Reading – RWI at Lanivet
Reading is at the heart of our school and we pride ourselves on building the love of reading for each and every child.
Our pupils learn to read and write effectively and quickly using the Read Write Inc. Phonics programme. We believe that reading opens the door to learning and therefore it is vital that we as educators do everything we possibly can to ensure that EVERY child will learn to read. We are determined to teach every single child to read, regardless of their background, need or abilities. SEN pupils are involved in the RWI lessons, as all pupils work in ability groups and teaching is geared to the speed of progress of each group.
Read Write Inc. Phonics The programme is for:
• Pupils in Year R to Year 2 who are learning to read and write
• Any pupils in Years 2, 3 and 4 who need to catch up rapidly
In Read Write Inc. Phonics pupils:
- Decode letter-sound correspondences quickly and effortlessly, using their phonic knowledge and skills
- Read common exception words on sight
- Understand what they read
- Read aloud with fluency and expression
- Spell quickly and easily by segmenting the sounds in words
- Acquire good handwriting through our handwriting scheme Letter Join
In addition, we teach pupils to work effectively with a partner to explain and consolidate what they are learning. This provides the teacher with opportunities to assess learning and to pick up on difficulties, such as pupils’ poor articulation, or problems with blending or alphabetic code knowledge.
We group pupils homogeneously, according to their progress in reading rather than their writing. This is because it is known that pupils’ progress in writing will lag behind progress in reading, especially for those whose motor skills are less well developed.
In Year R we emphasise the alphabetic code. The pupils rapidly learn sounds and the letter or groups of letters they need to represent them. Simple mnemonics help them to grasp this quickly. This is especially useful for pupils at risk of making slower progress. This learning is consolidated daily. Pupils have frequent practice in reading high frequency words with irregular spellings – common exception words.
We make sure that pupils read books that are closely matched to their increasing knowledge of phonics and the common exception words. This is so that, early on, they experience success and gain confidence that they are readers. Re-reading and discussing these books with the teacher support their increasingly fluent decoding.
Alongside this, we read a wide range of stories, poetry and non-fiction to pupils; they are soon able to read these texts for themselves.
Embedding the alphabetic code early on means that pupils quickly learn to write simple words and sentences. We encourage them to compose each sentence aloud until they are confident to write independently. We make sure they write every day.
Pupils write at the level of their spelling knowledge. The quality of the vocabulary they use in their writing reflects the language they have heard in the books the teacher has read to them; they have also discussed what the words mean.
Staff Professional Development
A key element of Read Write Inc. is consistent whole-school practice, underpinned by appropriate professional development. The headteacher, all the teachers and teaching assistants are trained to teach reading. All staff have attended two-day Phonics training and attend Development Days every year to ensure we are aware of up-to-date practice. We have access to Ruth Miskin RWI Portal to enable staff to stay up to date with good practice.
Impact
Through the teaching of systematic phonics, our aim is for children to become fluent readers by the end of Key Stage 1. With decoding taught as the prime approach to reading, pupils will become familiar with this strategy and have the confidence to work out unfamiliar words in any new texts they encounter even when they have come to the end of the RWI programme. Pupils will have the opportunity to develop their fluency and comprehension as they move through the school; accessing a range of texts independently. Attainment in reading is measured using statutory assessments such as the end of EYFS, Key Stage 1 and 2 and following the outcomes in the Year 1 Phonics Screening check. Additionally, we track our own reading attainment through the use of RWI half termly and screening assessments, NFER reading papers, Accelerated Reader and ongoing teacher assessment. More importantly, we believe that reading is the key to unlock all learning and so the impact of our reading goes beyond the statutory assessments. We give all the children the opportunity to enter the amazing new worlds that a book opens up to them and share texts from a range of cultures or genres to inspire them to question or seek out more for themselves. We want reading to be the golden thread running through a child’s journey at Lanivet. When they leave us, we want pupils to possess the reading skills and love of literature which will help them to enjoy and access any aspects of learning they encounter in the future.
After Read, Write, Inc - TPAT Reading Approach
Once children have completed the Read Write Inc. Phonics scheme, reading is taught through the TPAT Reading Approach. We use a systematic approach to enhance the teaching of comprehension skills and fluency in reading across years 2 – 6. Children in KS1 will take part in RWI until its completion- upon which time they join the first reading comprehension skills group. The model incorporates repeated and consistent direct teaching of reading skills with time to practice fluency and question response.
Retrieval, vocabulary and inference make up the majority of the question types within assessments encountered by the children, therefore the weighting of teaching and question practice reflects this. Vocabulary is a constant in all comprehension sessions. Questions for children within the first comprehension groups are weighted towards retrieval. Secure retrieval skills are the next step. Inference questions are phased into comprehension sessions as the children develop their confidence within the comprehension system.
The comprehension lesson is 30 minutes long and takes place on Wednesday and Thursday. On Friday, children take part in a ‘stamina reads’ sessions. They independently read a slightly longer text to continue to build fluency of reading. They then independently answer questions following the formats that have been modelled to them that week to see how well they have embedded the skills and strategies. During this session, teachers can work with children who may have found particular questions challenging in their sessions previously in the week. This happens alongside phonics sessions, allowing children to be put into ability groups at a whole school level. This enables teachers to provide focused questions at an appropriate level to help maximise children’s success.
On Monday and Tuesday, children experience shared reading sessions within their year groups. These sessions focus on developing enjoyment and engagement with reading. Discussion based activities covering all VIPERS questions will be incorporated- weighted towards inference and explanation style questions. Daily, between 9.30 and 9.45, children are given 15 minutes of Accelerated Reader time to help continue good levels of engagement with this system. In this time children will quiz on their reading books, have the opportunity to go to the library or an adult will listen to them read.
Accelerated Reader
Accelerated reader is a reading programme that children start using when they have completed our Read Write Inc phonics programme. Children are assessed using an online comprehension Star Reader assessment. Following this, they are given a level which indicates which books they should be reading in order to practice their reading skills and learn new vocabulary and grammar. They quiz on every book they read and are able to use the books while quizzing. This supports their skimming and scanning techniques, which are reading strategies that utilize fast eye development and watchwords to move rapidly through content for somewhat various purposes. (Skimming is reading quickly to get an overall outline of the material. Scanning is reading quickly to discover explicit realities.)
Children start at the bottom of the reading range they currently have. (This is re-assessed every half term) and are able to work their way through their reading range upon gaining 100% on an end of book quiz.
Children read at different levels and can make progress at different rates but they are all capable of making progress using Accelerated Reader. We want children to be aware of their level and push themselves in order to move up.