“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go”
Dr Seuss
Lifelong Readers
At All Saints, we know that one of the most important things we will do is teach your child to read. We want our children to become passionate, enthusiastic and lifelong readers.
We make sure that we provide lots of opportunities for reading:
- Shared reading;
- Guided reading;
- Regular independent reading (individual, group and paired);
- Home/school reading;
- Hearing books read aloud on a regular basis;
- Selecting own choice of text;
- Reading whole texts;
- Making close links between reading and writing;
- Reading in other subject areas;
- Reading in the community.
Every week, pupils will take part in a guided reading group at least once. This is a time for the explicit teaching of reading skills. The book that the teacher chooses will come from an appropriate Book Band for the group.
What is guided reading?
- It is not group reading (everyone reading at the same time).
- It is not listening to children read (this is a part of the session, but teachers focus on teaching reading).
- It is focussed teaching within a group.
- There are approximately six children in the group.
- The children have their own copy of a quality text.
- They are given a range of reading experiences (poetry, information books, environmental print).
What happens in guided reading?
- Introduction to the book – children become familiar with the book because the teacher ‘walks through’ it first.
- Teaching strategies – children are reminded of the strategies they can use when they get stuck.
- Independent reading – children read the book independently.
- Return to the text – the teacher returns to any parts or words that the children found challenging.
- Response – the children give their own response to the book as a result of high quality teacher questioning.
Book Band Scheme
At All Saints we follow the Bug Club Book Band Scheme. Each child is assessed using a Running Record and given a colour band of books to read. The colours become progressively more challenging. The order of the Book Band colours are as follows:
Pink Red Yellow Blue Green Orange Turquoise Purple Gold White Lime
If you would like to find out more about guided reading, please speak to your child’s teacher or to Mrs Redfern. They will be pleased to help.
