Teaching of Reading at Meynell

At Meynell we aim for all children to read accurately and fluently to access the curriculum in order to become life-long readers and access the wider world.

Book Study

At Meynell we teach fluency and reading comprehension through book study. This happens every day for 45 minutes. Within each half-termly book study, children are exposed to a range of different text types, which are linked with the driver novel, and allow them to embed and deepen their taught comprehension skills. Children are exposed to texts which allow them to read independently and with prosody, and are challenging, show the objective skill clearly and ensure they develop a wide range of vocabulary that they may not have met. Teachers model reading with prosody and children have opportunities to read individually and aloud with partners, to develop fluency. There is also an emphasis on vocabulary and all book study sessions start with language acquisition, which introduces children to new, tier 2 level vocabulary. These are revisited regularly, through different scenarios, to help the vocabulary become embedded into long-term memory.

There are 2 separate parts to our book study sessions:

• Book talk – focusing on language acquisition, reading with fluency and oral comprehension.
• Comprehension – focusing on written comprehension and SATs style questions.

FS2 and Y1:

In FS2 and Y1 children study a key text over 2 weeks. Daily sessions take place for 20 minutes. We help children to get to know the story really well: the plot, the characters, and their actions and motives. We then explore eight words from the story, specifically selected to develop children’s understanding of each word in the context of their everyday lives.

Quality Story Time

Daily story time takes place daily throughout the whole school. Books are carefully selected so that children are exposed to a variety of quality texts. Adults model reading with prosody to allow children to hear how books and stories should be read and allowing them time to enjoy stories.

Home Reading 

What will my child bring home?

• Your child will bring home a RWI wallet containing appropriate reading for their level.
• Your child needs to bring this folder in everyday
• Folders will be collected in on a Thursday
• New books will be given out on a Friday

It is important that children re-read the sounds or books over the week so they become fluent and confident readers.

How can you help your child?

We know parents and carers are very busy people. But if you can find time to read to your child as much as possible, it helps him or her to learn about books and stories. Show that you are interested in reading yourself and talk about reading as a family.

If you child becomes stuck on a word help them by using:

 “Special friends—Fred talk—read the word”

• We teach children to spot the special friends first, as they are the trickiest part.
• Say these first – then Fred talk the word – then say the whole word