School Curriculum

Reading

We love reading!

At St. Cecilia’s Infant and Nursery School, we believe that reading for pleasure is extremely important. Reading enriches our lives in so many ways and we want to encourage all of our pupils to develop a lifelong love of reading.

 

Reading gives children the opportunity to learn new information, use their imagination, explore new ideas, learn about new places and meet new characters. Reading for pleasure can also improve children’s well-being and can help them to develop empathy. It helps them to understand their own identity, and gives them an insight into the world and the views of others.

 

We have many opportunities for reading within the school day and for promoting a love of reading:

  • reading aloud from a range of books
  • guided reading
  • daily story time
  • Literacy lessons linked to quality books
  • class reading corners
  • links to Liverpool Library Service
  • celebration of national and international events such as World Book Day
  • sponsored reading event
  • book fairs
  • School Council recycled book sale

Reading with your child is really important as it can help to show them that you also value reading. Research has shown that reading for pleasure can be directly linked to children’s success through their time at school and even into adulthood.

Have a look at the following research evidence to see how just 20 minutes of home reading every day can support your child.

 

Our top tips for establishing the habit of reading and reading for pleasure:

  • Make time – if you are busy doing other things while your child reads then it won’t be quality time. In order to have an impact, your child needs your full attention. This will be much more enjoyable for both of you.
  • Be a role model – if your child sees you reading, then they will see that you think it is enjoyable and worthwhile.
  • Read a bed time story – be sure to change your voice for the characters! When you read, make sure you keep them interested by talking about what’s happening and seeing if they can guess what will happen next. Don’t forget to talk about any words that your child doesn’t know the meaning of.
  • Reading does not always involve a book – reading should be part of everyday life. It’s everywhere! There are road signs, instructions for games, recipes, cereal packets…the list is endless.

How to read with your child:

  • Make sure your child has a comfortable, quiet place to sit.
  • Distractions such as TV can make it difficult for children to concentrate.
  • Give the book to your child for a few minutes so they can look at it alone. This allows the child to investigate and explore the text and pictures independently before starting to read.
  • Read the title together and ask them to tell you about the story and any questions they may have before beginning.
  • Remember talking about books is as important as reading them.
  • Children need to be interested in the book so let them choose their own from the library as well as their school reading books.
  • Help your child to sound out tricky words. If they are still unsure, tell them the word and explain what it means. Then read the sentence again together.
  • Remember to use praise a lot and tell them why they have done well i.e. “I really enjoyed listening to that sentence because you made it sound so exciting!”

 

Comprehension (understanding what they have read)

One of the most important parts of reading is comprehension. If a child can read the words, but does not understand them, then they struggle to enjoy or appreciate books.

It is really important to talk about the books you are reading with your child. This will really help with their understanding. It will also help them to realise that reading is more than just saying the words.

Talking about books helps children to understand them more. Questions like; ‘Why do you think that happened?’ or ‘What makes you think that?’ will help with this.

 

Here are some questions you could ask:

General questions

  • Did you know you anything about this book before you started reading it?
  • What do you think about it now you have read it? Is it how you

         imagined it would be? Why/why not?

  • Could you tell me what’s happened so far?
  • What has been the most exciting part? Why?
  • What do you think will happen next? What makes you think that?
  • Have you read any other books like this?
  • What have you learnt from this book?

Questions about the words

  • What could you do if you can’t read a word?
  • What could you do if you can read a word but don’t know what it means?
  • Have you seen this word before?
  • How did you know how to say it? Does it look like other words you know?
  • Can you work out what that word means? How can you use the rest of the sentence, page or pictures to help you?

Questions about the characters

  • Why do you think the character did that?
  • How could we describe that character? What are they like?
  • How do we know that from what they say and do?
  • How you think the character is feeling at the moment? Show me which words/phrases tell us that.

 

Some links for more information, tips and ideas, how to say the sounds correctly and comprehension

 

Nursery and Reception:

https://home.oxfordowl.co.uk/reading/early-reading-skills-age-3-4/

 

Year 1:

https://home.oxfordowl.co.uk/reading/reading-age-5-6-year-1/

 

Year 2:

https://home.oxfordowl.co.uk/reading/reading-age-6-7-year-2/