Reading
Intent
At Oakdale we believe that English is the central core of our curriculum, an area that underpins all other subject areas. English promotes spiritual, moral, social and cultural development and promotes and values citizenship, through using a variety of texts where children can express a point of view, ask questions, argue and discuss. We believe that children should undertake activities which are exciting and which they can relate to their own personal experiences. Activities, which can be applied at home as well as school, are important to ensure progress.
How is reading taught?
Book Talk
Book Talk is a coherent system for teaching children to become effective readers. We encourage children’s thinking to be stretched and shaped through using three zones of reading. The ideas of reading are explored through the FANTASTICs; the understanding of reading, the STYLISTICs; the comprehension of reading and the ANALYTICs; the analysis of reading. Each reading lesson is 30 minutes long and separated into three chunks; with each chunk being devoted to one of the three reading zones. Children read the same text as others in their group and are encouraged to read in different ways: reading around the group; paired reading and silent, independent reading. Once they have had time to read, they are encouraged to discuss their text with the use of sentence starters which closely replicate written comprehension answers. These sentence starters help children articulate their ideas in structured ways. They then take turns in their groups to feedback to the rest of the class about their text.
Reading Skills
Children will also be taught specific reading skills using a range of resources. These resources target key reading skills which allow children to be successful when answering written comprehension questions.
Assessment
Reading is assessed each term in school using standardised tests. As a Pixl school we use Pixl tests each term from Years 2-6. Year 1 assess using Pira tests. Statutory assessment (SATs) also takes place at the end of Year 6.
Support at home
Parents are encouraged to read with their children for at least 10 minutes each day. This can be both a mixture of listening to children read and reading to them.
Useful websites:
BBC Bitesize
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/zgwwxnb
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/zs44jxs
Oxford Owl