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:

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

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
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
Daily whole class reading lesson with activities focusing on a chosen text
Introduction of reading comprehension

Key Stage Two – Year 3, 4, 5 and 6

Daily catch-up phonics session for targeted individuals
Children identified as needing extra support read with an adult more frequently
Reading books sent home each day for children to read to parents
Whole class reading lesson (comprehension) takes place four days a week

End of the day/during the day story time where the class book is read aloud by the teacher
Each class has a fortnightly library session where children can select books to borrow
Quiet/independent reading for pleasure 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 beencarefully chosen so that they can work out all the words. The other book has wordsyour child may not be able to read yet. It is for you to read to your child and talkabout 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 youcan 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 a sad child. I wonder why he is sad…’

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

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
Keep reading and story sharing sessions a happy experience