Reading in EYFS - Implementation
IMPLEMENTATION: TEACHING AND LEARNING OF READING IN EYFS
At Lisle Marsden Academy, we recognise the difference that being able to read has on a child’s life chances. Our team is dedicated to giving children the best start in life, therefore, it is vital we set out clearly what we expect for our phonic and reading teaching.
Alongside the teaching of phonics and reading, we will also focus on each child’s ability to speak and be clearly understood. One of the ways in which we hope to achieve this is through the expectation that children always speak in full sentences. This is an important skill that will be consistently reinforced and modelled explicitly by the adults.
As well as expecting children to speak in full sentences, they will be encouraged to listen and respond to each other. Asking children if they agree or disagree with the previous answer or if they have anything to add will make children listen to each other more and use richer vocabulary in their response.
PHONICS LESSONS
As a school, we have chosen to teach using the ‘Monster Phonics’ scheme. Please see separate ‘Phonics at Lisle Marsden’ document for more information.
Phonics Progression in Reception
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Term |
Phase |
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Autumn Term |
Complete Phase 2 then begin Phase 3 |
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Spring Term |
Complete Phase 3 |
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Summer Term |
Complete Phase 4 |
Reading in Phonics
In order to model the application of phonic learning into reading, the relevant Monster Phonics eBooks will be read to the children as part of the phonics lessons. These will then be made available in areas of provision for the children to access at their leisure.
To further consolidate learning in phonics, children will have the opportunity to read books that focus on the phoneme or grapheme they have learnt both in class and at home. Our books to read in class are phonically decodable covering Phase 2 to Phase 6. These are the ones that will be used within reading lessons and for 1:1 reading. The books are from the ‘Monster Phonics’ scheme and we have access to both hard copies and eBooks of the entire scheme.
Assessment
Teachers will assess children within the phonics lessons. If any children are struggling, they will be supported through ‘Keep Up’ interventions but will not miss the whole class phonics lesson.
‘Keep Up’ interventions normally happen on the same day and involve an adult working with the child/children on the sound(s) they found hard in the morning. The ‘Keep Up’ intervention plans and resources will be taken from the ‘Monster Phonics’ scheme to ensure consistency in the teaching of the program.
Teachers should assess children on a half termly basis as a record of the children’s achievements and gaps and as a way of moving learning forward.
If children are working significantly below the current teaching phase, teachers must indicate what support is in place and provide ‘Catch Up’ interventions outside of the whole class phonics lesson. If children continue to struggle to access phonic teaching and interventions, they should be referred to the school SENCo and a more specific, personalised intervention put in place.
At the end of every ‘Keep Up’ or ‘Catch Up’ intervention session, the adult will read the related ‘Monster Phonics’ scheme book to the child/children. This provides an opportunity for the children to hear the focus sounds being read and modelled in a story context. It also exposes the children to another story for the day, further supporting their understanding of decoding.
READING LESSONS
Book Bands
Lisle Marsden has a book band system that is colour coded for home reading. The main scheme used for home readers is ‘Bug Club’. Children also have access to the ‘Monster Phonics’ eBooks at home to enable them to apply their current learning. The reading expectations for reception are as follows:
Bug Club banded books – Lilac to Yellow
Monster Phonics decodable books – Stages 1-3
Reading Scheme
In reception, we use the ‘Monster Phonics’ scheme for reading lessons and 1:1 reading. These are phonically decodable and match the phonemes and graphemes that the children are learning within class. Home readers are from the ‘Bug Club’ reading scheme and the ‘Monster Phonics’ eBooks. At home, the children will have access to the ‘Monster Phonics’ book that they have read in school that week to further develop their fluency.
FREQUENCY AND STRUCTURE OF READING LESSONS
Reading lessons should be timetabled daily.
Each reading lesson will include:
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Whole Class Shared Reading – at the start of every reading lesson |
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Guided Group Reading |
Shared Reading Rationale – Whole Class
The benefits of whole class shared reading are outlined below:
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Children of all attainment bands are immersed in the same high-quality literature and the discussions that these texts promote
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Children can improve speaking and listening skills, as well as develop comprehension skills
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More time is given to modelling skills
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Less confident readers are exposed to the high-quality reasoning of more confident readers and become part of these discussions
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Children have the opportunity to hear the teacher model good use of decoding, intonation, movement, volume and expression
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Key decoding skills can be taught to children ready for them to apply in their guided reading groups
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Guided Group Reading Rationale – Small Groups
The benefits of guided group reading are outlined below:
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Opportunity to listen to a small group of children read |
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Target individuals with questioning and feedback |
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Accurately assess children’s individual reading skills |
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Listen to all children read within the week |
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Successfully and accurately assess children’s needs and plan for future lessons or interventions. |
Shared Reading Structure
The reception children will engage in a shared reading session every day. This will include discussions around;
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What a book is
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Which way to read a book
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1:1 correspondance
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Comprehension
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Key vocabulary
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Modelling decoding strategies
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Guided Reading Structure
The reception children will also engage in guided sessions, which will focus on;
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Application of phonics |
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Reading of tricky words |
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Discussion of key vocabulary |
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Literal retrieval questions (i.e. What is the name of the dog?) |
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Practice using a range of strategies to decode |
Decoding Strategies
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Sharp Eye |
Look at the pictures |
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Mouse the Mouth |
Say the first sound. |
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Sound Talk It |
Say each sound. |
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Don’t Forget |
Use your memory. |
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Tommy Tracker |
Point to each word as you read. |
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Try on the fly! |
Try a word that makes sense. |
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Slide the Snake |
Blend the sounds together. |
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Chunky Monkey |
Look for chunks. |
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Hop, Skip and Jump |
Read to the end and come back. |
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Punctuation Pete |
Pause for punctuation. |
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Excited Evie |
Add expression. |
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Flippy Dolphin |
Flip the vowel from short to long. |
Independent Tasks During Reading Lessons
During the guided reading lessons, adults will be working with children in small groups. The remainder of the class will be working independently. The tasks that they are completing should be relevant to their phonic knowledge and should enable them to practise and apply their phonics and reading skills. Class libraries and theme books may also be explored at this time.
In the Autumn term, the activities will be more free-flow and the children will be allowed to select from a set of pre-planned phonics activities, moving between them freely and independently. In the Spring term, the activities will be more specific to groups of children and they will be expected to complete a given task during the session before moving into the free-flow activities (as per Autumn term). By the Summer term, all children should be completing focussed reading activities throughout the reading lesson.
READING OUTSIDE OF LESSONS
Whole Class Story Time
This will take place daily as part of the children’s daily diet of literature. The stories will be selected predominately from Pie Corbett’s Reading Spine to ensure that the children are exposed to a wide range of quality literature.
Applying reading skills in provision
Children will be given opportunities to practice their decoding skills whilst working within areas of provision. For example, encouraging children to read signs and labels, encouraging children to look for things within their environment.
Free/Independent Reading
Children should have many opportunities to read independently for pleasure throughout the week in areas of provision, including outdoors. Class libraries will be rotated each term to provide the children with new, exciting books to explore. Books related to the current theme should be made freely available to the children. Any books that have been read to the class should also be made available for the children to enjoy.
1:1 Readers
This is solely used to improve the fluency of each child’s reading. Children should be heard to read three times a week for two-five minutes at a time. Questions to develop comprehension skills should not be asked at this time. The children who are not yet ready for reading books may be reading single word flashcards or phoneme flashcards. The adult who hears the child read should tick their name off on a dated sheet to record who has been listened to that week.
Home Readers
All children should be provided with an individual reading book that will be taken home for them to read with their parents/carers. The purpose of individual readers is for children to practice reading skills and build on confidence and fluency.
Children who are not yet reading books should still take home a book and their parents/carers should be encouraged to read it to them. Teachers should emphasise the importance of reading these books to the children to support their reading development. These children may also take home flashcards containing individual words or sounds to practice.
Reading books should be changed weekly with the understanding that children have read the book or part of the book and have answered oral questions about the text. Evidence of the children reading should be recorded in the reading record by the child’s parent/carer.
Cross-Curricular Reading
Every opportunity should be taken to read across the curriculum and expose children to a variety of texts and genres linked to current themed learning. Children should be provided with chances to practise their reading skills whenever possible. Themed books should be available in areas of provision, including outside.
Literature Diet
The children in reception will have a rich diet of literature. This means that they will listen to and participate in at least 3 stories a day during phonics, maths and topic lessons. To enhance the literature diet further, the children will participate in rhymes, poems and songs daily and will be exposed to cross-curricular texts. Children receiving intervention for phonics will hear an adult read a book each session that models the application of the focus sound.
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Reading in EYFS - Implementation | [pdf 246KB] |
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