Reading

Reading at Kyson

We are dedicated to enabling our pupils to become competent and successful readers, who develop a genuine love of reading. Reading is fundamental and is embedded throughout our curriculum. It is taught daily, in its many forms, across the school.

Early Reading (Phonics)

At Kyson we use Essential Letters and Sounds to teach phonics. The programme is split into 5 different phases.

Phase 1— listening skills—hearing rhymes, alliteration, exploring words, sounds, clapping syllables, environmental sounds and instrumental sounds.

Phase 2 and 3— learning single and common digraphs and trigraphs.

Phase 4—blending and reading longer words using Phase 2 and 3 sounds, e.g. b-r-ow-n, s-t-ar-t-ed, s-p-r-i-ng

Phase 5a—These sounds are introduced in the Summer term of Reception as a taster for Year 1. These are known as alternative sounds e.g. ai and ay, they are consolidated in the Autumn of Year 1.

Phase 5b— These are alternative sounds to the learnt sounds in 5a. The children will be able to decide which sound it is making when reading and which grapheme to record when writing.

Every child will have a daily phonics session, the same routine is followed in all sessions: review known sounds, read 4 harder to read and spell words, oral blending, learning new sounds, reading, writing and reviewing.

You will be informed regularly which sounds your child is learning. ELS is designed to be a whole class programme, therefore there may be times when your child needs additional support to commit a sound to memory or to read words with a specific phoneme in. In this case additional support will be put in place, this is referred to as intervention, it is no longer than 5 minutes. These interventions are designed to be short, specific and effective.

The teacher will check every 5 weeks to inform them of which sounds your child can remember of the sounds taught that half-term. Any gaps will be filled through intervention or whole class teaching.

How can I help at home?

What does a reading lesson look like?

Once children have consolidated their phonics knowledge and are reading at a good pace we move on to focusing on language comprehension and fluency so that all pupils become life-long readers.

During each half-term children are exposed to three types of reading:

1) Fluency read— a short text between 1-1:30mins is rehearsed in an echo read, then practiced many times after. The text is discussed. The aim of this session is to confidently perform the text to the group with fluency and intonation.

2) Close read—children read a short text numerous times and then answer detailed questions about what they have read. This could be an oral or written response.

3) Extended read— a chance to have a sustained read to build up reading stamina—this includes our Kyson book clubs and exposure to longer texts. A shorter but deeper discussion takes places during these sessions. Books from the Book clubs are taken home and a specific amount of reading is set each week as homework. Your child will also have regular access to the library to bring home a books of their choice to enjoy.

Creating a Kyson reading culture:

As a school, we are working hard to create an environment where books are cherished and reading is valued.

Research shows that pupils become avid readers when their role-models show a passion for books combined with exciting reading opportunities such as; author visits and enticing book areas.

At Kyson we are lucky to have a beautiful, well-resourced library, which pupils have the opportunity to take books home regularly. We also are forging strong relations with Woodbridge library, including regular visits.

At playtimes pupils have access to our beautiful reading shed, opened by the incredible Jeanne Willis, supported and stocked by our Y6 Reading Ambassadors.

Each classroom has a book area, which is aimed at their age and interests and includes teacher recommendations.

Reading is the key to unlocking unlimited future opportunities, if staff and parents in our community embrace the importance of reading, our children will blossom.

What can you do at home?

Read, read, read! There are opportunities to read everywhere—recipes, menus, leaflets, signs, instruction manuals, labels, packaging. Talking about books shows children that reading is important to you. Reading every day with your child for just 20 minutes makes a huge difference to their life chances.

Those who attended Nick Butterworth’s session in February 2022 will have felt the passion placed upon a bed-time story. As in the words of J.K Rowling, “I will defend the importance of bed-time stories until my last gasp.”