St Joseph's CatholicReading
Reading is at the heart of all of our learning at St Joseph's. We understand that reading is a fundamental life skill and we aim to teach children to become confident and competent readers by learning how to word read, by developing comprehension skills which children can apply across the curriculum, as well as developing a life-long love of reading for pleasure. We do this in a variety of ways and our approach to reading is multifaceted.
Reading in school
| EYFS | Children in our pre-school and reception year groups have daily phonics sessions, along with multiple story times a day where books are read aloud to them. Reading is encouraged through various opportunities throughout the school day and books may also be the stimulus for learning in other curriculum areas. |
| KS1 | Daily phonics sessions and story time continues through to Key Stage 1. Children also experience whole class reading comprehension lessons each week, where texts are read together as a class and children begin asking and answering questions about what they are reading. These develop the key skills of retrieving information; sequencing events; understanding vocabulary, making inferences and making predictions. |
| KS2 |
Children in Key Stage 2 have 3 whole class reading comprehension lessons a week. These sessions involve exploring a variety of different texts as a class and discussing them together to gain a greater understanding. These lessons develop the key skills of retrieving information; summarising the text; understanding vocabulary, making inferences and making predictions. They also are read aloud to daily in their class reader time. Classes explore different text options and vote for which one they would like to hear read aloud to them by their teacher. |
Supporting at home
Parents are actively encouraged to be involved in their child’s reading journey throughout their time at St Joseph's. Here are some ways this could be done:
- Concentrate on reading quality texts at an appropriate level (it isn’t all about reading lots!)
- Ask your child lots of questions about what they are reading (see example questions document in resources section below).
- Set aside daily time in your child's time at home for reading - either together or independently. It is important that you hear your children read, and that they hear you too!
- Ensure your child is completing their reading record book daily and signing this.
- Share the joy of reading with your child! Regularly talk and laugh about what they're reading, get them to share their current with friends and family too.
Helpful resources
Accelerated Reader
For children in Key Stage 2, Accelerated Reader (AR) is used to motivate students to increase their reading comprehension and guide them to independent reading. It is a computer program that helps teachers manage and monitor children’s independent reading practice. Your child selects a book at his/her own level and reads it at his/her own pace.
When finished, your child takes a short quiz on the computer at home - passing the quiz is an indication that your child has understood what has been read. AR gives both children and teachers instant feedback based on the quiz results, which the teacher then uses to help the child set targets.
For more information on how to use Accelerated Reader from home, please watch the video assembly recorded for children in school using the link below.
https://www.loom.com/share/e15e6b3ca9e1483d9a521daa825b6928
Accelerated Reader login page - click the link below
https://global-zone61.renaissance-go.com/welcomeportal/6709510
Reading Newsletters -
Here are some recommended reads for each year group for this term.
Reading Newsletters - Spring
Here are some recommended reads for each year group for this term.