Early Years and KS1 Reading Evening

The Aims of this Reading EveningTo give you a brief insight into how we teach reading and how the children’s reading

progresses from Nursery to Year 2.

To give you some hints and tips about how you can encourage your child to read at home and how you can use questioning to enhance your child’s understanding of a text.

To emphasise the importance of reading for enjoyment and pleasure.

To emphasise the importance of understanding and comprehension rather than simply de-coding. Therefore we believe that quality reading is more important than the quantity of pages or books read.

To give you guidance with helping your child if they are struggling with their reading.

Why is reading so important?• Reading and being a motivated reader has a direct correlation to

success later in life and social mobility.

• Many studies have been carried out and results support this.

• A good reader learns to write

imaginatively and uses ambitious

vocabulary in their writing.

Questioning, picture clues and ‘book talk’

• Take time to ask questions about the text and pictures.

• Ask your child to make predictions about what might happen in the story.

• Try to ask questions which involve inference or opinion.

• Don’t worry about the quantity of reading –two or three pages with questions being asked might be enough for an evening.

Early Years - NurseryReading and the EYFSReading, along with writing, makes up literacy, one of the four specific areas of the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS).

Early reading experiencesTo be ready to start reading, children need to have a variety of skills in place. These early reading skills include matching, rhyming, awareness of phonics and the skills associated with language development such as listening, attention, alliteration and sound discrimination.

In my classroom, we use topics and themes that we are working on, as well as the children’s own interests and passions to set up literacy-rich play opportunities. What do we do to promote reading and the skills for reading in the nursery?• Listening to stories• Re-enact stories – puppet shows and small world play • Children see and interact with print – magazines, shopping lists, books, logos and street signs, spotting

familiar letters (e.g. those from their name in logos and signs around them). • Introducing and using lots of new vocabulary • Books that focus on sounds, rhymes and alliteration • Shared stories • Signed stories on the whiteboard • Pointing to words and pictures as I read - so children are aware that print carries meaning and purpose

Promoting reading in the Nursery classroom

A love of books! Nursery Class Library

“From the day our children are born (yes), to the day they tell us to stop, we should read to them,” says Michael Rosen (pg.39 Good Ideas How to Be Your Child’s and Your Own Best Teacher).

Chatting away in funny voices as you flick through picture books, enjoying interactive eBooks together, listening to stories being told via video or audio and singing nursery rhymes can all spark communication and literacy learning. Essentially it is these ideas and questions the activities promote that create the foundation for developing reading and writing skills.

Three Little Pigs Puppet Show - retelling a familiar story

Modelling a puppet show to the children, using

book language, character voices and intonation and expression. I supported the story re-enactment with props and visual

aids to grab the audience’s attention. Children imitate the

stories and experiences they have enjoyed.

“Children are made readers on the laps of

their parents”

Emily Buchwald

Reception Class

Literacy skills

Autumn Term • Jolly phonics

• Baseline assessment

• First few weeks - letter sound recognition.

• I spy books

• 1-1 reading skills. Children on all levels.

Cursive Writing• Cursive writing links to letter sound recognition

Daily phonic sessions

• Flash cards

• Circle games

• Table top games

• Written activity

Reading

• Blending sounds

• Word walls x4

• Picture books

eesh

ch

ai

th

oo igh

ng

Reading• First reading books

• Reading Scheme - Oxford Reading Scheme

• Reading every night

Assessment

• Tracking

• Profile scores

ELG 09

Reading: Children read and understand simple sentences. They use phonic knowledge to decode regular words and read them accurately. They also read some common irregular words. They demonstrate understanding when talking with others about what they have read.

Reading with your child– good practice• http://

www.bing.com/videos/search?q=teacher+reading+with+a+child&adlt=strict&view=detail&mid=2858F16826FFF5732EEC2858F16826FFF5732EEC&FORM=VRDGAR

Books that will help reading to progress and develop as we build

on phonic knowledge, sight recognition and develop the skills to decode more complex words .

In Form 1 the books are divided into 2 categories:

Oxford Reading Tree

Books that we independently choose to read for pleasure.

Toys Water Worlds Dungeons and Dragons

Global Gardens Our Royal Family A Journey on Safari

In September when the children join Form 1, they will be given a book following on from where they left in Reception, although please be mindful of the 8 weeks holiday as it is natural for the children to regress slightly. I can assure you this is temporary and it doesn’t take long to get back into the swing of things!

It is also perfectly acceptable for there to be a huge range between the children’s abilities with reading… please do not worry! This too is perfectly normal at this stage of development.

It is expected that the children will read 10 mins every night at home and a comment and signature will be recorded in the child’s reading record. Once the book has been completed, a message to let us know, will enable us to change your child’s book onto the next nook in the sequence. The children then just work through the books and will progress through each stage. Children may skip a stage if I feel they need to be challenged further, but I also may ask children to read the books within a stage again to become really secure within that.

Reading in class

Twice a week, your child will be heard on a 1:1 basis. Time spent is between 5-10 mins and it may be that we only get through 4 pages. This is because we will be talking about the setting and asking them questions about some new words and what they mean and getting them to predict what might happen next.

Phonics in class

Each week we will focus on a new spelling pattern or digraph, e.g. ‘ay’ and ‘ai’. We play lots of games to help us remember all the special rules that can be applied. We practise writing a range of words that contain that spelling pattern. The children also receive weekly spellings linked to the pattern/digraph for that week.

A guide to the Oxford Reading Scheme Stages. Remember…. It is not a race! We want children to become accomplished and confident readers. Too much too soon can be damaging, particularly for their confidence when they are faced with a more difficult read that they are just not ready for but have reached a stage by simply racing through the reading scheme.

Helping your child read :

•To know the sounds represented by written letters•To know how to blend the sounds together to make words e.g. cat, dog, flag•To know the sounds represented by more than one letter known as digraphs and trigraphs.

E.g. s t r ee t f l oa t s t i tch

Chunking:This strategy involves your child breaking words into manageable ‘chunks’ to sound out, rather than sounding out each individual letter.

E.g. fan /tas /tic en /vel /ope

Tricky words :Some everyday words in English have tricky spellings and can’t be read by blending. Imagine trying to read the word 'said' or 'does' by blending each letter! These are sometimes called high frequency tricky words. These words just have to be learned by sight and flashcard-type games are a good way to practise these.

Praise, hugs and encouragement:Most importantly of all, your child is more likely to learn to read much faster with lots of praise and hugs.

In Year 2 we continue with the

Reading Scheme up to Stage 15 using

Oxford Reading Tree and Treetops

books. The children can choose their own

books from the set level. Then the children move onto Free

Readers. There is a variety of books to

choose from ranging from adventure

stories, fantasy stories, animal stories

etc.

•There are also specific authors to choose from as well, for example- Dick King-Smith, Enid Blyton, Sally Gardner, Jill Tomlinson.

•The children have free choice, and if they are not particularly enjoying a book, they can change it and try another one.

•We will hear them read 1-1 at least once a week.

•At the end of Year 2 the children should be confident and expressive readers.

•They will be able to retell a story and to talk about the characters and the themes in the story. They will know how chapters in a book work, a contents page, an index, a glossary and how the blurb works.

•They will be able to review a book and say what they liked and disliked about it.

•They will be able to predict what a book may be about and to discuss the reasons for events in a story.

•They will continue to decode unfamiliar words by using their phonic knowledge. Weekly spelling tests will continue to reinforce phonic patterns.

•How to Help:

• Talk about books

• Find a quiet place and time to suit you both

•Read together

•Go to the Library

• Leave notes around the house to encourage reading that require an answer in either written form or orally

• Let your child see you reading

•Most of all make reading fun!

Motivating reluctant or struggling readers

What is the difference?

•Reluctant readers – do not want to read

•Struggling readers – find it difficult to read

Why might a child be reluctant?

•A home with no books or reading

•A lack of reading role-models

•Disenchantment with ‘beginner’ books

•Unidentified reading issues

•Competition from other media

•Book selection may be wrong

*Information taken from Barrington Stokes website

• Switch them on!

•Model reading at home

• Share books

• Take turns to read pages

• Visit the library

• Allow your child to re-read their favourite books (even if they are ‘easy’)

• Use technology (occasionally!)

When might a child be struggling?

•Can’t remember words or sounds

•Finds it hard to sit still and concentrate

•Anxiety over reading

•Speech and language difficulties

•Historic hearing problems (glue ear)

•English as an additional language

•Family history of literacy difficulties (e.g. dyslexia)

•Summer born children - maturity

•Keep calm and carry on!

•Share books with your child

•‘Walk through’ books with your child before they attempt to read them

•Take turns to read pages

What you can do

•Use encouragement, praise and be reassuring

•Play with sounds

•Remind your child to use strategies, such as phonics and picture cues

•Read to your child

•Use technology (occasionally!)

Point out sound patterns in books

Discuss where the soundis, for example ‘ai’ is

usually in the middle of a word whereas ‘ay’ is usually at the end.

Put words into ‘groups’ that sound the same,

to help your child remember them. E.g.

light, bright, night, sight

…FOSTER A LOVE FOR STORIES AND BOOKS!

And finally…