Reading

Developing ‘Bankside Best’ Readers

  • We encourage our children to be interested in reading.

Every class has a reading area, we have fiction and non-fiction books in all areas of the classroom, we share stories, play games, ask the children what they are interested in.

All the research shows that children who enjoy reading for fun, read more and make much greater progress in their reading development. 

  • We teach reading everyday

Some children stay in a larger group and other children work in a small group to help them concentrate and work at their level. 

  • We read a shared class story at least once a week, in some classes EVERY DAY, which is fun and exciting!

This teaches new vocabulary, models reading with expression and teaches the children to understand the meaning of the story (comprehension). 

  • Individual/ Home reading

People different shapes & sizes

In Early Years

  • Your child’s key person hears them read at least once a week using our Red Base Home Reading Books.
  • If they are ready for a new book they will move them on but if they need more practice they will keep the book to read at home again.
  • The key person will write in the ‘Reading Record’ how your child got on.
  • We have also made some ‘Sounds and Words’ books to help your child learn common words (such as that, when) and tricky words (such as the, we, was).

In Key Stage 1 and 2

  • Younger children will bring home their ‘SFA’ reading books – these are for them to keep.  We would like them to start their own ‘library’ of books.
  • Older children will bring home books from the class library.
  • Please help your child keep a record of their reading at home, by completing the diary pages in this book.

 

Bankside Best Top10 Tips!

  1.  Make time to read. Why not share a story every night? Make it as much a part of bedtime as brushing teeth. 
  2. Turn off the TV! It’s easier for your child to concentrate on the story when there are no distractions.
  3. Let them pretend to read by looking at the pictures. Young children often like to pretend to read by making up the story themselves. This is a great start.Reading with dad
  4. Follow the words with your finger. This will help your child to learn them.
  5. Point out words and letters all around you. Tell your child what they say. Look at road signs, packets and shopping lists.
  6. Visit your library – it’s free to join! All libraries have children’s sections and most local libraries have a storytelling session for the under fives every week.
  7. Keep books in your bag. A long wait in the doctor’s surgery or at the bus stop can seem less boring if you share a book.
  8. If English is not your family’s first language: You can buy dual language books. You can talk about books and stories in any language.
  9. Teach them how to treat books. Teach your child how to hold books and turn the pages gently.
  10. Don’t read for too long. A good ten minutes is better than a difficult half hour. 

 

Some ‘technical’ top tips for developing great readers

If your child cannot yet read on their own, you can help make them better readers by:

  • Asking them to talk to you about the pictures in the book
  • Asking them to tell what has happened so far (summarising)Reading with mum
  • Getting them to tell you what might happen next in the story (predicting)
  • Getting them to work out what ‘new’ words in the text might mean (contextualisation)
  • Talking about the characters – what they are like, how they are feeling (empathy)
  • Encouraging them to have a go at sounding out the letters (decoding)
  • Ask a range of questions about the text, at Bankside we call these:

 Text Questions

  • Reading togetherIdentify the ‘best’ bit of the text – which part did they like and why? (the WOW moment!)

 

 

Take a look at these websites:

 

www.bbc.co.uk/schools/magickey

 

http://www.literacytrust.org.uk/

 

http://www.parentscentre.gov.uk/

 

http://www.rif.org/parents