Amble Links Primary School Logo

Reading at Amble Links

Little Pebbles 2 Year Old Provision 
In our ‘Little Pebbles’ 2 year old provision children are exposed to daily stories and songs and are introduced to a small number of favorite texts that they get to know really well through the use of props and actions. Their reading development is supported by a text rich environment including daily matching of name labels that are used in a variety of ways.   The core texts that we have chosen for the children to become very familiar with in Little Pebbles are:(click on the links to purchase these)

Reception
Continuing their reading journey from nursery, we build on the children's love of stories by ensuring that most of our overarching topics are based around a favourite text. This approach enables the children to become immersed in a story and make links to all other areas of the Early Years Curriculum. Examples of this include stories such as 'Giraffes Can't Dance' and 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar'.    From the start of Reception, children follow the Monster Phonics scheme which is delivered daily, ensuring that children rapidly learn all letter sounds and move quickly on to segmenting and blending these sounds to support their reading and writing. This is supported by carefully chosen phonic based home reading books which children read regularly with an adult in school as well as at home. Children have weekly timetabled sessions where they access the school library to choose their own books to share at home.    The children are also introduced to Drawing Club in Reception which provides endless opportunities to explore books, tales and adventures from the past.   The core texts for Reception build upon the Nursery Selection. They still mainly use patterned language, but begin to have a stronger emotional connection with the reader. Many of them lend themselves to retelling and creating new versions or further adventures featuring the same characters. Click on the links below to purchase these key texts.

Key Stage 2- The Teaching of Reading
Reading in KS2 is taught daily through the Literary Leaves scheme by Literacy Tree. This involves the study of carefully selected, high quality texts at a whole class level. Pupils immerse themselves in fiction, non-fiction and poetry texts that allow them to develop a wide range of skills including; prediction, factual retrieval, inference, vocabulary, explanation, summarising and sequencing.    Year 3 Class Stories: 

 Year 4 Class Stories:

Home Reading In KS2, once pupils are secure in phonics, they will move from Monster Phonics and be placed on our graded reading scheme boxes. We have a wide range of texts, with ORT at the core, for pupils to choose from, to motivate and support their reading development. Struggling readers in KS2, who are confident in phonics, will work in small groups in school to develop their pace and fluency through echo reading and choral reading of a shared text. To develop their confidence, this text will then be read at home.

Whole Class Story Time
Every class has a story time each day during which the children listen to a member of staff reading a story to them.  These stories often include the spine texts from their year group, topic linked books and books that the children have brought in from home.  This ensures that the children experience listening to a wide range of stories by a variety of authors each year.
 
Reading For Pleasure/School Library
We encourage our children to read for pleasure whenever possible. We even have a box of books in the Gazebo outside for children who may want a quieter playtime!
 
Each week, all children have a chance to visit our school library to choose a book to take home and enjoy.  The library is staffed by a great team of 'Junior Librarians' from KS2 who help their friends find books as well as checking books in and out! Children in Little Pebbles and Nursery have an opportunity to choose from a selection of class library books each week.
 

Nursery 
As children move into our Nursery they access daily stories, library books to take home and share with parents as well as an inviting reading area giving easy access to a range of appropriate texts.  The children will also being their Monster Phonics journey following the Monster Phonics Foundation Programme. This programme develops speaking and listening skills, the children learn to become attuned to the sounds and begin to develop oral blending and segmenting skills. This teaching in Nursery lays the foundations for teaching of systematic synthetic phonics in Reception.The children continue to have regular opportunities to sing familiar songs and nursery rhymes. They also access a core range of quality age appropriate texts which they get to know really well.   The core texts we have chosen are almost all repetitive and rather like songs! This makes them easier for the children to join in with so that they experience of reading becomes interactive and the children begin to learn the story as they are read to. Click on the link below to purchase these core texts.

 

Year 1- The Teaching of Reading
Daily Monster Phonics sessions continue in year 1 with a focus on teaching the National Curriculum Year 1 graphemes, all of the Year 1 Common Exception Words and the first 300 High Frequency Words. The progress of each child is closely tracked and monitored to ensure pupils are achieving and on track to achieve well in the Year 1 Phonics Screening Check. Timely and targeted interventions are implemented to ensure that all children have the opportunity to progress. Children have guided reading sessions with an adult 3 times each week before taking their book home to share with an adult.     The core texts that we have chosen for the children to become very familiar with in Year 1 offer deeper exploration of emotions and wonder. The children also need to be involved in careful reading of the books paying close attention to the detail and entering imagined worlds to experience the stories deeply:(click on the links to purchase these)

 Year 2- The Teaching of Reading
Year 2 continue to deliver daily Monster Phonics sessions where they are taught all National Curriculum Year 2 graphemes, the Year 2 Common Exception Words and the majority of the spelling rules. Interventions continue when needed for specific children or groups.     Regular small group guided reading sessions continue through year 2 focusing on the development of pace, fluency and key comprehension skills.   The core texts used in Year 2 are important as the children start to move from sharing picture books into sharing chapter books. These not only provide a meaty read, but also demand that the children use their imagination. Many of the chosen books operate on different levels- from the satisfaction of good stories to the exploration of deeper themes. You can click on the links below to purchase the core texts. 

Reading Rewards
We do everything we can to encourage children to read independently and at home with adults and use special rewards to support this. Children in Reception collect stars for reading regularly at home with an adult - when they have collected enough stars  they get to choose a prize from the class 'Dippy Box'. In KS1, children who read regularly are rewarded with Reading Critters, which they build up a collection of. In KS2, children who read regularly at home are rewarded with bookmarks and a choice of books which they are presented in our weekly Reward Assembly.