Reading
Reading at Manea Community Primary School
At Manea Community Primary School, our aim is that when the children leave us at the end of Year 6 they will have a lifelong love of books and the printed word, and possess the tools needed to be confident, proficient readers. Reading is an integral part of the curriculum and is a skill which underpins learning in all other areas.
For this reason, the development of reading forms a key part of our School Development Plan (SDP) and is an area of high priority across the school. Our aim, alongside equipping the children with all the skills they need to read successfully, is to provide an environment where reading is celebrated and is seen as something we do for sheer enjoyment as well as academic progress.
Please spend some time exploring this page to see how we develop the children's reading at Manea Community Primary School, and also to find ideas and activities to support your child's reading at home.
Reading in Reception
From their very first days in Reception, children at Manea Community Primary School are exposed to an inspirational, text rich environment where books and 
stories are placed at the very heart of the curriculum. The children have free access to well organised and well resourced Reading Areas, as well as being encouraged to explore different text types around the learning environment as part of their Busy Learning.
The children's reading journey with us begins with daily story and song times. Each
day, the Reception children come together to enjoy different stories, poems and non-fiction texts as well as learning a selection of core songs and rhymes. We know that there is a strong link between learning simple rhymes and becoming successful readers, and so this time is dedicated each day.
The children also begin to learn Phonics during the Autumn Term, based on the Little Wandle Revised Letters and Sounds programme. Children bring home a phonetically decodable book, linked to their current level of learning. They will have read this book 3 times in school, so they will be able to celebrate their successes when they read it to their grown ups at home.
They will also take home a 'Reading for Pleasure' book, which is to be shared and enjoyed with their family.
Please click here to visit our Reception class page and find out more about how we teach phonics in Early Years.
Reading in Key Stage 1
To support the children on their reading journey in KS1, we continue to teach using the Little Wandle SSP in Year 1. Once children have completed their Little Wandle phonic journey, they will move on to learning specific spelling rules and patterns. This is done through the Jane Considine Spelling book.
Please click here to visit the Year 1 & 2 page to find out more about how we teach Phonics at Manea Community Primary.
Whole class and Group Reading:
Children following the Little Wandle programme will read the same book 3x per week in a guided group. Session 1 is focused on reading and understanding vocabulary. Session 2 is all about reading with fluency and prosody. Finally, session 3 is centered on reading for understanding and comprehension. After the 3rd session, children will take their books home to share with their grown ups.
Once children have completed their phonic journey, we have daily whole class Guided Reading sessions. Over the course of the week, children will explore a text in detail and will develop a range of skills. We have sessions dedicated to improving fluency and prosody as well as using the texts to answer comprehension questions. During these sessions, children will have opportunities to read independently, with a partner or as part of whole class choral reading.
In addition to our daily Phonics and Group Reading sessions, we also have a daily Tier 2 Story Time. This is an opportunity for the children to listen to and discuss a quality text which is above a level that they could read independently. Recent examples of our Tier 2 texts have been 'George's Marvellous Medicine' by Roald
Dahl ,'The Sheep-Pig' by Dick King Smith and 'The Magic Faraway Tree' by Enid Blyton.
Reading at home:
For children working on the Little Wandle Phonics programme, they will bring home a phonetically decodable book which is linked to the sounds they are currently learning. They will have already read this book in school, so this is a chance for them to show off what they have been working on. They will also bring home a 'Reading For Pleasure' book, which is a story they have chosen which interests them. This is not a book we expect them to read independently, but rather is one to share with you. Once children have completed the Little Wandle scheme, they will be moving onto the Accelerated Reader programme. This allows children to choose books within their reading level and take a quiz on it once finished. Accelerated Reader continues into KS2.
Reading Areas:
Each class has their own Reading Area or Book Corner, which features a range of quality fiction, non-fiction and poetry texts. We also display books which link to our current learning, which the children are free to explore.
Reading in Key Stage 2
By the time they enter Year 3, the majority of children will be able to read with a good level of fluency and expression, and with a growing understanding of the texts they experience.
As in Key Stage 1, our Key Stage 2 children take part in a whole class Guided Reading session
each day. Over the course of the week, children take part in a variety of activities which will help to develop their fluency as well as their skills of prediction, inference, retrieval, explanation and summarising.
Before beginning any new text, the children spend time exploring the background behind it and also its Tier 2 and 3 vocabulary. This means that when the children finally begin to read the text itself, they will have the prior knowledge to help them comprehend what they are reading. Through giving the children this knowledge before reading, we believe that they will experience a greater enjoyment of the text and a higher level of success.
AR:
In Key Stage 2, the children take part in the Accelerated Reader scheme. At regular intervals, the children carry out a Star Reader test which gives them a numerical reading range. The books the children choose to take home are then chosen from this range, ensuring that the books they read have both an appropriate level of success and challenge. Once a book is completed, the children take an 
Accelerated Reader comprehension quiz. An added benefit of the AR scheme is that it allows staff to track the children's reading progress and reading age, as well as giving a good indication of their level of comprehension. Please click here to find out more about AR.
Reading areas:
As with the Key Stage 1 classrooms, each Key Stage 2 class has a dedicated Reading Area or Book Corner which includes not only Accelerated Reader books but also a range of quality texts for the children to access independently and for their own enjoyment.
Promoting a Lifelong Love of Reading
Here at Manea Community Primary School, we aim not only for our children to be successful in reading academically, but also to enjoy exploring texts and to carry a passion for books with them through their lives.
For this reason, we have a dedicated Library space just outside the Hall, where children can find a wide range of fiction, poetry and non-fiction books, as well as children's newspapers and iPads for accessing electronic texts. Our Library space extends down the corridor into Key Stage 1, and this is where we store the majority of our Accelerated Reader books and our Little Wandle decodable texts. We also have our quality model texts which are used to support our Writing topics.
Supporting Your Child's Reading at Home
- Read regularly with your child at home - even 10 minutes a day can have a huge impact on progress
- Ensure school reading book is in school every day (KS2) or on book change day (KS1)
- Talk through your child's book with them and discuss the meaning of new vocabulary
- Ask your child to retell parts of the story or make predictions about what might happen next
