Reading
At Grasmere Primary School we aim to inspire children to develop a love for reading and writing, nurturing their curiosity and enthusiasm for language from Nursery to Year 6 and beyond! English sits at the heart of our curriculum as it is through literacy, in all its forms, that children learn to make sense of the world around them and shape their place within it.
By the time children leave Grasmere Primary School, they are original and imaginative writers with an exceptionally wide-ranging vocabulary; they are able to understand sophisticated texts and express themselves confidently and articulately in a wide range of contexts.
Early Reading
Early reading is taught rigorously across Foundation stage and Key Stage One and, where appropriate, for children in Key Stage Two. The school follows the Read Write Inc phonics programme, alongside providing all year groups with daily exposure to a diverse range of high quality books, texts and reading experiences to ensure our children develop a broad and rich vocabulary and develop the skills and confidence to decode any new vocabulary they come across.
More information on the teaching of Read Write Inc. phonics, including the Phonics Screening Check, can be found here.
A letters for parents about Read Write Inc can be read here.
The Big Read and Destination Reader
Once children have become fluent readers, they progress into guided reading groups. In Year 2 and Year 3, they return to whole class reading in the form of The Big Read. Through these sessions, the children learn how to make predictions, ask deeper level questions, make connections and interpret illustrations. The Big Read is discussion based, with the teacher modelling how to discuss a book. We choose books rich in vocabulary and model how to use clues in the text to understand the meaning of new words.
Destination Reader is taught across Year 4 – Year 6. Destination Reader is a pedagogical based approach to teaching reading through engaging daily, structured sessions that support children to read with greater understanding, enjoyment and purpose.
Our teachers model a love for reading through their reading lessons, through daily shared reading, by taking opportunities to build reading into other areas of the curriculum and sharing their own reading and passion for literature with their class.
It is important that our school environment reflects the culture of Grasmere as a reading school and that all children have a range of opportunities to read independently outside of their lessons. Our inviting book areas, school library and reading nooks are readily available to the children throughout the day and we encourage them to explore these spaces in their free time.
Grasmere Primary School takes every opportunity to celebrate reading. We are already looking forward to World Book Day 2023!
Reading Lists:
The following suggestions are by no means exhaustive and indeed barely scratch the surface of the wealth of good literature available to you in libraries, in bookshops and online. We hope, however, that they may prove a useful guide when deciding on a book to buy or when you visit the library with your child.
The reading lists have been organised by year group but are by no means prescriptive as, of course, not all children will be reading in line with their chronological age. There is a mixture of fiction, non-fiction and poetry from new, well-reviewed authors and those with a proven track record of writing high quality literature. We will be giving children the opportunity to review these books and have their thoughts published on the website throughout the Autumn term.