This week was the first week of our new reading approach, to assist in increasing attainment in literacy. The pupils came home with new Reading Book Bags and an assortment of reading books that they chose to read themselves. Over this holiday weekend, they will have had the opportunity to share the reading they have been taught in class.
The Pause, Prompt, Praise leaflet was also shared via pupil post, with all parents/carers. See the previous post for a link to a useful video that will assist in demonstrating how to use this strategy with your child.
An information leaflet regarding our new approach to reading was also shared with all pupils. This included a copy of letter explaining how we are changing our approach to reading. A copy of this is here.
Dear Parents
and Carers,
We are
making some changes to the way we teach reading and we wanted to share these
with you.
The children
will bring home their core reading book once a week, on a Friday, that they
have first read with their teacher in class.
The teacher will have coached them in what strategies to use if they
become ‘stuck’ on a word. Their reading book will be at a level of ‘easy
difficulty’. This means that they should
be able to read most words but might still have some words that they need to
work out. When reading with them, you
can use the simple technique of ‘pause, prompt, praise’ if they get stuck. This Youtube clip shows how to do this:
Twice a week
the children will also bring home books they can read easily. These will be
personal choice books for the children. These might be reading-scheme books
that are at a lower level than their reading book. Reading these books will boost your child’s
confidence as a reader. You might talk together about what the book reminded
you of, what you liked and didn’t like about the book, and if there were any
bits that puzzled you. We call this ‘the
3 sharings’: likes/dislikes, puzzles, connections.
Teachers won’t be writing in pupils’ reading records this term but we will initial them to let you know we have read with them. This will give us extra time in class to coach your child in reading.
Research tells us that children who enjoy reading do better in all their learning. The most important thing you can do to help your child read is enjoy the time you spend reading with them. If you are finding it is a struggle, please do talk to their teacher about it. We can help.
As always if you have any questions regarding reading please do not hesitate to contact Mrs A Coyle at the school.
Happy reading! :-)
