SPROTBROUGH ORCHARD INFANT SCHOOL

BOOKS AND READING SCHEMES Information for Parents At Orchard, we  Value reading and spend a lot of time teaching children to read  Achieve good results  Believe that skills can be taught to a class or group, but children need time to practise and apply these skills on an individual basis  Ensure children have 3 individual book-shares with an adult in school each week (once a week with a teacher)  Want book-sharing time to be special and rewarding  Want to foster an “I can read” attitude in all our children  Want to present children with good quality books so we invest a lot of money in books  Expect children to take good care of our books We provide a variety of books, carefully chosen to promote reading skills. In the early years, these books might encourage:  Development of memory skills  Awareness of rhyme and repetition  Opportunities to predict words - use context cues and picture cues As your child progresses, books are provided that will:  Encourage children to apply their phonetic knowledge  Develop pace and fluency through reinforcement of high-frequency words  Extend children’s oral vocabulary and widen their understanding of words  Encourage development of reading stamina by exposure to longer texts Books are also chosen because of good quality language, interesting storylines and character. Comprehension skills are taught alongside the technique of word reading: children are encouraged to talk about the story and answer questions e.g. recalling/retrieve information, predicting, explaining, suggesting and inferring. We plan opportunities for comprehension skills to be developed through whole class sharing of texts in all year groups, including Nursery (e.g.

use of big books, picture books, electronic stories etc.) and also provide these opportunities through individual book shares on a 1:1 basis. Taking Books Home In Nursery, all children are able to choose a picture book and take this home to share with parents. They are welcome to change this every day. In Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 children are encouraged to take two books home every day:  Teachers will guide each child to a selection of books that are appropriate to their needs and development – this will change as they become more confident; these books will usually be from a reading scheme, especially as children are developing confidence  Children will also choose another book – a free choice book/picture book to share with an adult at home  Younger children will usually change their books every day, but as their reading develops and the texts they choose become longer, they may need to keep books for several days Reading Schemes: At Orchard, we use Oxford Reading Tree as our main reading scheme but we also use books from a number of different publishers to support children at various stages of their reading development.  Oxford Reading Tree (including Floppy Phonics, Project X, Fireflies, Songbirds, Snap Dragons, Tree tops)  Heinemann Story World  Heinemann Rhyme World  Heinemann Discovery World  Cambridge Reading  Ginn All Aboard  Pearson Longman Literacy Land (including Story Street)  Pearson Phonics Bug  Collins Big Cat  Egmont Bananas (yellow, red, blue, green)  First Young Puffin  Dorling Kindersley Eye Witness  Alphakids (Eleanor Curtain Publishing)  Usborne Young Readers

Some Favourite Picture Books/Authors Author: Michael Rosen Oliver Jeffers Jez Alborough Julia Donaldson

Claire Freedman David McKee Jill Murphy

Jane Hissey Nick Butterworth

Jonathan Langley Lynley Dodd Pat Hutchins Sam McBratney Judith Kerr Sue Hendra Jan Fearnley Ronda & David Armitage Ian Whybrow & Adrian Reynolds Martin Waddell Mick Inkpen Shirley Hughes John Burningham Allan & Janet Ahlberg

Titles/Examples: We’re Going on a Bear Hunt The Way Back Home; How to Catch a Star; Lost and Found; Stuck; The Day the Crayons Quit It’s the Bear; Where’s My Teddy; My Friend Bear; Tall Gruffalo; a Squash and a Squeeze; The Smartest Giant in Town; The Snail and the Whale; What the Ladybird Heard; Monkey Puzzle; Tiddler; Room on the Broom Aliens Love Underpants; Dinosaurs Love Underpants Elmer; Elmer and Super El Whatever Next; Peace at Last; A Quiet Night In; Five Minute’s Peace; The Worst Witch; The Worst Witch Strikes Again Old Bear; Jolly Tall; Little Bear’s Trousers Percy the Park Keeper; The Treasure Hunt; One Stormy Night; The Rescue Party; After the Storm; The Whisperer The Three Bears and Goldilocks Hairy Maclary from Donaldson’s Dairy; Hairy Maclary’s Bone Don’t Forget the Bacon; Titch Guess How Much I Love You The Tiger Who Came to Tea Barry the Fish with Fingers; Keith the Cat with the Magic Hat Mr Wolf’s Pancakes; Mr Wolf and the Three Bears; Mr Wolf and the Enormous Turnip The Lighthouse Keeper’s Lunch; The Lighthouse Keeper’s Picnic; The Lighthouse Keeper’s Cat Harry and the Bucketful of Dinosaurs; Harry and the Robots; Harry and the Dinosaurs at the Museum Let’s Go Home, Little Bear; Sleep Tight, Little Bear; Can’t You Sleep Little Bear? Kipper; Nothing; Kipper’s Snowy Day Alfie Gives a Hand; Alfie Wins a Prize; Dogger Mr Gumpy’s Outing; Mr Gumpy’s Motor Car Mrs Wobble the Waitress; Mr Tick the Teacher; Mrs

Valerie Thomas and Korky Paul Mairi Hedderwick

Plug the Plumber; Miss Dose the Doctor’s Daughter; Winnie the Witch; Winnie’s Magic Wand; Winnie Flies Again Katie Morag Delivers the Mail; Katie Morag and the Two Grandmothers; Katie Morag and the Grand Concert

Reading at home:  Don’t worry if a child chooses a book they have already shared – it can boost confidence and shows they are developing preferences  Don’t worry if a book seems too easy or too hard – children need a balance!  Try to share books everyday  Choose the time that suits your child best - this might be in the morning, at tea-time or bedtime; try to find a quiet place that is comfortable  Talk about the book  Why they have chosen this book?  What do they think it is about?  Encourage children to handle the book correctly  Find the beginning  Model turning over the pages  At first, adult will read the book to the child  Model how to move finger along the print continuously left to right  Give time for children to look at pictures and talk about them  Ask questions and talk about what is happening  Children may join in as the adult reads:  Echoing/mimicking a few words behind the adult  At the same time  Children may also:  Retell the story in their own words using pictures  Retell the story from memory using pictures  Take over from the adult and finish the sentence, using repetition, pictures, context cues, rhyme  Listen to the first few pages then ‘take over’ the reading  Eventually, children will start applying their knowledge of key words and phonics:  Recognise known letters/words  Start pointing to one word at a time and ‘matching’ what they are saying to the print  Start to blend simple unknown words  Gain greater independence

 All children are different  Teachers are constantly assessing children’s needs  in class/group sessions  individual book-shares  Teachers monitor each child’s progress and will suggest other ways you can help; please talk to the class teacher if you have any concerns  Avoid rushing/putting child under pressure  Keep supporting: step in to ensure child is successful – book-shares are not tests!  It is ok to sound out unknown words but should be used occasionally, not overused as it interrupts the flow and meaning  It is not a race to get to the next stage ... children need lots of repetition and opportunities to discuss the text in order to gain a deeper understanding

FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT HOW WE TEACH READING, PLEASE SEE OUR CURRICULUM SECTION ON THE WEBSITE.