Christ the King and reading
We are readers!
A reading culture is fostered at Christ the King, by inspiring in the children a love of reading. We use the Read Every Day (R.E.D) scheme to encourage reading for pleasure and children are able to gain points for reading, which result in prizes: badges, bookmarks, books and book-tokens. Each classroom has a ‘reading corner’ where books are displayed and children are encouraged to choose and explore. Our reading corners are filled with rich, age-appropriate texts and are made to be enticing. Adults are seen as champions of reading, whom the children can approach for recommendations, or to simply talk to about their latest reads.
Phonics
Read Write Inc. Phonics teaches children to read accurately and fluently with good comprehension. They learn to form each letter, spell correctly, and compose their ideas step-by-step.
Please see our phonics page for further information.
English & reading
High-quality texts are chosen to drive our writing topics in. Where possible, these texts link to our topics and planning is text based. We design writing units, that are influenced by the books that the class are reading, to enhance their engagement.
Daily reading
Every class has a class reader, which is read daily and purely shared for children’s enjoyment. There is not expected to be set work linked to this book.
Comprehension skills
In Early Years and Key Stage One, reading comprehension is taught through the Read Write Inc programme. Our aim is for most children to be finished RWI by the end of year 1 or shortly after they start year 2. In the Spring term of Year 2, the children move to comprehension style reading lessons. Comprehension teaching is always linked to one of the comprehension strands, the strands we focus on are:
In KS2, reading comprehension is taught through whole-class reading lessons. These occur at least once a week and class sets (or half-class sets) of books are used for the children to access. Comprehension teaching is always linked to one of the comprehension strands, which are broken down by year group in the ‘WEC reading progression’ document.
These strands are:
Reading fluency
Reading fluency is developed throughout KS2 by using strategies in class such as echo reading and choral reading. Fluency interventions run in each class, for the children whose reading age is more than 3-months below their chronological age.
Writing at Christ the King
Writing
At Christ the King School we teach writing using Talk 4 Writing, developed by Pie Corbett. It is based on the key principles of how children learn and enables them to imitate the key language they need orally before reading and analysing it. Through fun activities and oral rehearsal, children internalise the text structures and language patterns before putting pen to paper. Talk 4 Writing has 3 stages: Imitation, Innovation and Invention, with the aim of the whole process being to create independent, enthusiastic authors.
Each unit of work follows the same structure which is detailed below:
Cold task
The opportunity to ‘have a go’. This establishes exactly where the children are on their learning journey, ensuring that their skills are built on through the next sequence of learning.
Short burst writing
From the cold tasks, the teacher will have identified which grammar and punctuation focuses are needed during this sequence. These are practised and applied in context through Short Burst Writing. This
helps the children to warm up all the writing techniques they will need to use in their writing to keep the reader engaged.
The Hook
The hook is used to motivate and get the children excited about the text they are using. This could be a filmed message, a character coming to visit, an unusual object appearing or even a complete set construction in the classroom!
Story Maps
Learning the model text is essential in the talk for writing sequence. A story map of the model text is created by the teacher, and sometimes by the children, to help the class internalise the narrative. As they become more familiar with the text, they move from whole class imitation to small group and paired initiation. The children use actions and movement to help them tell the story.
Reading as a reader
Once they have internalised the text, they then look at it in a written form. As the children have learnt it so well, it helps everyone when reading. During this part of the learning, the class focus closely on the vocabulary and their understanding of the text.
Reading as a writer
To lead into the innovation phase, the children look again at the text focusing on:
Stage 1 - Imitation:
A typical Talk 4 Writing unit would be begin with a creative context, for example, a unit on The Spiderwick Chronicles could begin with children going on a goblin hunt around the school ground and investigating ways to trap them! Children then learn a model text, supported visually by a text map and physical movements. The next stage is 'read as a writer' which involves identifying the underlying patterns of both the overall organisation, as well as how the writer creates different effects.
Stage 2 - Innovation:
Once the children have internalised the text they are ready to start innovating. Younger children and less confident writers alter their text maps and orally rehearse what they want to say. More confident writers use the boxing up planning tool, then turn their plan into writing. At this stage the teaching is focussed on generating and crafting composition.
Stage 3 - Invention:
Finally, children move into invention where they write the text type independently and apply what they have learnt across the curriculum. Several ‘inventions’ are written and the most successful edited for publishing. The unit ends with a ‘hot write’ that is assessed by the teacher. Throughout the process children work on daily spelling, vocabulary building and sentence work in relation to the initial assessments of their writing, as well as the demands of the text type.
Spelling
In Key Stage 2 an investigative approach is taken to the teaching of spelling and is supported by No Nonsense Spelling (Babcock). A spelling lesson is given each week, followed by 2 to 3 short practise sessions so that children have the opportunity to embed new spellings. This will include the learning of the statutory word lists in the 2014 English curriculum, lists given each week.