Reading

 

At Thorntree, reading plays a large part of everything the children do. 

We teach phonics using Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised. We begin by teaching children grapheme-phoneme correspondence so that they know what sound each individual letter makes. Alongside this we teach the skill of blending so that children can read words made up of these sounds. Once children can read words by blending we send home phonetically decodable books so that reading can be shared with parents and carers. To encourage reading for pleasure, children in Reception and Year 1 can choose a class library book to take home, and children from Year 2 upwards choose a book from the school library.

 

For more information and to access resources, please click on the following link:

https://www.littlewandlelettersandsounds.org.uk/resources/for-parents/

 

 

Reading at Thorntree is supported in many ways, including:

 EYFS – Nursery and Reception

• Book corners in inside and outside areas
• Free access during sessions to book areas
• Range of ‘topic’ stories available in book corner
• Daily whole class Power of Reading/Talk for Writing story session
• Phase 1 phonics session – focusing on sounds

 

Reception

• Daily phonics session in line with Little Wandle Letters and Sounds phonics programme  
• End of day story time
• Every child reads to Teacher/EYP 3 times a week
• Children identified as needing extra support read to an adult more frequently
• Reading books are sent home weekly for children to read to parents
• Children signposted to Oxford Owl to read e-books

 

Key Stage One – Year One

• Daily phonics session in line with Little Wandle Letters and Sounds phonics programme
• End of day story time
• Every child reads to Teacher/LSA 3 times a week
• Children identified as needing extra support read to an adult more frequently
• Reading books are sent home weekly for children to read to parents
• Children signposted to Oxford Owl to read e-books
• Daily whole class reading lesson with activities focusing on a chosen text

 

Year Two

• Daily phonics/spelling session
• End of day story time, incorporating chapter books
• Every child reads to Teacher/LSA once a week
• Children identified as needing extra support read to an adult more frequently
• Reading books are sent home weekly for children to read to parents
• Children signposted to Oxford Owl to read e-books
• Daily whole class reading lesson with activities focusing on a chosen text
• Introduction of reading comprehension

 

Key Stage Two – Year Three

• Children identified as needing extra support read to an adult more frequently
• Daily phonics session for targeted individuals who require it
• Reading books are sent home daily for children to read to parents

 

Key Stage Two – Year 3, 4, 5 and 6

• Children identified as needing extra support read with an adult more frequently.
• Whole class reading lesson (comprehension) takes place four days a week. Format followed:

Monday – introduction and ‘read aloud’

Tuesday – explore vocabulary

Wednesday – answer a set of comprehension questions

Thursday – go over answers and finish with an evaluation

• End of the day/during the day story time where the class book is read aloud by the adult.
• Children borrow books from the library fortnightly to read at home.
• Each child has a reading record book which is completed in and out of school regularly.
• Quiet/independent reading time every day for at least 15 minutes (free choice of book).
• Open access to class book corners to borrow books, magazines, newspapers etc.

 

 

Advice for parents reading stories to children

Introduction

Your child will bring home two books. One is for your child to read to you. It has been

carefully chosen so that they can work out all the words. The other book has words

your child may not be able to read yet. It is for you to read to your child and talk

about together.

 

How to read a story to your child

If you can find the time beforehand, read the read-aloud book to yourself first, so you

can think about how you’re going to read it to your child.

 

On the first reading:

• Make reading aloud feel like a treat. Make it a special quiet time and cuddle

up so you can both see the book.

• Show curiosity about what you’re going to read: ‘This book looks interesting.

It’s about an angry child. I wonder how angry he gets…’

• Read through the whole story the first time without stopping too much. Let the

story weave its own magic.

• Read with enjoyment. If you’re not enjoying it, your child won’t.

 

Read favourite stories over and over again.

 

On later readings:

• Let your child pause, think about and comment on the pictures.
• If you think your child did not understand something, try to explain: ‘Oh! I think

what’s happening here is that…’

• Chat about the story and pictures: ‘I wonder why she did that?’; ‘Oh no, I hope

she’s not going to…’; ‘I wouldn’t have done that, would you?’

• Link the stories to your own family experiences: ‘This reminds me of when …’
• Link stories to others that your child knows: ‘Ah! Do you remember the dragon

in ….? Do you remember what happened to him?’

• Encourage your child to join in with the bits they know.
• Avoid asking questions to test what your child remembers.
• Avoid telling children that reading stories is good for them.