Learning to Read

The benefits of reading are endless, but essential to acquiring knowledge and to making sense of the world around us. According to the Young Readers Foundation, reading books is important to build confidence, increase memory and imagination. Children who are competent readers are able to engage in critical thinking, and it improves language and communication skills.

Learning to read simply consists of developing skills in two crucial areas, which incorporates reading each word accurately and fluently, and then understanding the meaning of texts being read. Reception and Key Stage 1 teachers have the remarkable task of unlocking the skill of reading for our young children here at BISS. The explicit teaching of phonics and reading skills takes place in well-structured phonics and reading lessons, throughout the week. The journey to phonics, and thus reading, starts long before the explicit teaching of sounds, as children’s phonological awareness is developed in our Early Years classes through singing, rhyming, role-play and reading of carefully chosen text-rich stories, where children are given opportunities to immerse themselves in the vocabulary and meaning of the stories.

UK and international research shows overwhelmingly that high quality systematic phonics teaching, in a language-rich curriculum, is the most effective way of teaching reading to children of all abilities and educational backgrounds (DfE, 2011). Synthetic phonics is simply the ability to convert a letter or letter group into sounds that are then blended into a word. At BISS we use the Read Write Inc. (RWI) scheme of learning, which teaches the sounds and their spellings in a structured order. RWI also include flashcards and books that match the sounds they have learned so far.

Read Write Inc., developed by Ruth Miskin, provides a structured and systematic approach to teaching phonics and reading. It is used by more than a quarter of the UK's primary schools and is designed to teach children to read accurately and fluently with good comprehension. The Read Write Inc. programme meets the higher expectations of the curriculum and uses effective assessment to accelerate every child's progress. Children experience success from the very beginning. We know that the sooner children learn to read, the greater their success at school.

During RWI lessons, entertaining phonic books are closely matched to their increasing knowledge of phonics and ‘tricky’ red words and, as children re-read the stories, their fluency increases. Once children have mastered blending, they progress to reading shared books. Through paired sharing of books, children develop their vocabulary, fluency and comprehension. Paired sharing of answers and discussions increases speaking opportunities, which underpins the ability to organise thoughts and ideas.

RWI Reading lessons teach comprehension skills where children will answer ‘Find it’ and ‘Prove it’ discussion questions. Paired partner reading enables each child to have an opportunity at answering all the questions, taking turns in talking. Ultimately children will develop ambitious vocabulary through many opportunities created for discussions. Once children have mastered simple sounds, complex sounds as well as developed the required fluency with comprehension, they exit the phonics programme and then focus on spelling and guided reading.

Positive praise, celebration and reading for joy is key to motivating our young readers. Our aim is to infuse a life-long love of reading in our children, instilling key skills to support them towards a successful future.