Children should always have a reading book to take home along with a Reading Record. We encourage children to read every day and for parents to record this in their Reading Record. All children require a book bag and for this to be brought into school daily. Home reading is recorded and monitored by the class teacher and Head teacher on a regular basis. Older children can also record what they have read in their reading diary but we still suggest for parents to sign that reading has taken place.

 

Reading Schemes

Children work their way through banded reading schemes in the early stages of their reading development.

 

At Oakthorpe our aim is to ensure children at the end of year 1 are at least at the orange band level and by the end of year 2 are at least at gold with many on white. Children will progress at their own rate – sometimes accelerating in spurts and at other times at a slower pace. It is important to note that we ensure children understand what they read and be able to talk about the text as well as de-code it as well before moving them on.

 

We use early phonics developmental books such as Julia Donaldson’s Song Bird books, Oxford Reading Scheme books and Project X. In addition to the reading schemes we have a selection of ‘real books’ that are banded and these supplement our reading schemes to offer breadth and variety to the children’s reading experiences.

 

We encourage repetition of reading favourite books to read at home and enjoy, as well as reading banded books at the right band for their ability. Children also select books from the library from the non-fiction range and more challenging texts to share with parents and supplement our reading schemes. Children may therefore bring home more than one book to read. We expect all children to read and shared books every night.

 

Once children have completed the Book Bands they will become ‘Free Readers.’ This allows a child to choose an appropriate book to read from the class or school library, with continued ongoing support to make the right choices.