Reading and Phonics
Phonics
Sounds are the building blocks of spelling and reading. At St. Margaret’s we place real importance on the use of phonics as pupils move through EYFS, KS1 and beyond.
We use:
- Phonics Bug in EYFS
- Phonics Bug in Year 1 and 2
- Phonics Bug is also used higher up the school where required.
Reading Schemes
The reading books the children take home work alongside the phonics scheme used in school. The children will read books which are phonics based and wholly decodable. As they progress with their phonics they will progress through the phonic stages. We have a consistent phonic reading scheme to keep the children engaged and motivated to read. We use the Pearson’s Phonics Bug series of books. The children will be given books to take home each week. If you wish to read extra books with your child, you can also access e-books with Pearson’s Phonics Bug Independent. There is a huge range of books here to read with your child which progresses up to Lime level. In order to access these books, please follow the link below.
https://www.activelearnprimary.co.uk/login?c=0
Reading at Home
One of the biggest factors which can help pupils to develop all round academic ability is to share quality reading time with an adult. The guide in the downloads below may be useful to achieve this.
Downloads
The booklets below will give you more information which may support your child’s learning:
Reading at Key Stage Two
When the children have consolidated the graphemes covered in each stage of reading books, they will advance to reading books within the scheme which cover a range of genres in order to widen their reading experience and help to develop their fluency and comprehension skills.
Once children have become fluent readers with good comprehension skills, they will then be able to progress onto our ‘Reading Spine’ which are a range of fiction and non-fiction books that have been carefully chosen for each year group. This is designed to develop their reading experience as they move through the school and introduce them to books that they might not choose for themselves. They will also be able to regularly borrow a book from the school library which has a wide range of books to suit all interests and ability levels.
By providing them with rich and varied reading opportunities, we hope to help the children become ‘readers’ who wish to read for pleasure independently.
Reading Progression Through School
Throughout their time at St. Margaret’s, we want the children to experience a wide range of texts. Books have been carefully selected so that they are able to experience a range of genres, cultures and themes. We have also tried to choose books that they are unlikely to have encountered at home so that they are able to use prediction skills and enjoy the excitement of a book that they have never read before. These texts are shared with the children and are used to help inspire discussion and as a prompt for writing. All the texts used are outlined in the Reading Progression Map.
Reading and Phonics
Book Lists and Recommendations
We also have recommended book lists that are appropriate for each year group in the guides below:
These links also take you to some excellent websites which provide useful guidance about the best new books and book recommendations organised by genre
- https://www.booktrust.org.uk/books-and-reading/our-recommendations/best-new-books/
- https://www.booksfortopics.com/year-5
In Key Stage Two, we also have online books for the children to read. The children have access to Fiction Express which is an exciting live reading resource. They are able to access hundreds of e-books which are organised into three levels of difficulty. There are quizzes so that the children can check their understanding of the text they are reading. Each child is given an individual username and password for the site by their class teacher at the beginning of each new academic year. The website can be accessed using the following link:
https://en.fictionexpress.com/
We would also encourage children to use their local library for books. You can also access online books through your local library service through using the Borrow Box app. This provides free access to a huge range of fiction and non -fiction books for a range of ages.
