Reading
Welcome to our Reading page
Our Aim:
At Birkdale Primary, we aim to foster a love of reading for all children. As keen readers ourselves, our staff encourage an enjoyment of books and lifelong learning through texts. We are very keen on encouraging our children to read for pleasure. To promote this love of reading for pleasure each class, from nursery to Year 6, enjoys 10 minutes of shared reading . Our shared reading session are designed to be interactive and spark conversation about a text. It also allows teachers to demonstrate adept reading strategies for children to mimic.
Listening to and reading a variety of different genres of stories means that the children are exposed to new vocabulary and it gives them a chance to really work on their comprehension skills too. To support this, we have a ‘Lending Library’ in each of our EYFS and KS1 classes and all classes in school have access to our school library, where they use interactive reading displays and can get inspiration from our teacher's 'top picks' of the week. We ensure the books we read are part of our rich reading diet and our books corners and library are representative of our wider school community and reflect the diversity of our children’s’ lived experiences.
We have a successful 'Reading Improvement Group' running at school which is made up of an ‘army’ of very helpful parents, carers and grandparents, who offer their time to provide extra 1:1 reading sessions for children. This group is fantastic for those children who struggle to read at home or who need extra support.
Guided Reading:
In Years 2-6, teachers lead whole-class guided reading sessions four times a week in which the children get to explore a full range of texts and genres. Throughout the year, children will read and analyse fiction, non-fiction and poetry texts. Guided Reading lessons include:
- An element of prosody (reading with feeling)
- A close look at key vocabulary that children may be unfamiliar with
- Unpicking the key skill focus for that lesson (vocabulary, inference, prediction, explanations, retrieval, summarise)
- Modelled answering of questions
- Opportunities to apply the day's reading skills independently
- Teaching fluency by model reading, echo reading, choral reading and paired reading
In addition to our Guided Reading sessions:
We also provide children with:
- An English Ambassador
- Regular Pupil Voice opportunities
- Opportunities to read for pleasure
- Regular, open-ended discussions about stories and books
- Various Book Clubs that run throughout the year, across all key stages
We also have a number of reading enrichment activities, including:
- Regular visits to the school library.
- Participation in local reading competitions including the library summer reading challenge.
- Celebrations for World Book Day with competitions and lots of amazing costumes!
- Reading buddies- teaming up older and younger classes to share favourite books together.
- Book week with a focussed whole school theme.
- A Book Fair for families to visit and purchase a book to promote the love of reading.
KS1:
In KS1 the children continue to take home decodable reading books which are closely matched to their phonic ability. They are encouraged to read as much as possible to help with fluency and to support this we have a 'reading rewards' system in place where children get the chance to achieve a Dojo point. Children also take home a book of their choice from our 'lending library'. This book is to be read with an adult as a shared read.
KS2:
The children in KS2 continue on the Oxford Reading Tree staged books which means their progress continues to be closely monitored by their teachers. Like KS1, children are encouraged to read as much as possible to help with fluency and to support this we have a 'reading rewards' system in place where children get the chance to achieve a Dojo point. Children also have their own book from the library that they pick themselves. We have invested PTA money into our library to provide a whole range of engaging non-fiction texts and fiction texts to promote a love of reading and our children are thoroughly enjoying this experience. We have a wonderful team of Year 6 librarians who support children changing their staged books and also recommend library books and sign these books in and out of the library.
Meet our English Ambassador:
'I am honoured to be the English ambassador because I LOVE English. I enjoy helping Mrs Biggs and Mrs Ramsden.'
Meet our Librarians:
''Reading books is my passion.'
I think helping others is great and looking after books is really important. I like recommending books to others.'
'I love being a librarian because it is super fun to recommend books! I love tidying the library and seeing what other people's favourite books are.'
'Being a librarian is GREAT! I love the library and looking after it. I am ADDICTED to books!'
'I love being a librarian because I am interested in what other people read.'
'I love being a librarian because I like sorting out the library and helping people.'
Meet our Book Clubs:
Our Annual Trip to Tesco:
Our English Ambassador and one of our librarians went on our annual trip to Tesco to receive £30 worth of books for our school library. They loved their visit and enjoyed picking out books for others to enjoy.
A BIG thank you to Tesco for your very kind donation!