Reading takes priority over all home learning.
Teaching our children to read and write independently will provide them with the key skills they need to access the rest of the curriculum as well as impact massively on their self-esteem and future life chances.
Being able to decode a text alone is not enough. Children need to understand what they are reading and need to be taught key comprehension skills from an early age. This is done through comprehension activities linked to the books they are reading. We know that good readers question, check and engage with their own understanding and these are some of the skills we seek to develop. Decoding and comprehension need to be taught at the same time.
Our curriculum has a strong emphasis on learning and acquiring new vocabulary. Children need to know what words mean in order to understand what they have read. Texts are chosen carefully with this in mind so that children are exposed to a rich and wide vocabulary.
Most importantly of all, in all year groups, we encourage children to be reading at home every day. Sharing a book together with your child gives you the opportunity to escape into another world with your child and can be bonding and relaxing. Reading for pleasure will help develop your child’s vocabulary, communication, empathy, imagination and concentration. Whether this is sharing books by reading together (when children are in Nursery, Reception, Years 1, 2 and 3 this is crucial) or beginning to read more independently, we advise that all children read for at least 10 minutes a day. Ideally, 20 minutes a day would be the most beneficial.
Once a child is reading independently, they still need to be able to retell their texts coherently and confidently to a parent/carer using book vocabulary and answer questions about what they are reading.
At Collingham, we are using a reading scheme called Collings Big Cat to run alongside some of our other reading books.
In Reception and Key Stage 1, reading books ensure that all children who are learning to read are given decodable reading books closely matched to their phonic knowledge. The books cover a variety of fiction and non-fiction texts.
In Key Stage 2, the reading scheme provides finely-levelled books including popular characters such as Paddington and Tara Binns. There are a range of texts types to engage different interests and build reading confidence, including fiction, non-fiction, comics, plays and poetry. In Years 3 – 6, home reading books are carefully selected and organised into reading bands that broaden children’s reading experience and support age related expectations for each year group.