this punctuation as you read? (Full stop, italics, bold text, inverted comma, exclamation marks)
- What was the funniest/scariest moment in the book?
- What descriptive words has the author used that you would use in your own story?
- Does this book have a contents page/glossary/index? (Non-fiction books) What do you use them for?
- Sum up what this book is about.
- What have you learnt from this book?
- Can you explain what this book is about?
Websites with Recommended Books -
https://www.booktrust.org.uk/books-and-reading/our-recommendations/100-b...
https://schoolreadinglist.co.uk/category/reading-lists-for-ks1-school-pu...