VLA Reading Guidance - Victoria Lane Academy

VLA Reading Guidance

1


2

Here at Victoria Lane Academy, we want our pupils to be fluent,

confident readers who have a love of books! In order to help them we

use a two-pronged approach. We provide a book-rich environment,

starting in Nursery, where stories, rhymes and poems are read aloud

every day, to promote a love of reading. As children progress through

the school, and become more fluent confident readers, we continue to

promote story-telling with the use of class novels, read to the pupils

at the end of every day. Alongside this, children are taught to read

using a mix of phonics programs and ‘real’ books. Our reading schemes

align with the phonics phase, so that children learn to read ‘in

context’ – this means that reading schemes focus on the sounds being

taught, so that pupils see the sounds within texts, rather than as

separate to them.


3

From Reception, children have daily phonics lessons, where they will learn a sound each day as

well as the letter formation that goes with the sound. At the beginning of the year, lessons

are 20 minutes long and are taught as a whole class. As children’s knowledge and

understanding develops at varying rates, these lessons will be taught in differentiated

groups, as the year progresses. At VLA, we use Letters and Sounds as our systematic phonics

program; we then implement this with activities, songs and games, so that we have a bespoke

program, which fits exactly with our pupil needs. Children are given the chance to consolidate

and practise their new sounds, using a range of reading and writing activities.

The ‘StoryTime Phonics’ resource uses ‘real’ books (those that children will already be

familiar, for example, fairy tales!) and allows children to see and hear their new sounds

applied in stories. The use of this program helps children to understand that phonics is not

only for phonics lessons and that they are actually the building blocks of reading. This

resource has recently been purchased to further develop our phonics teaching in EYFS and

KS1 and actively engage all of our children.

Some terms children will learn are:

Phoneme – this is the smallest unit of sound, e.g. Rain has 3 phonemes – r/ai/n

Grapheme – the letter or letters, which represent a sound, e.g. ee/ea/ey all make the same

sound but are spelled differently!

Digraph – when 2 or more letters come together to make a sound, eg. ‘oa’ in ‘boat’

Blending – bringing the sounds together to make a word, e.g. c/a/t becomes ‘cat’. Blending

smooth, when a child reads well.

Segmenting – used in spelling, this is when a word is ‘split’ or ‘segmented’ into a words

constituent sounds, e.g. c-a-t.

Tricky words – these are words that can’t be accurately sounded out so need to be learned,

e.g. the, was, said.

High frequency words – the words which children will come across most often in their

reading and writing, e.g. there, because, to.

Reception children also have a dedicated story time at the end of each day, when they simply

listen to and enjoy a story!


4

This school year, we have changed our home reading, to reflect the key roles that reading

for pleasure and fluency of reading have in developing our children as readers. Parents can

support this 'reading journey' through regular reading at home. Reading to and with your

child every evening for at least ten minutes can make a dramatic difference to your child's

achievement within school.

Children on Banded/Scheme Reading Books

As our children begin to learn to read, they will be sent home with 3 reading books. These

books will be given out on a Friday and children will keep them for a week, returning them to

school to change, the following Friday.

Children will be given 2 books, appropriate for their reading ability, which they will read to

practise their phonics, high frequency words and reading aloud. To improve their fluency

(speed and ‘smoothness’ of reading), children should read these books more than once.

Children will also be given a ‘Storytime’ book – we have chosen this set of books for children

to be read to by an adult. We would NOT expect children to be able to read the books and

these books are simply to enjoy! ‘Storytime’ books will be marked with sticker on the back of

the book:

Children should still bring one of their reading scheme books to school each day, so that

staff can listen to readers, as normal. If children read anything else at home, (eg. Comics,

magazines, etc), these can also be recorded in home reading diaries.

Independent Readers

Once children become ‘free, independent readers’ and are no longer reading the banded

reading scheme, children will not bring home 3 books, only one independent book. This is

because the content of the independent reading books is generally longer and more complex,

so more than one book at a time will not be needed.

Some books from our Storytime lists are:


5

As before, reading books and diaries should still be brought into school each day; home

reading can be recorded in class and children have a book to read, in school.

It is really important that children become confident, independent readers and so we ask

that they read for ten minutes each day, at home. Any children who are consistently not

recording any home reading, will be contacted by either Mr Blake or Mrs Carr, and asked to

attend Homework club on a Monday after school.

As a school, we believe very strongly that the teaching of reading is imperative if a child is

to be a fluent and confident reader. The teaching sequence that we use is based on the John

Murray model and advice taken from across the Trust.

John Murray is an experienced teacher and author, who has had huge success with his

teaching methods. It relies heavily on modelling, asking and answering questions and that a

child can read ‘mechanically’, (this means that they can ‘decode’ or break down text). It

makes links between a child’s working memory of other texts, allowing them to make links

between other similar texts and characters. Reading should have a purpose; much of our

reading teaching uses a class novel or texts similar to our novels. We want children to value

themselves as readers and we’ve found that if children struggle with the ‘mechanics’ of

reading, this enjoyment is lost and reading becomes a chore!

With this at the heart of our teaching, we’ve tailored our lessons to fit with our new

curriculum: we intend to develop our pupils’ knowledge, skills and understanding; character

and values and behaviours.

Shared reading moves away from the idea of a child reading aloud to a teacher or teaching

assistant. It is better that a child sees ‘modelled’ reading, or that they are read to initially,

by the teacher or teaching assistant. This allows them to see and hear the text read

accurately, with appropriate intonation. Following this children are asked questions such as,

‘What do you think?’ or ‘Why did I read that piece of text out loudly?’ The child then may be

asked, ‘Do you want to read?’ In this way, a child is eased into reading and is encouraged to

reread text and continue, taking the pressure off them!


6

To encourage a love of books, we will teach children to talk about books and how they can use

the pictures, to support their understanding. We may ask children:

Which of these books would you like to read? Why?

Which of these books looks the most exciting?

Do you like this book?

What do you think this book is about? Why?

Have you ever been anywhere like that?

What does it make you think about? Do you think…would like this book?

What’s happening in the picture?

What do you think the words might say?

How do you think he’s feeling? How do you know?

Do you like…? Why?

‘Functional readers’ are those who are able to read age-appropriate texts, accurately and

fluently, without the need to focus on the mechanics of reading. Before children have

transitioned into functional readers, they may work with their teacher or teaching assistant

on a shared reading intervention. When shared reading is carried out as an intervention,

children are in groups of between four and six, with others of a similar ability.

Across a week, a typical intervention timetable will look like this:

Day of Week Activity (Supported by T or TA)

Monday Group 1: Shared reading with a focus on comprehension (understanding

of text) and vocabulary (language), but not phonics!

Tuesday Group 2: Shared reading

Wednesday Group 1: Revisit text, recap and recall! The text is then used to teach

the mechanics of reading, depending on the needs of the group.

Thursday Group 2: Revisit text.

Friday Free Friday: Whole class; may be used to teach a song or rhyme

relating to the text looked at that week.

This type of intervention will take place as well as phonics teaching.


7

When children can read fluently and accurately, we focus on teaching reading skills so they

are able to consolidate and extend their understanding across different texts. We do this in

daily reading lessons, which take place between 9.00 and 9.40, every morning.

In KS1, initially the reading focus will be on phonics. Pupils are grouped according to the

phonics stage they are working on. Pupils will begin to work on simple comprehension

questions as soon as they are able; initially, answers will be given orally, pupils will record

written answers when teaching staff are confident they can do so.

The simple retrieval questions will come from Read Write Inc story books, in Year 1 and

initially, in Year 2.

Year 1: Pupils taught in groups, supported by the class teacher, teaching assistant or are

working independently, to consolidate previous phonics work, (e.g. games, treasure hunts,

etc.) and whole text work.

A typical weekly timetable looks like this:

Day

Number

Group 1

Group 2

Group 3

Group 4

1 Phonics (20 mins.)

Group Reading

Teacher

Phonics (20 mins.)

Games

Phonics (20 mins.)

Group Reading

TA

Phonics (20 mins.)

Games


Games

Phonics (20 mins.)

Group Reading

Teacher

Phonics (20 mins.)

Games

Phonics (20 mins.)

Group Reading

TA


Group Reading

TA

Phonics (20 mins.)

Games

Phonics (20 mins.)

Group Reading

Teacher

Phonics (20 mins.)

Games


Reading

Teacher

Phonics (20 mins.)

Reading

TA

Phonics Phonics (20 mins.)

Group Reading

Teacher


Whole Class

Shared Reading

Phonics (20 mins.)

Whole Class

Shared Reading

Phonics (20 mins.)

Whole Class

Shared Reading

Phonics (20 mins.)

Whole Class

Shared Reading


8

Year 2: Pupils taught in groups, supported by the class teacher, teaching assistant or are

working independently, to consolidate previous work.

A typical weekly timetable looks like this:

Day

Number

Group 1

Group 2

Group 3

Group 4


Comprehension (20 mins.)

Teacher

Phonics (20 mins.)


Teacher

Phonics (20 mins.)


TA

Phonics (20 mins.)


TA

2 Comprehension

Teacher

Comprehension

Teacher

Comprehension

Teacher

Comprehension

Teacher

3 Reading

Teacher

Reading

TA

Reading

Teacher

Reading

TA


Reading

Teacher

Phonics (20 mins.)

Reading

TA

Phonics Phonics

5 Whole Class

Shared Reading

Whole Class

Shared Reading

Reading

Teacher

Whole Class

Shared Reading

Reading

TA

Whole Class

Shared Reading

Support will swap the next week, so that every group receives the same amount of support

from both Teacher and Teaching Assistant.


9

The teaching of reading is split into different areas, with priority given to the key skills of

retrieval, inference and deduction and vocabulary. Each of these key skills are taught in a 2-

week block; this 2 weeks of teaching is then followed by a week of comprehension and

‘reading for pleasure’ activities. Children are given a new text, which will allow them to apply

skills taught (and other reading skills!). Throughout these sessions, the children carry out

work independently, though they will receive support if it is needed.

Following this session, the class teacher is able to plan for the next block, ensuring that each

group looks at the skills needed in order for them to continue to extend and consolidate

their understanding and knowledge.

Pupil’s ability will be regularly assessed and there may be some fluency between the reading

group they are working in.

As well as the 3 key skills, there are a range of ‘mini-skills’ – summarising, predicting,

comparing, sequencing and ‘whole text’ – which are taught in a shorter time-frame of 1 week

blocks.

All pupils are taught in groups of similar ability, though the groups will be fluid, meaning that

a child can move from one group to another, depending on the skill being taught.

Year 3 – Pupils are taught in 2 groups, by Class teacher and Teaching Assistant.

Year 4/5/6 – Pupils are taught in 5 groups, according to areas for development, by 2 Class

Teachers and 3 Teaching Assistants.

An example timetable will look like this:

Week

Number

Group A

(Y6

Objectives)

Group B

(Y5/6

Objectives)

Group C

(Y5

Objectives)

Group D

( Y4/5

Objectives)

Group E

(Y4

Objectives)

1 Inference and

Deduction

Teacher

Inference and

Deduction

TA

Retrieval

Teacher

Retrieval

TA

Retrieval

TA

2 Inference and

Deduction

TA

Inference and

Deduction

Teacher

Retrieval

TA

Retrieval

Teacher

Retrieval

TA

3 Comprehension (whole text) and Reading for Pleasure

Each week, the teacher and teaching assistant will exchange groups, so there is an equal

balance of support for every child.


10

For Year 4, 5 and 6 pupils, we use the additional support of the ‘Reading Plus’ ICT program.

This is an online resource, which pupils access independently, once they have undertaken a

Reading Plus assessment. Across a week, each Year 5 and 6 child will have three 30 minute

sessions, working on Reading Plus. One of these sessions will take place on a morning, during a

reading lesson and the other two sessions are timetabled on an afternoon.


11

The ability to answer and ask questions about texts is vital, and children will be asked a wide

range of question types. There are four basic types of questions:

1. Closed - implies that there is a ‘correct’ response.

2. Open - allows for a range of responses

3. Literal - recall of simple facts or simple comprehension – the answer is clearly stated

within the text

4. Higher Order - encourages children to think and often is based on interpretation of

the text.

The higher order questions are the ones that children often find the most difficult and it is

these, which we spend time modelling and practising during our reading lessons.

Pupils are ALWAYS encouraged to highlight key words and phrases and annotate (write on!) a

text AND in a question to help them answer the questions accurately. Pupils will SKIM and

SCAN a text in order to find the relevant information.

Question ‘stems’ for various question types are shown below for both Key Stage 1 (year 1 and

2) and Key Stage 2 (year 3, 4, 5 and 6)

Literal (Retrieval)

Key Stage 1 Key Stage 2

What does …do? Where/when/why…?

What happened to…when...? How would you …?

Give two things that happened…? According to the text, what /when/why…?

Tell me what…did? How can you tell that…?

What could…see/ hear/ taste? Who / what/ why/ when/ where/ which…?

What did…? Is it true that …?

How did / do…? Where in this book would you find…?

Where did / was…? Tell me three ways which…?

When did / do / were…? Who is the narrator in this story?

Describe… Describe…

Why did / does / were …? What happened to…when…?

What had…? Give two things that happened.

What is good / bad about…? Tell me what…did?

Tell me …things about… What could ….see/ hear/ taste?


12

What did you learn about…? What did…?

Literal

Key Stage 1 (Sequencing) Key Stage 2 (Summarising)

What order did ….happen? What is the key point in the

chapter/section/text? Why?

Put the events of the story in order Put the events in order – what happened

first? After…? Before…?

What happened after / before…? Tell me in a sentence what you have found

out.

Why has the information been presented in

this order?

Why has the information been presented in

this order?

Which other word could they have used to

describe the……?


describe the……?

Who…first? Can you sum up each paragraph in one word?

Sentence?

When did …happen? What do you do after…?

What do you do after …? Can you retell the story?

Can you retell the story? Can you tell me how to…?

Can you tell me how to…? What could the title of this chapter be?

What happened at the beginning/ middle /

end?

What do you think the text is trying to tell

us?

If you were adding sub-headings to this

section, what would they be?

Order these paragraph summaries.


13

Word Knowledge


What does…mean? What does…mean?

Which word in the text tells you or

describes …?

Which word in the text tells you or

describes …?

Find the word that tells you… Find the word that tells you…

What do these words ….tell us about…? What do these words ….tell us about…?

Which word tells us how…was feeling? Which word tells us how…was feeling?

Find and tell me one word that shows…

Draw what you think…looks like.

What does the word…mean in this sentence

/ context?

If the text says…what does that mean

that…did?

Can you think of another word we could use

instead of…?


describe the…? Draw what you thin

What do these words tell you about the …?

Which other words tell you…?

Word Choice

Which words do you think have made the

text sound …?

What does the use of …tell you about …?

Why has…been used to describe…? What other words have been used to

show…?

Which other words might have been used

instead?

Why did the writer decide to use that word

/ phrase to describe…? Why do you think the author chose that

setting? Has the author chosen any words for impact

and effect? What difference would it have made if the

author had used… instead of…? How does the writer compare…to…?

How has the choice of words created an

impression of…? What do phrases such as…tell you?


14

Inference and Deduction (Deduction – means reaching a conclusion using clues from the text, inference is the

unwritten or unsaid in the text.)


Why did…? Why did…?

Why was … happy at the end of the story? Why were the…doing…?

How can you tell that…? How can you tell that…?

How do you think…was feeling? How do you think…was feeling?

How do you know that…? How do you know?

Which words tell us…? Which words tell/show/imply …?

When is the story set? How do we know that…?

Why did…behave like that? Why did…behave like that?

What does…think about…? What does…think about…?

What do you think it was like in…? What do you think it was like in…?

How would you have felt if you were…? How does…feel when…says…?

How is…like a…? How is…like a …?

How was…different after…? How was…different after…?

Why is that event important in the story? What gives the impression that…?

Explain why you think that… What is the same/different about…?

Evaluative (KS1 and KS2)

What makes you think that?

What do you think?

Which words make you think that? How do you feel about…?

What kind of picture does it give you in your head?

Draw what you can see in your head. Can you explain why…?

Do you agree with…?

What questions would you like answered?

Which character would you like to be? Why?

Can you convince me that you’re right?

What makes you think that?


15

Other questions may include:

Predictions


What might happen next? Why do you think

that?

Based on what you have read so far – what

might happen?

What would you do next? How do you think the story will turn out?

How might this story end? What is going to happen next? Why?

What information might we learn? What other information might you learn

from this book?

What do you expect to happen? Do you think you are going to find this text

useful – why / why not?

What do you think…will do? What evidence supports what you think?

Who do you think is going to…? What might this character think about…?

What would you do next?

What do you think…will do?

What information might we learn?

What do you expect to happen?

Explain why you think that…is going to

happen?

Who do you think is going to…?

Who is most important in this story?

Comparing (KS1 and KS2)

How has………………’s behaviour changed?

Which word shows how…has changed towards…? Why do you think this happened?

Has your opinion of…changed? Why? Why not?

Which chapter was the best in your opinion?

Which is the most effective paragraph?

Are there any common themes?

Give a difference between the first and second verses of the poem.

How are the sentences different in the…and…paragraphs?

Is this text similar to any others you’ve read?

Has anything similar happened to you before? How was it the same? In what ways was it

different?


16

Whole Text (Features of Fiction/Non-Fiction)


What does…do? How has the layout helped the reader?

What happened to…? When? How do we know that time has passed?

Give me two things that happened to… Are these chapters/ sections/ paragraphs

linked in any way?

What could…see? What style of writing has been used?

What did…? Has the author adopted a tone/ style of

writing? Why?

Why did…? Why has that font / picture been chosen at

that point?

What is the text about? What tense are we in? Why?

Why do you think that information is in a

different box?

Are there any recurring patterns / themes

in the book?

What kind of character is…? How do we know the same author as that

one has written this book?

Is this like any other book or story you’ve

read before? How?

What sort of book would you expect this

author to write? Why?

Why are these words printed in bold?

How does the table make the information

easier to understand?

How does the layout persuade people to…?

VLA Reading Guidance - Victoria Lane Academy

Documents

Transcript of VLA Reading Guidance - Victoria Lane Academy