In Reception and Key Stage One, the children will read a mixture of books from our Bug Club Phonics Scheme and Oxford Reading Tree Books including Word Sparks and Project X. They will also have Phonics Bug online books allocated to them every week to read on a tablet or device. The books are linked directly to the sounds the children are learning that week in their phonic lessons. This approach allows the children to practice and apply the phonic knowledge they have acquired in their lessons, when reading their individual books at home. The scheme is supplemented with books from the Oxford Reading Tree and Rising Stars Reading Planet when children need more consolidation of a particular set of sounds or once they have completed all six phonics phases. We expect that children read each book they are given twice, once to develop their phonological decoding skills and the second time to gain fluency and understanding of the text.
During Year Two, or once the children are ready, they become free readers and will choose their own books from a large selection of books which have been selected as suitable for different age groups. These are progressive and enable children to become independent and fluent readers
In school we use a variety of methods to teach reading, including daily shared reading lessons, phonic lessons and 1:1 reading sessions with a school adult. We also provide our children with many opportunities to read regularly in different subject lessons across the Curriculum, in addition to independent reading time and being read to by their teacher during daily story time. We find that a varied approach is the best way to ensure that children are engaged in a love of reading and books. Furthermore, we are fortunate to have a well-stocked library and the children are able to visit the library to choose their own book every two weeks.
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