Reading

At Air Balloon we believe that story telling should be at the heart of our English curriculum. Therefore, from September 2019, each year group will have a core of key books called ‘The Reading Spine’ which all the children will experience. These have been recommended by Pie Corbett, pioneer in the teaching of literacy, who explains The Reading Spine in this short film.

The aim is for every child to experience the pleasure and challenge of great literature. As well as the class teacher regularly reading and discussing the books, the library will also stock multiple copies which children can borrow.

Here is the list of the recommended books for each year group. Perhaps some of you will recognise them from your own school days!

Introduction to how we teach reading at Air Balloon Hill Primary

Reading Curriculum

Reception – Reading skills are taught through daily phonic sessions and weekly 1:1 reading sessions with the children. Children start with learning their unit sounds and move onto learning tricky words (words which are not phonetic) and blending. By the end of the year, they will begin to blend vowels and syllables together to read longer, more complex words. 

Year 1 – Reading skills are taught through daily phonics where children build on the phonic skills they developed during reception and widen their repertoire of tricky words. Reading time happens daily: some children will continue to have 1:1 reading sessions whilst others will be taught reading skills in larger groups.

Year 2-6 – Last year we launched a new way of teaching reading skills for years 2-6. We teach the whole class daily for at least 30 minutes instead of small groups once a week. In order to do this, teachers provide the children with a variety of challenging text extracts from books and teach them how to appreciate and understand these texts by focusing on the following skills:

We are using different breeds of dogs as a simple metaphor to describe the different skills needed to really comprehend what children are reading. Ask your children about them! Teachers will be constantly assessing the needs of their class and if your child needs extra support such as 1:1 reading this will be identified and carried out. Teachers will still be promoting reading for pleasure by visiting the library, sharing class books using ‘The Reading Spine’ and allowing quiet, individual reading to take place. We would appreciate your continued support by reading at home with your child at least 3 x a week.

Kind Regards,

Mrs Hennessy – Standards Leader- Reading

Supporting Early Reading at Home

A guide for parents

When supporting your child, the aim is to make reading an enjoyable experience. Consistency is essential if progress is to be made. Try to:

• Practice regularly
• Set aside a specific time for reading
• Read for between 5 and 10 minutes
• Use a comfortable and quiet area
• Make it fun and interesting
• Be encouraging – there is no need to correct every mistake if it still makes sense.

Learning to read is like trying to crack a code. Children should be encouraged to look for different clues to help them understand what they are reading. Learning individual words is important but they are really aiming to work out the whole message.

When you hear your child read, let them hold the book. Encourage them to use the following strategies to solve words:

• Key/Tricky words
• Letter sounds and blends
• Pictures
• Meaning of the text
• Length of the word

It is important not to confuse your child so concentrate on developing a few skills at a time.

REMEMBER to give lots of PRAISE, and be specific!!!

“Well done, you had a go on your own.”

“Good try, but did that make sense?”

“I like how you read that bit again to check it.”

“Well done for using your sounds”