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Reading

Children who read regularly or are read to regularly have the opportunity to open the doors to so many different worlds! More importantly, reading will give our children the tools to become independent life-long learners.

We aim to achieve this together through:

· Read Write Inc, a program to help to your child read at school

· Encouraging children to develop a love of books by reading to them daily, at home and at school

· Giving children choice and access to a wide range of books at school and at home

We use a wide variety of reading schemes and provide a large range of books to support our children in their reading. These are graded according to the publisher’s recommendations across book bands and are labelled with a sticker on the book’s spine which ‘current attainment level’ it’s been assigned. This is to aid our children and teachers to choose the most suitable books for their stage of development. There is inevitably some cross-over within these bands where children could have something ever so slightly easier, or harder, in their book choice

Upon starting school, children initially have a book with no words at all, as this supports comprehension and understanding through talking about its content with someone at home or school. Quick and regular assessments take place to ensure children are on the right ‘level’ of book. Moving through Key Stage 1, the book-banded books are used to meet the full range of attainment in each class. Key Stage 2 also have a range of books in their classrooms moving further on to our ‘free readers’ library.

Children who are accessing Read Write Inc. Phonics will read reading books in school which closely link to the level that they are on. Some pupils will receive a book from a colour that they have already covered in order to embed their knowledge of certain sounds. The RWI Book band books do not directly link to the NC book banding colours however the chart below shows where we would expect a child on RWI to be in relation to NC book banding.

At TRPA we use Read Write Inc. Phonics. Read Write Inc (RWI) is a phonics complete literacy programme which helps all children learn to read fluently and at speed so they can focus on developing their skills in comprehension, vocabulary and spelling. The programme is designed for children aged 4-7.

Staff are trained in how to deliver the programme and pupils are organised into groups according to their phonic knowledge throughout the school.

Pupils who are in Key Stage Two may still take part in RWI Phonics lessons. In addition to their lessons, they may also receive extra reading intervention.

All children who are accessing RWI Phonics will receive two reading books. One reading book that matches their book level and the sounds that they are learning - we can this an 'I can' book as children can read this themselves. They have a second book, a 'we can' book to share together with an adult to develop their love of reading.

Reading Lessons	Reading For Pleasure
At TRPA we use different methods for the teaching of reading including guided and shared reading, a reading fluency programme and some whole class guided reading opportunities. We want our children to have a love of reading and therefore children will have the opportunity to read for pleasure and choose books that interest them whilst developing the key skills of reading through teaching sessions.	At TRPA we actively encourage reading for pleasure and recognise it as a core part of every child’s education, regardless of their background or attainment. We make reading a key part of our curriculum and expose pupils to a wide range of texts in a variety of different situations. We take the view that extensive reading and exposure to a wide range of texts makes a vital contribution to every child’s educational achievement. Reading for pleasure aims to establish each child as a lifetime reader. Studies emphasise the importance of reading for pleasure for both educational as well as personal development. They show that promoting reading can have a major impact on children, their future and their life chances.

Reading Lessons

Reading For Pleasure

At TRPA we use different methods for the teaching of reading including guided and shared reading, a reading fluency programme and some whole class guided reading opportunities. We want our children to have a love of reading and therefore children will have the opportunity to read for pleasure and choose books that interest them whilst developing the key skills of reading through teaching sessions.

At TRPA we actively encourage reading for pleasure and recognise it as a core part of every child’s education, regardless of their background or attainment. We make reading a key part of our curriculum and expose pupils to a wide range of texts in a variety of different situations.

We take the view that extensive reading and exposure to a wide range of texts makes a vital contribution to every child’s educational achievement.

Reading for pleasure aims to establish each child as a lifetime reader. Studies emphasise the importance of reading for pleasure for both educational as well as personal development. They show that promoting reading can have a major impact on children, their future and their life chances.

Staff use FFT to track pupil progress against National Curriculum Objectives. Data is collected three times a year and pupils are highlighted for additional support through Pupil Progress Meetings. As a school, we use constant formative assessment to gauge our children’s progress in relation to the Herts for Learning progression documents. To further develop and support our pupils who are working towards age related expectations, a range of interventions are in place across the school including Word Shark, Speed Reading and one to one reading sessions.

PArental Engagement	School Library
Each term we will host a Share a Story morning / afternoon where parents will have the opportunity to read to or with children in school; we will try to have a different theme for each session. We advise our families that they can help with phonics, spelling and an understanding of grammar through good communication (plenty of talk) and plenty of reading.	A new library was launched on World Book Day March 2022, where parents and children enjoyed time spent choosing and reading stories. Since the launch, children have been attending weekly library sessions with an experienced librarian, who enjoys helping them choose and share books that inspire them. Pupils are able to talk about books they are reading and authors that they have enjoyed. We are truly reading for pleasure at Rushmere Park Academy.

PArental Engagement

School Library

Each term we will host a Share a Story morning / afternoon where parents will have the opportunity to read to or with children in school; we will try to have a different theme for each session. We advise our families that they can help with phonics, spelling and an understanding of grammar through good communication (plenty of talk) and plenty of reading.

A new library was launched on World Book Day March 2022, where parents and children enjoyed time spent choosing and reading stories. Since the launch, children have been attending weekly library sessions with an experienced librarian, who enjoys helping them choose and share books that inspire them. Pupils are able to talk about books they are reading and authors that they have enjoyed. We are truly reading for pleasure at Rushmere Park Academy.

At The Rushmere Park Academy we introduce Phonics to children in Nursery, however in Reception children will experience our Phonics programme a method of learning to read words. Children learn to read letters by saying the sounds they represent. They can then start to read words by blending individual sounds together to make words.

Alongside learning to decode the words on the page, your child will also learn comprehension skills. This helps them to make sense of what the words say and what the text means. Together, these skills will help your child on their way to becoming a keen and confident reader.

Children will learn:

Linking sounds and letters
Blending sounds to make words
Learning tricky words

KS1 Year 1	KS1 Year 2
In Year 1, children will have a growing knowledge of phonics and will be building up a range of reading skills. The focus is now on developing their phonics and comprehension skills as they become confident and fluent readers. In June, your child will take the phonics screening check to make sure they are reading at the expected level. Children are encouraged to utilise their knowledge of blending and segmenting within activities throughout the day. Children will learn: Use phonics skills to decode words Blend sounds in words Read common exception words (tricky words) Read words that have different endings Read words with contractions Read books at the right level out loud Re-read books to build up fluency and confidence in word reading Listen to and talk about a range of stories and texts Learn well-known stories, fairy stories, and traditional tales Understand the books they read and listen to Common reading issues	In Year 2, children will be building up a range of reading skills. They should have strong phonics knowledge and growing comprehension skills, which will help them read more broadly, confidently, and fluently. In May, your child will take their Key Stage 1 SATs. The tests include maths and English sections, as well as two reading papers. Children will learn: Use phonics to decode complex words In Year 2, your child will still be learning to read increasingly complex words using phonics. Phonics focuses on building words from sounds. A sound might be represented by a letter (such as ‘s’ or ‘m’) or a group of letters (like ‘ch’ or ‘igh’). Your child will learn the letters and the sounds they make, and how to put them together to read words. Your child will continue developing their word-reading in Year 2 until they are fluent word readers. Once they have learned all the sound and letter combinations, they will be able to try to read any unfamiliar words. Blend and recognise alternative sounds for graphemes In Year 2, your child will continue to learn which sounds the different letters represent. They can then read the separate letters in a word and put them together to read the whole word. This is called blending. So, if your child knows ‘f’, ‘r’ ‘o’ and ‘g’, they can blend them together to read frog. Your child will often come across words that have two possible ways of saying the word (for example, ‘lead’). This is because there are alternative sounds for the letters – the same letters can be pronounced in different ways. In this example, ‘ea’ could be pronounced /e/ or /ee/. This means that your child will have to think about the word in the sentence and make a choice: ‘the girl took the lead in the race’ or ‘the roof was covered in lead’. Read words that use common suffixes Suffixes are letters and groups of letters that appear at the end of words and change the meaning of the word, like -s, -ing, and -ed. In Year 2, your child will be taught to read words that they can decode already, but have an ending added. For example, adding ‘-ness’ to ‘sad’ to make ‘sadness’. Other examples of words with suffixes that your child might learn to read include ‘enjoyment’, ‘plentiful’ and ‘happily’. Read more common exception words (tricky words) Some words are trickier to sound out than others. This is usually because the sounds and letters do not match with what has been taught so far, or they are not spelt in a way that can be figured out using phonics. In other words, they are not decodable. The National Curriculum calls these ‘common exception words’, but they are often called tricky words in schools. Your child is likely to meet words like these (for example, ‘said’ and ‘the’) in the books they read. Children are often taught to recognise these words by sight. Read most words quickly and accurately By Year 2, your child will have had lots of practice with reading. This will mean that most children will not need to sound out and blend the sounds in most words. Instead, they will read the word quickly because they have come across it many times. Of course, there will still be unfamiliar words that still need to be decoded carefully. These include less-common words, names, and words that children are reading for the first time. Read some books out loud In Year 2, your child should have a good knowledge of how phonics works. Together with tricky words they can recognise on sight, this means that they will be able to read books at the right level independently, sounding out unfamiliar words with confidence. Your child will also have the chance to listen to lots of other books that they can’t read on their own yet, building their understanding and enjoyment. Re-read books to build up fluency and confidence Re-reading books is one of the best ways for children to become fluent readers. The National Curriculum encourages children to re-read books, helping them to become more confident in their word reading every time they revisit a text. Listen to and talk about a range of texts Many children in Year 2 are well on the way to becoming fluent readers. They are often able to understand texts that are more complicated than those that they can read themselves. For this reason, many of the books that teachers use for comprehension will be books that are read aloud to them. Reading for comprehension in Year 2 will involve plenty of chances for your child to: Discuss the sequence of events in books and how information is linked Learn about and retell a wider range of stories, fairy stories, and traditional tales Be introduced to non-fiction books that are structured in different ways Recognise the language used in stories and poetry Discuss the meaning of words. Learn some poems by heart and recite them with expression. Understand the books they read and listen to Understand the books they read and listen to In Year 2, your child will develop their comprehension by: Drawing on what they already know or using information provided by their teacher Checking that the text makes sense to them as they read and correcting inaccurate reading Talking about events in stories and why stories have the titles they do Making connections based on what is said and done in a story Predicting what might happen next in a story based on what has been read so far. Talk about books and poems Reading lessons in Year 2 give your child the chance to talk about the books that they read and that are read to them. In these discussions, children show their understanding and learn that different people have different opinions about the things that they read. Your child might talk about books as part of a small group or with the whole class. As well as helping them understand their books better, these sessions also give them practice taking turns and listening to what other people think. Year 2 reading test In Year 2, your child’s reading will be assessed by a national assessment task (commonly called SATs), as well as by the teacher against a set of criteria from the National Curriculum. Year 2 reading test The reading test may include fiction, non-fiction, and poetry. Children answer comprehension questions to show their understanding of the texts. There will be a mixture of question types. In some, your child will need to choose an answer (selected responses). For others, they will need to write their own answer (short and extended responses). Teacher assessment Over the course of the year, teachers will use the reading that children do in school to inform their teacher assessment. Teachers will assess your child’s word reading and their comprehension. Common reading issues Lots of parents worry about their children’s reading. Fortunately, help is at hand! Some children can read the words quite well – it’s just that they don’t want to. We call this group of children reluctant readers. For some other children, it is difficult to remember common words or the sounds of the letters from one day to the next. Reading is a slow and painful struggle, distressing for your child and for you. These children can be called struggling readers.

KS1 Year 1

KS1 Year 2

In Year 1, children will have a growing knowledge of phonics and will be building up a range of reading skills. The focus is now on developing their phonics and comprehension skills as they become confident and fluent readers.

In June, your child will take the phonics screening check to make sure they are reading at the expected level. Children are encouraged to utilise their knowledge of blending and segmenting within activities throughout the day.

Children will learn:

Use phonics skills to decode words
Blend sounds in words
Read common exception words (tricky words)
Read words that have different endings
Read words with contractions
Read books at the right level out loud
Re-read books to build up fluency and confidence in word reading
Listen to and talk about a range of stories and texts
Learn well-known stories, fairy stories, and traditional tales
Understand the books they read and listen to
Common reading issues

In Year 2, children will be building up a range of reading skills. They should have strong phonics knowledge and growing comprehension skills, which will help them read more broadly, confidently, and fluently.

In May, your child will take their Key Stage 1 SATs. The tests include maths and English sections, as well as two reading papers.

Children will learn:

Use phonics to decode complex words
In Year 2, your child will still be learning to read increasingly complex words using phonics.
Phonics focuses on building words from sounds. A sound might be represented by a letter (such as ‘s’ or ‘m’) or a group of letters (like ‘ch’ or ‘igh’). Your child will learn the letters and the sounds they make, and how to put them together to read words.
Your child will continue developing their word-reading in Year 2 until they are fluent word readers. Once they have learned all the sound and letter combinations, they will be able to try to read any unfamiliar words.
Blend and recognise alternative sounds for graphemes
In Year 2, your child will continue to learn which sounds the different letters represent. They can then read the separate letters in a word and put them together to read the whole word. This is called blending. So, if your child knows ‘f’, ‘r’ ‘o’ and ‘g’, they can blend them together to read frog.
Your child will often come across words that have two possible ways of saying the word (for example, ‘lead’). This is because there are alternative sounds for the letters – the same letters can be pronounced in different ways. In this example, ‘ea’ could be pronounced /e/ or /ee/. This means that your child will have to think about the word in the sentence and make a choice: ‘the girl took the lead in the race’ or ‘the roof was covered in lead’.
Read words that use common suffixes
Suffixes are letters and groups of letters that appear at the end of words and change the meaning of the word, like -s, -ing, and -ed.
In Year 2, your child will be taught to read words that they can decode already, but have an ending added. For example, adding ‘-ness’ to ‘sad’ to make ‘sadness’. Other examples of words with suffixes that your child might learn to read include ‘enjoyment’, ‘plentiful’ and ‘happily’.
Read more common exception words (tricky words)
Some words are trickier to sound out than others. This is usually because the sounds and letters do not match with what has been taught so far, or they are not spelt in a way that can be figured out using phonics. In other words, they are not decodable. The National Curriculum calls these ‘common exception words’, but they are often called tricky words in schools.
Your child is likely to meet words like these (for example, ‘said’ and ‘the’) in the books they read. Children are often taught to recognise these words by sight.
Read most words quickly and accurately
By Year 2, your child will have had lots of practice with reading. This will mean that most children will not need to sound out and blend the sounds in most words. Instead, they will read the word quickly because they have come across it many times.
Of course, there will still be unfamiliar words that still need to be decoded carefully. These include less-common words, names, and words that children are reading for the first time.
Read some books out loud
In Year 2, your child should have a good knowledge of how phonics works. Together with tricky words they can recognise on sight, this means that they will be able to read books at the right level independently, sounding out unfamiliar words with confidence.
Your child will also have the chance to listen to lots of other books that they can’t read on their own yet, building their understanding and enjoyment.
Re-read books to build up fluency and confidence
Re-reading books is one of the best ways for children to become fluent readers. The National Curriculum encourages children to re-read books, helping them to become more confident in their word reading every time they revisit a text.
Listen to and talk about a range of texts

Many children in Year 2 are well on the way to becoming fluent readers. They are often able to understand texts that are more complicated than those that they can read themselves.

For this reason, many of the books that teachers use for comprehension will be books that are read aloud to them. Reading for comprehension in Year 2 will involve plenty of chances for your child to:

Discuss the sequence of events in books and how information is linked
Learn about and retell a wider range of stories, fairy stories, and traditional tales
Be introduced to non-fiction books that are structured in different ways
Recognise the language used in stories and poetry
Discuss the meaning of words.
Learn some poems by heart and recite them with expression.

Understand the books they read and listen to Understand the books they read and listen to

In Year 2, your child will develop their comprehension by:

Drawing on what they already know or using information provided by their teacher
Checking that the text makes sense to them as they read and correcting inaccurate reading
Talking about events in stories and why stories have the titles they do
Making connections based on what is said and done in a story
Predicting what might happen next in a story based on what has been read so far.

Talk about books and poems

Reading lessons in Year 2 give your child the chance to talk about the books that they read and that are read to them. In these discussions, children show their understanding and learn that different people have different opinions about the things that they read.
Your child might talk about books as part of a small group or with the whole class. As well as helping them understand their books better, these sessions also give them practice taking turns and listening to what other people think.

Year 2 reading test

In Year 2, your child’s reading will be assessed by a national assessment task (commonly called SATs), as well as by the teacher against a set of criteria from the National Curriculum.
Year 2 reading test
The reading test may include fiction, non-fiction, and poetry. Children answer comprehension questions to show their understanding of the texts.
There will be a mixture of question types. In some, your child will need to choose an answer (selected responses). For others, they will need to write their own answer (short and extended responses).
Teacher assessment
Over the course of the year, teachers will use the reading that children do in school to inform their teacher assessment. Teachers will assess your child’s word reading and their comprehension.

Common reading issues

Lots of parents worry about their children’s reading. Fortunately, help is at hand! Some children can read the words quite well – it’s just that they don’t want to. We call this group of children reluctant readers. For some other children, it is difficult to remember common words or the sounds of the letters from one day to the next. Reading is a slow and painful struggle, distressing for your child and for you. These children can be called struggling readers.

Lower KS2 Year 3	Lower KS2 Year 4
In Year 3, children will hopefully be on the way to becoming a confident, independent reader. Many children who have got to grips with phonics and word-reading will shift their focus onto comprehension. Understand root words, prefixes, and suffixes Root word is a word that can stand on its own without prefixes or suffixes. A prefix is a group of letters that is added to the beginning of a word. This makes a new word. For example, the prefix un- changes words, so they mean the opposite. For example, ‘happy’ becomes ‘unhappy’. In this example, ‘happy’ is the ‘root word’. A suffix is a group of letters that is added to the end of a word. For example, the suffix –ness turns a word into a noun. For example, ‘happy’ becomes ‘happiness’. Your child will use their knowledge of root words, prefixes, and suffixes to work out the meaning of words. They will understand how prefixes and suffixes can change meaning. Read more common exception words (tricky words) Some words are trickier to sound out than others. This is usually because the sounds and letters do not match with what has been taught so far, or they are not spelt in a way that can be figured out using phonics. In other words, they are not decodable. The National Curriculum calls these ‘common exception words’, but they are often called tricky words in schools. Your child is likely to meet words like these (for example, ‘said’ and ‘the’) in the books they read. Children are often taught to recognise these words by sight. Read a wide range of books and retell stories orally In Year 3, your child will read and listen to many different books including fairy tales, myths, and legends. Retelling these stories helps your child to learn story language and to practise speaking to an audience. We offer every child online access to ebooks which form an essential part of our reading programme, corresponding to individual children’s phonetical understanding and development. Perform poems and play scripts Your child will study poems or play scripts in Year 3, and will have the chance to perform them to an audience. This helps them learn to read aloud with expression and shows the teacher that they understand the text. Your child will also be expected to read aloud from their reading books. Talk about interesting words and phrases Your child will talk about the language used in the different books they read. They will explore why the author has chosen certain words and to think about why particular words and phrases work well. This is useful for building their understanding of the texts they read. It is also useful when they come to write themselves. Check that the text makes sense to them In Year 3, your child will be encouraged to become an independent reader, checking whether what they are reading makes sense to them. If it doesn’t make sense, it’s important they don’t just read on to try and finish the book. They will be taught to re-read and to think about or look up the meaning of a word. Your child will also be encouraged to use the other words and phrases to work out the meaning. They will be able to talk to you about their understanding of what they are reading. Read between the lines and justify thinking with evidence from the text Sometimes the information in a text is very clear (for example, ‘It was raining’) and easy to be understood. However, texts are often a bit more complicated and may require inference to properly understand. Inference is where some information is left for the reader to read between the lines. They need to make sense of details that are not stated clearly. For example: Instead of ‘It was raining’, the text might say, ‘Ally shook the water from her umbrella and carefully balanced her soaking coat on the radiator’. Being able to make inferences is a key skill for comprehension so this is a focus for reading in Year 3. Predict what might happen next In Year 3, your child will be taught to make predictions about the texts they read. This could mean predicting what will happen next in the story or what a character might say or do. These predictions are a good way to check understanding. Talk about books and poems Reading lessons in Year 3 give your child a chance to talk about the books that they read and that are read to them. In these discussions, children show their understanding and learn that different people have different opinions about the things that they read. Your child might talk about books as part of a small group or with the whole class. As well as developing their comprehension skills, these lessons are useful practise for taking turns and listening to what others say. Use dictionaries to check the meaning of words In Year 3, your child will learn to use dictionaries to check the meaning of words they have read.	In Year 4, children will be developing into an increasingly fluent reader. The focus will now be on building comprehension, but it is still important that children use their phonics skills to tackle new words. Children will learn: Understand root words, prefixes, and suffixes Root word is a word that can stand on its own without prefixes or suffixes. A prefix is a group of letters that is added to the beginning of a word. This makes a new word. For example, the prefix un- changes words, so they mean the opposite. For example, ‘happy’ becomes ‘unhappy’. In this example, ‘happy’ is the ‘root word’. A suffix is a group of letters that is added to the end of a word. For example, the suffix –ness turns a word into a noun. For example, ‘happy’ becomes ‘happiness’. Your child will use their knowledge of root words, prefixes, and suffixes to work out the meaning of words. They will understand how prefixes and suffixes can change meaning. Read more common exception words (tricky words) Some words are trickier to sound out than others. This is usually because the sounds and letters do not match with what has been taught so far, or they are not spelt in a way that can be figured out using phonics. In other words, they are not decodable. The National Curriculum calls these ‘common exception words’, but they are often called tricky words in schools. Your child is likely to meet words like these (for example, ‘said’ and ‘the’) in the books they read. Children are often taught to recognise these words by sight. Some schools send home lists of tricky words so that children can learn them off by heart. Read a wide range of books and retell stories orally In Year 4, your child will read and listen to many different books including fairy tales, myths, and legends. Retelling these stories helps your child to learn story language and to practise speaking to an audience. You can find lots of books to read aloud with your child on our Rising Stars online reading scheme Perform poems and play scripts Your child will study poems or play scripts in Year 4 and will have the chance to perform them to an audience. This helps them learn to read aloud with expression and shows the teacher that they understand the text. Your child will also be expected to read aloud from their reading books. Talk about interesting words and phrases Your child will talk about the language used in the different books they read. They will explore why the author has chosen certain words and to think about why particular words and phrases work well. This is useful for building their understanding of the texts they read. It is also useful when they come to write themselves. Check that the text makes sense to them In Year 4, your child will be encouraged to become an independent reader, checking whether what they are reading makes sense to them. If it doesn’t make sense, it’s important they don’t just read on to try and finish the book. They will be taught to re-read and to think about or look up the meaning of a word. Your child will also be encouraged to use the other words and phrases to work out the meaning. They will be able to talk to you about their understanding of what they are reading. Read between the lines and justify thinking with evidence from the text Sometimes the information in a text is very clear (for example, ‘It was raining’) and easy to understand. However, texts are often a bit more complicated and may require inference to properly understand. Inference is where some information is left for the reader to read between the lines. They need to make sense of details that are not stated clearly. For example: Instead of ‘It was raining’, the text might say, ‘Ally shook the water from her umbrella and carefully balanced her soaking coat on the radiator’. Predict what might happen next In Year 4, your child will be taught to make predictions about the texts they read. This could mean predicting what will happen next in the story or what a character might say or do. These predictions are a good way to check understanding. Talk about books and poems Reading lessons in Year 4 give your child a chance to talk about the books that they read and that are read to them. In these discussions, children show their understanding and learn that different people have different opinions about the things that they read. ·our child might talk about books as part of a small group or with the whole class. As well as developing their comprehension skills, these lessons are useful practise for taking turns and listening to what others say. Use dictionaries to check the meaning of words In Year 4, your child will learn to use dictionaries to check the meaning of words they have read.

Lower KS2 Year 3

Lower KS2 Year 4

In Year 3, children will hopefully be on the way to becoming a confident, independent reader. Many children who have got to grips with phonics and word-reading will shift their focus onto comprehension.

Understand root words, prefixes, and suffixes
Root word is a word that can stand on its own without prefixes or suffixes.
A prefix is a group of letters that is added to the beginning of a word. This makes a new word. For example, the prefix un- changes words, so they mean the opposite. For example, ‘happy’ becomes ‘unhappy’. In this example, ‘happy’ is the ‘root word’.
A suffix is a group of letters that is added to the end of a word. For example, the suffix –ness turns a word into a noun. For example, ‘happy’ becomes ‘happiness’.
Your child will use their knowledge of root words, prefixes, and suffixes to work out the meaning of words. They will understand how prefixes and suffixes can change meaning.
Read more common exception words (tricky words)
Some words are trickier to sound out than others. This is usually because the sounds and letters do not match with what has been taught so far, or they are not spelt in a way that can be figured out using phonics. In other words, they are not decodable. The National Curriculum calls these ‘common exception words’, but they are often called tricky words in schools.
Your child is likely to meet words like these (for example, ‘said’ and ‘the’) in the books they read. Children are often taught to recognise these words by sight.
Read a wide range of books and retell stories orally
In Year 3, your child will read and listen to many different books including fairy tales, myths, and legends. Retelling these stories helps your child to learn story language and to practise speaking to an audience. We offer every child online access to ebooks which form an essential part of our reading programme, corresponding to individual children’s phonetical understanding and development.
Perform poems and play scripts
Your child will study poems or play scripts in Year 3, and will have the chance to perform them to an audience. This helps them learn to read aloud with expression and shows the teacher that they understand the text.
Your child will also be expected to read aloud from their reading books.
Talk about interesting words and phrases
Your child will talk about the language used in the different books they read. They will explore why the author has chosen certain words and to think about why particular words and phrases work well. This is useful for building their understanding of the texts they read. It is also useful when they come to write themselves.
Check that the text makes sense to them
In Year 3, your child will be encouraged to become an independent reader, checking whether what they are reading makes sense to them. If it doesn’t make sense, it’s important they don’t just read on to try and finish the book.
They will be taught to re-read and to think about or look up the meaning of a word. Your child will also be encouraged to use the other words and phrases to work out the meaning. They will be able to talk to you about their understanding of what they are reading.
Read between the lines and justify thinking with evidence from the text
Sometimes the information in a text is very clear (for example, ‘It was raining’) and easy to be understood. However, texts are often a bit more complicated and may require inference to properly understand.
Inference is where some information is left for the reader to read between the lines. They need to make sense of details that are not stated clearly. For example:
Instead of ‘It was raining’, the text might say, ‘Ally shook the water from her umbrella and carefully balanced her soaking coat on the radiator’.
Being able to make inferences is a key skill for comprehension so this is a focus for reading in Year 3.
Predict what might happen next
In Year 3, your child will be taught to make predictions about the texts they read. This could mean predicting what will happen next in the story or what a character might say or do. These predictions are a good way to check understanding.
Talk about books and poems
Reading lessons in Year 3 give your child a chance to talk about the books that they read and that are read to them. In these discussions, children show their understanding and learn that different people have different opinions about the things that they read.
Your child might talk about books as part of a small group or with the whole class. As well as developing their comprehension skills, these lessons are useful practise for taking turns and listening to what others say.
Use dictionaries to check the meaning of words
In Year 3, your child will learn to use dictionaries to check the meaning of words they have read.

In Year 4, children will be developing into an increasingly fluent reader. The focus will now be on building comprehension, but it is still important that children use their phonics skills to tackle new words.

Children will learn:

Understand root words, prefixes, and suffixes
Root word is a word that can stand on its own without prefixes or suffixes.
A prefix is a group of letters that is added to the beginning of a word. This makes a new word. For example, the prefix un- changes words, so they mean the opposite. For example, ‘happy’ becomes ‘unhappy’. In this example, ‘happy’ is the ‘root word’.
A suffix is a group of letters that is added to the end of a word. For example, the suffix –ness turns a word into a noun. For example, ‘happy’ becomes ‘happiness’.
Your child will use their knowledge of root words, prefixes, and suffixes to work out the meaning of words. They will understand how prefixes and suffixes can change meaning.
Read more common exception words (tricky words)
Some words are trickier to sound out than others. This is usually because the sounds and letters do not match with what has been taught so far, or they are not spelt in a way that can be figured out using phonics. In other words, they are not decodable. The National Curriculum calls these ‘common exception words’, but they are often called tricky words in schools.
Your child is likely to meet words like these (for example, ‘said’ and ‘the’) in the books they read. Children are often taught to recognise these words by sight. Some schools send home lists of tricky words so that children can learn them off by heart.
Read a wide range of books and retell stories orally
In Year 4, your child will read and listen to many different books including fairy tales, myths, and legends. Retelling these stories helps your child to learn story language and to practise speaking to an audience.
You can find lots of books to read aloud with your child on our Rising Stars online reading scheme
Perform poems and play scripts
Your child will study poems or play scripts in Year 4 and will have the chance to perform them to an audience. This helps them learn to read aloud with expression and shows the teacher that they understand the text.
Your child will also be expected to read aloud from their reading books.
Talk about interesting words and phrases
Your child will talk about the language used in the different books they read. They will explore why the author has chosen certain words and to think about why particular words and phrases work well. This is useful for building their understanding of the texts they read. It is also useful when they come to write themselves.
Check that the text makes sense to them
In Year 4, your child will be encouraged to become an independent reader, checking whether what they are reading makes sense to them. If it doesn’t make sense, it’s important they don’t just read on to try and finish the book.
They will be taught to re-read and to think about or look up the meaning of a word. Your child will also be encouraged to use the other words and phrases to work out the meaning. They will be able to talk to you about their understanding of what they are reading.
Read between the lines and justify thinking with evidence from the text
Sometimes the information in a text is very clear (for example, ‘It was raining’) and easy to understand. However, texts are often a bit more complicated and may require inference to properly understand.
Inference is where some information is left for the reader to read between the lines. They need to make sense of details that are not stated clearly. For example:
Instead of ‘It was raining’, the text might say, ‘Ally shook the water from her umbrella and carefully balanced her soaking coat on the radiator’.
Predict what might happen next
In Year 4, your child will be taught to make predictions about the texts they read. This could mean predicting what will happen next in the story or what a character might say or do. These predictions are a good way to check understanding.
Talk about books and poems
Reading lessons in Year 4 give your child a chance to talk about the books that they read and that are read to them. In these discussions, children show their understanding and learn that different people have different opinions about the things that they read.
·our child might talk about books as part of a small group or with the whole class. As well as developing their comprehension skills, these lessons are useful practise for taking turns and listening to what others say.
Use dictionaries to check the meaning of words
In Year 4, your child will learn to use dictionaries to check the meaning of words they have read.