Reading

Welcome to our Linden Reading page! On this page you will find information about what your child will be learning in this subject, photographs of work that has taken place and links to relevant websites.  We hope that you find this page useful.

How is my child taught to read?

Reading is taught in 3 ways: Phonics, Shared Reading and Guided Reading.

Phonics Sessions

Children in EYFS and Key Stage 1 will work through the Little Wandle phonics programme until they become fluent and confident readers. They will take home a Big Cats Little Wandle reading book on a weekly basis. These books begin with wordless books and end on Phase 5 Set 5 at which point children move onto purple colour-banded books. This will typically happen during the Autumn term of Year 2. However, children that are not confident with phonics will continue on the programme until necessary. This includes Key Stage 2 children.

You can read more about Little Wandle on the phonics page of the website.

Shared Reading Sessions

Children from EYFS to Year 6 have one shared reading session a week. The purpose of this whole-class reading session is for them to see their teachers model and apply specific reading skills to a variety of different texts. They then have the opportunity to practice and apply these skills with support. 

Guided Reading/Reading Practice Sessions

Following on from the whole-class shared reading session, the children will work in small groups to read appropriately leveled books with their teacher.

In Key Stage 2, guided reading sessions take place once a week. This time allows the children to practice the skills they been learning that week. It also allows teachers to support children in any other areas of reading that they may be struggling with. 

In EYFS/Key Stage 1, reading practice sessions take place three times a week. The sessions focus on: decoding, prosody and comprehension.

Reading for Pleasure

As well as the timetabled reading sessions mentioned above, teachers will also promote a love for reading through story time which takes place at various times during the school day across all year groups.

What books will my child bring home?

Children will bring home two types of books.

One book will be from the class library. This will be something your child has chosen or may have had recommended to them by an adult. They may not necessarily be able to read this book on their own. Children benefit hugely from story telling through pictures and listening to a grown-up read to them so please do take the time to share your child's library book with them. 

The second book they bring home will be their class reading book which has been allocated specifically based on their reading level. Children working within the Little Wandle Programme will bring home a book that matches their phonics level and these books will be fully decodable. This book will also have been read at least three times in school before it is sent home so that children can build up their fluency and expression. Children that have completed Little Wandle and/or are in Key Stage 2, will bring home a colour-banded book from purple to black.

What reading skills will my child be taught?

Below you will find links to each year group's long-term reading planning. These documents will outline the specific reading skills that will be taught over the year. 

Key Dates

Readathon: Monday 26th February to Friday 8th March 2024

World Book Day: Thursday 7th March 2024

World Book Day 2023

The children all had a super day dressing up as their favourite book characters and they spent the day in different classes undertaking lots of exciting book related activities. Take a look at the photographs below which show just a small snippet of what the children got up to!

We are also very excited to share with you, that as a school, we read for a massive 22,133 minutes which have gone towards the Leicester City Readathon challenge of 500,000 minutes. Please come back soon to see if we, as a city, hit that half a million goal!