Reading
The English curriculum enables children to develop as strong readers and writers, which is underpinned through developing high-functioning oracy within the Talk for Writing Programme. A culture of early excellence in reading has been created through the home-school partnership, which provides the foundation for reading development. The school has introduced Read, Write, Inc. to assist early reading. From these foundations the DERIC (Decode, Explain, Retrieve, Infer and Choice) model informs whole school quality-first teaching.
Resources and extra-curricular opportunities enable children to develop a life-long love of reading. Texts are carefully selected to afford rich writing opportunities and these link to all aspects of the curriculum. Within lessons there is an explicit focus on teacher modelling and direct vocabulary instruction, in order to create independent, skilled readers and writers.
We support parents weekly through our school newsletter, please refer to these for useful tips and advice to improve reading at home.
At Springfield Primary School we use a synthetic phonics programme to teach reading in Early Years and Key Stage 1, called 'Read Write Inc' produced by Ruth Miskin. As children progress and can decode fluently they move onto our personalised reading scheme which develops children’s comprehension, vocabulary, writing, critical thinking and discussion skills and grammar – in a fun and meaningful way.
Click here to view the year group subject overview
Read, Write, Inc. explained:
Phonics
Read Write Inc. Phonics is a method of teaching reading which is centred around learning the sounds of the letters (phonics), and then blending them together to read words. The children also learn to break down words into individual sounds in order to write them.
The children are assessed and grouped according to their ability. They work in small groups with a teacher and a teaching assistant. At the end of each half term the children will be assessed again to check they have made progress and will be grouped again. In addition to the Read Write Inc programme the children will also be working on writing skills and storytelling in their classes with their own class teacher.
Please click here to see how we teach phonics
Reading
Using Read Write Inc the children learn to read effortlessly so that they can put all their energy into understanding what they read. When using 'Read Write Inc' to read the children will: learn 44 sounds and the corresponding letter/letter groups using simple picture prompts; learn to read words by blending the sounds together; read lively stories featuring words they have learnt to sound out; show that they understand the stories by answering 'find It' and 'prove it' discussion questions.
Writing
Read Write Inc. allows the children to spell effortlessly so that they can put their energy into working out what they want to write. When using 'Read Write Inc' to write the children will: learn to write the letters/letter groups which represent the 44 sounds; learn to write words by sounding them out and then writing the corresponding graphemes; learn to write simple and then increasingly complex sentences; compose a range of texts using discussion prompts; compose stories based on picture strips.
Talking
When using 'Read Write Inc' the children work in pairs to: answer questions to practise every activity; take turns talking to each other; give positive praise to each other.
Blending
Children learn to read words by blending the letter-sounds that are in the Speed Sound sets. Help your child learn to read words by sound-blending e.g. c-a-t = cat. Help children to say the pure sounds, as quickly as they can, and then to blend the sounds together to say the whole word.
Pronouncing sounds
You can practise saying the sounds by downloading the phonic sounds PowerPoint presentation. Save the presentation to your computer and click 'view slideshow' to run the presentation. Click your left mouse button to cue each sound.
Visit the Read Write Inc Parent's Page for further information.
Book Week:
This week, has been a much-loved celebration of books and reading, with a special appearance of author Sam Copeland on Wednesday. To mark the week, our school was filled with excitement as we celebrated World Book Day in style! It was a truly magical day dedicated to the joy of reading, where children and staff came together to share their love of books and stories.
The day began with a wonderful parade of costumes and pyjamas, as pupils arrived dressed as their favourite book characters or cozy pyjamas. From Harry Potter and Alice in Wonderland to Paddington Bear and The Gruffalo, the creativity on display was incredible! It was fantastic to see so many beloved characters brought to life, and everyone enjoyed guessing which books they were from.
Throughout the day, children took part in a variety of book-themed activities designed to inspire a love of reading. These included:
Storytelling sessions – Teachers read aloud from much-loved books, bringing stories to life with enthusiasm and expression.
Creative book-themed crafts – Pupils designed their own book covers, created character masks, and illustrated scenes from their favourite stories.
Writing Workshops – Some of our pupils took part in creative writing activities, crafting their own short stories and poems inspired by their favourite books.
Every child also received a World Book Day book token, which they can use to pick up a free book or put towards another story of their choice. This wonderful initiative ensures that all children have access to books they can treasure.
It was truly inspiring to see the enthusiasm and excitement for reading throughout the day. A huge thank you to all the parents, teachers, and staff who helped make World Book Day such a fantastic success. We can’t wait to do it all again next year!
Happy Reading!
