Reading

Early Years Foundation Stage and Key Stage 1

We believe that Reading fluently is the key skill that children need to acquire, to be successful in all areas of learning.  Whilst children are in the Early Years, we take every opportunity to share books and stories on a daily basis and use resources such as storysacks and puppets to enthuse learners and encourage a love of books.   Staff model good practice, teaching children how to handle books carefully. We teach our children to develop their awareness of print in the environment and to understand that print carries meaning. Reading aloud with intonation and expression and explaining new vocabulary, helps children to develop an understanding of what is happening in the text.

Once children start to learn phonics during Read Write Inc Phonics lessons, they begin to learn to read accurately and fluently with good comprehension. The phonics books the children read are closely matched to their increasing knowledge of phonics and ‘tricky’ words so that, early on, they experience plenty of success. Across the week, the children practise reading the same text at least three times. This supports their decoding and accurate word reading, fluency and comprehension.

Key Stage 2

When children are confident with all Read Write Inc Set 1, 2 and 3 sounds, and can read 70 – 80 + words per minute, they then read Accelerated Reader levelled books.

Accelerated Reader (AR) is a computer program that helps teachers to manage and monitor children’s independent reading practice. Each child is supported to choose a book at their own level and reads it at their own pace. When finished, they take a short online quiz. Passing the quiz is an indication that the child has understood what has been read.

Each child’s reading level is determined by a Star Reading assessment. Star Reader is a computer-based reading assessment program that uses computer-adaptive technology. The test uses multiple-choice questions and takes approximately 20 minutes to complete. Following the test, each child receives a ZPD, or reading range. ZPD is the range of books that will challenge a child without causing frustration or loss of motivation.

Children choose from levelled books based on their ZPD range recommended by their Star Reading test. These book levels are reported using the ATOS™ readability formula and represent the difficulty of the text. The levels range from 0.5 – 13.5. Class teachers monitor each child’s reading progress and the children take a Star Reader test at the end of each term.