Reading

Reading

Reading is at the heart of all learning at Low Moor C. of E. Primary School. Guided reading sessions from Reception to Year 6 take place to allow children to share a story and discuss together, supporting one another with words and new vocabulary. Children in EYFS and Key Stage 1 have the opportunity to read regularly with the class teacher as well as being exposed to books in all areas of their continuous provision.

Children have access to a range of fiction and non-fiction texts that compliment other areas of the curriculum and broaden their vocabulary. Topics are planned with a text/s in mind as a focus for the learning taking place during that theme. Reading for pleasure is promoted throughout school and children read independently, with their peers, other year groups and with adults.

To further children’s enjoyment of books, they also have stories read to them daily. In Key Stage 2, children read together as a whole class during a 'read aloud' session and then focus on aspects of reading and comprehension throughout the week during guided sessions. They also read 1:1 with adults regularly, moving through the school reading scheme as their reading progresses. 

Our vision and aim is for all children to read fluently and understand a range of texts appropriate to their age. We aim for children to choose to read widely and often in their own time providing them with a range of opportunities to access books such as in the classroom, the school library and the outdoor little library, accessible for all children and adults involved in school.  

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Phonics

Phonics is taught daily across every year group in school and tailored lessons are planned and delivered to children who require a specific phonic intervention.

Phonics begins before children start school! Staff encourage nurseries, child minders and parents to begin to play listening games as early as possible to prepare children to listen for and identify a range of sounds, tuning in to a range of different types of sounds.

Children in EYFS begin learning sounds as soon as they have settled into school and the Low Moor phonics programme supports children's development through Phase 1 to 6, learning phonemes, digraphs, trigraphs and alternative vowel sounds as it progresses. This programme has been carefully matched to the reading books that children access in school and take home so that they can successfully use their developing phonics knowledge to read texts that are at the level matched to their phonics development. Actions are used to support a kinaesthetic approach to learning, which are provided to parents of children in EYFS so that they can support their child's phonic learning at home.

All Year 1 children in England are required to take a Phonics Screening Check in June. The test is a statutory assessment carried out by a class teacher which assesses a child’s understanding of Phase 3 and 5 digraphs and trigraphs. Children are required to sound out and blend sounds in real and nonsense/alien words, for example, spoon (real) and traig (nonsense).

In the autumn term, parents and carers of children new to Reception will be invited to attend a ‘Fun with Phonics’ session which will help you to support your child at home when reading and writing. To further support your child, a similar session will be held for parents and carers of children in Year 1 before the Phonics Screening Check takes place. These sessions are well attended and highly well received from the feedback provided.  

This will ensure that there is a consistent approach between school and home. However, if you want to help your child at home before these sessions the following websites have some excellent games and resources that you can use and play with your child.

Phonics Play: www.phonicsplay.co.uk

Education City: Free EducationCity Resources

Blend Bingo: www.ictgames.com/blendingBingo_LS.html

Jolly Phonics: https://www.jollylearning.co.uk/

Letters and Sounds: http://www.letters-and-sounds.com

Top Marks: https://www.topmarks.co.uk/

Terminology:

• Phoneme: The sound a letter or letters make.
• Digraph: Two letters that make one sound – sh as in shop, ch as in chop, ee and in bee
• Trigraph: Three letters that make one sound – igh as in light, bright etc.
• Grapheme: The way in which a sound is written.
• Adjacent consonant: A word containing two consonants next to one another – tree, slip, pram, pond, desk, bank.
• Blend: the process of saying the individual sounds in a word then merging them together to make a word – c-a-t cat
• Segment: breaking a word down into individual sounds or syllables – dog, d-o-g.

Reading Spine

At Low Moor C. of E. Primary School, we know that reading is a way of developing children’s imagination but also their language skills. Providing children with a range of texts that have developing vocabulary as they progress through each year group and each reading spine, we are exposing our children to a breadth of language and vocabulary. Pie Corbett’s Reading Spine is a core of books that create a living library inside a child’s mind. It is a store of classics and essential reads that help children engage at a deeper level and enter the world of the story.

Each class has a set of reading books from the reading spine which children can access independently or they are read to as a whole class. Repeat reading of books helps to secure not only the story in a child’s mind, but the language and vocabulary too.

You can find the Reading Spines here:

https://shop.scholastic.co.uk/reading-spine

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Speech and Language

Developing language skills is at the heart of education and learning. Our curriculum ensures that children are taught to speak clearly and convey ideas and meaning confidently in Standard English. In these developing times, staff at Low Moor have identified a high level of need to support many children and families with speech and language. Members of staff are trained to deliver speech and language sessions to support children's speaking and these sessions are shared with parents who are invited into school to take part in these lessons and develop their skills and knowledge on how best to support their child's speaking at home. Support is also provided to local nurseries and child minders to ensure they have the skills to support children's speech and language pre-school. 

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact your child’s class teacher.

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Virtual School Library 

Welcome to the Virtual School Library, brought to you by Low Moor C. of E. Primary school, inspired by Marine Academy.  Please click here to access the library.

In the Virtual Library there is a large collection of popular children’s books to access – just by simply clicking on the book cover.

Having access to high quality texts and books is really important in developing children’s literacy skills and for their own wellbeing. Our Virtual School Library will further supplement the exciting and engaging texts we have to offer currently in school. We want to ensure children whether learning at home or in school have access to exciting, engaging and inspiring texts all year round.