Reading
"The more that you read, the more things you will know.
The more you learn,
the more places you'll go."
Dr Seuss, 'I Can Read With My Eyes Shut!'
At Great Hockham Primary and Nursery School we aim to equip every child with the skills and enthusiasm to become independent and confident readers. We want our children to love books and to read for pleasure so daily exposure to high quality texts is a crucial part of our pupil's days at home and at school.
How we learn to read...
Phonics:
All pupils in EYFS and Key Stage One take part in daily phonics lessons. These sessions follow the structure of Little Wandle - Letters and Sounds Revised, teaching children to recognise and blend phonemes to read words accurately. Big Cat Phonic Decodable Books are used as part of the phonics lesson, allowing the children to instantly apply their skills into reading a real book.
Big Reading:
Big Reading has been introduced across the whole school to help children develop their reading and comprehension skills.
With the help of Rex Retriever, Dood Detective, Ansa Analyser and Expi Explorer, children are taught the five key skills needed to become fluent confident readers.
Read: To be able to decode the words.
Retrieve: To recover, call back, recall, regain information from the text.
Explore: To look more closely, scrutinize, examine the authors use of language and viewpoint.
Analyse: To break down into components or essential features, e.g. text conventions, structure and organisation.
Deduce and Infer: To derive as a conclusion from something know, assumed or reasoned.
To support these skills we give the children opportunities to;
Create a visual - Visualize what is happening in the text.
Make a connection - What is the author's message?
Question - Good readers always think and wonder.
Determine the importance - What is the most important part of the text?
Infer - Use background knowledge and clues to make an inference.
Synthesize - Summarize a text.
Notice the author's craft - think critically about a text and make a personal response.
Reading Ambassadors:
Some of our Year Six pupils are reading ambassadors for the school. These children are wonderful role models to our younger children. They help children access books in our welcoming library, and run story club activities for the children to enjoy.
Mystery Readers:
Pupil's have been enjoying a 'Mystery Reader' coming into school to read them a story at the end of the day. Parents, grandparents, brother and sisters, have kindly shared some of their favourite stories with the children. The children enjoy the anticipation about who the mystery reader will be, as well as enjoying a range of exciting texts. If you would like to be a 'mystery reader' please let us know. You are always welcome!
Parents:
Often we are asked by parents how they can help their children to learn to read. Listening to and reading with your child every day is the best way to help them. Chat about and enjoy books together. We are lucky to have a group of parents who come into school each week and listen to children read. If you would like to volunteer please let us know. Keep an eye on our schools dates too for reading cafes and workshops for you and your children to enjoy together.
Reading Scheme Books for Children
Children in EYFS and KS1 have access to decodable texts to share at home with their families. These books are matched closely to their phonological awareness and the children are encouraged to re-read these books three times to build their confidence and fluency. As the children become secure with all 5 phases of phonemes, they begin to select appropriate 'real' books to share at home. The children are encouraged to read a range of fiction, non-fiction and poetry.
