Reading in Years 1 to 6
Reading in Years 1 to 6
Here at Two Gates we love reading! We read in class, we read for pleasure and we read across our curriculum. Our pupils enjoy lots of high-quality reading time including reading buddies with Year 2 and Year 6.
Reading for pleasure
We love to read widely at Two Gates. To make sure our reading for pleasure texts are purposeful, relevant and varied, we have an author and text focus each term for all of our year groups so that we read a range of fiction, non-fiction and poetry without repetition throughout our school life. These are the texts we enjoy our teacher reading to us in class:
Reading competitions, rewards and events!
We engage and motivate our pupils with a range of reading competitions. Currently we have launched a reading BINGO activity where pupils complete a range of reading challenges at home in order to gain termly rewards at school, including certificates, book marks, wrist bands and end of year badges.
To motivate and share our reading at home, each class has set up a reading scrap book where pupils are specially chosen to take home a scrap book and complete a double page spread all about a book they have chosen to read and this is then shared with the class! What does the scrap book look like in your child’s class?
Each year we celebrate World Book Day! This year we dressed up as our favourite characters as well as running a book sale!
Here are our world book day images:
Author Workshops
Each year we plan a ‘meet the author’ day where each class experiences a workshop with an author. This year we were excited to welcome Daniel Thompson to school!
We also engage in online author workshops across school each year. Here are some of our ‘meet an author’ workshops:
Parent workshops and stay and read sessions:
We invite parents in throughout the year to join us for parent reading workshops and stay and read sessions with a focus on learning to read as well as reading for pleasure:
What do our children say about reading at Two Gates?
“I like reading because I love animal books.”
Year 1
“I love how you can relax and you just get to read and it’s peaceful.”
Year 2
“I love reading and you can learn more about things. I like information books.”
Year 3
“I like how the story carries us through the book and it can be so adventurous and you don’t know what happens next!”
Year 4
“I like reading because when you’re stressed out and you read it makes you feel better.”
Year 4
The Teaching of reading at Two Gates
English Intent
At Two Gates we provide a progressive text based English curriculum implemented in a way that integrates teaching and learning of both reading and writing; this is to ensure that the texts children read and study have an impact on their writing too. Texts are carefully chosen for each year group to ensure they are appropriately challenging, inspirational and progressive. Where possible, the texts chosen link with subjects/themes currently being studied in the curriculum, so that learning is holistic and vocabulary acquisiton is purposeful and relevant.
Reading Intent
In Early years (nursery and reception) and KS1 (Year 1 and 2), word reading is the focus through our rigorous and progressive Read, Write, Inc (RWI) phonics programme, ensuring children enter KS2 as readers. In reading lessons, whole class teaching takes place using the inspirational texts for both word reading and comprehension.
Phonics Intent
At Two Gates, we are passionate about ensuring all children become confident and enthusiastic readers and writers.
Read, Write, Inc (RWI) phonics provides the foundations of learning to make the development into fluent reading and writing easier. Children learn to read fluently and at speed so they can focus on developing their skills in comprehension, vocabulary and spelling. Reading fluency is prioritised in Years 3 and 4, once pupils are confident readers. Through RWI phonics children learn a simple alphabetic code followed by a more complex code. All reading books progress cumulatively, matched to the sound’s children are learning and already know. The teaching of phonics is of high priority and is taught daily through Early Years and Key Stage 1.
Read Write Inc. Nursery to Year 2
In nursery, our pupils are taught to listen out for environmental sounds, rhythm and rhyme before moving on to their first experience of Read, Write Inc in the summer term. In reception, Read, Write Inc begins in week 2 with pupils learning their first group of sounds. Pupils continue to follow the programme, taught and tracked by our highly skilled teachers until Year 2 when they have learnt and applied all the skills they need to be competent readers.
Read, Write, Inc Parent GuideDownload
Reading Year 2 to Year 6
Starting with our Year 2 readers and then throughout KS2 (Years 3-6), word reading underpins comprehension, with a strong vocabulary focus. We use a VIPERS (Vocabulary, Inference, Prediction, Explanation, Retrieval and Summarisation (Sequencing in KS1) approach to questioning alongside teaching key reading skills such as skimming and scanning to ensure children can access the text fully and answer a wide range of question types. Teachers have referenced the OfSTED Research review series: English to ensure the latest research about learning to read is applied in our lessons. For instance, our readers in Years 3 and 4 have a high emphasis on developing fluency and so teachers plan in weekly lessons to increase word reading speed as well as lessons throughout the week that ensure pupils are comprehending what they have read. Children in all year groups also read widely and often across the wider curriculum with texts that match topics taught, again with a strong subject specific vocabulary focus.
What do our children say about VIPERS?
“I really enjoy the different question types. They challenge you and it’s fun finding the answers.”
Year 5
“I like the longer inference questions because I get to write more and extend my answers.”
Year 4
“I enjoy the texts we read. They are so interesting and I always want to find out what happens next. I love it the most when my teacher reads to us.”
Year 6
Books to take home
Each week, pupils in Reception to Year 2 take home a ‘Read, Write Inc’ book bag book, matched to their phonic knowledge to read to their parents. They also visit the library weekly and take home a book to share with their families. Our library stocks fiction, poetry, non-fiction including newspapers and graphic novels to give wide reading opportunities to all our children. All year groups make use of their book corners and pupils enjoy being able to change and select a text from our selections that are rotated termly. In years 3 and 4 pupils take home a banded guided reading book closely matched to their reading ability as well as also choosing a library book every week. But by the time our pupils are fluent readers, they will take home real, unbanded books from their book corners and library to read in school and at home to promote their reading for pleasure. They also continue to visit the library weekly.
How you can help
Please read with your child and encourage them to read their book at home. 15 minutes every day can make a huge difference to their confidence and fluency. You can also read to them and their school book is a great place to start. If you need any help or inspiration, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Reading at home leaflet
Reading assessment
In Read, Write, Inc (RWI) phonics, teachers formatively assess in lessons ensuring they recap on a daily basis and teach to the needs of their ability group. Every half term, Reception- Year 2 pupils are assessed against the RWI assessment programme that informs teaching and groups children by ability.
In reading lessons, teachers assess the children formatively in lessons against their year group objectives for word reading and comprehension and this informs their planning of the comprehension questions and skills taught. Teachers summatively assess pupils at agreed points during the year using reading tests. Termly teacher assessments are moderated to ensure consistency and accuracy of the judgements made.
The reading skills taught:
- Predicting
- Skimming
- Scanning
- Close Reading
- Questioning
- Reading backwards and forwards
- Empathising
- Visualising
- Inferring
Texts covered across school
Please follow this link to our curriculum overview to see the texts we are teaching this year in each class.
