First Steps in Reading at St Aubyns Pre-Prep
Monday 1 September 2008First steps in reading at St Aubyns Pre-Prep
Reading is the key to learning and the enjoyment of books will last a lifetime if reading skills are developed in a relaxed, fulfilling way. The reading experience at home and at school needs to be fun and stimulating.
When children begin to read, whether that be at home or at school, they draw upon all the many different inputs gathered from parents and teachers. The reading experience in school manifests itself in many ways and includes role play, an introduction of phonics, shared and guided reading, regular access and independent choice from a range of fiction and non fiction books, structured scheme books and print in the environment.
The objective at St Aubyns is to make this learning process as exciting and encouraging as possible. We aim to ensure that each child will share and enjoy a wide range of books in both the school and home setting. We would like to see children regard books and reading in general as a continuous and uplifting adventure.
An effective home/school partnership is the key to a successful grounding in reading helping to foster a love of reading that will enable a child to develop the skills needed. Surrounding and exposing a child, no matter at what age, to a wide variety of books will give a lasting advantage, not only in their reading skill but also in their wider education.
At St Aubyns this learning to read process begins on the very first day. Children in the Foundation Stage learn letter sounds, blending, letter formation, identifying sounds in words and initial spelling using the Jolly Phonics materials. This provides the children with a solid base for reading and writing using the synthetic phonics method of teaching letter sounds that is fun and multi-sensory. As we have found at school, happy learners are fast learners, and this ethos follows on from the Foundation Stage through the whole of the Pre-Prep department.
Throughout the school children are exposed to books of different genres including nursery rhymes, traditional stories, picture books, fiction and non- fiction. The experience of reading is continuous, whether it be one to one reading with a teacher or teaching assistant. Big book activities and group reading encourage the more reluctant reader. Older children learn and benefit from reading comprehension and re-reading their own work.
The principle method used for the teaching of reading at St Aubyns comprises a combination of three separate theories. The phonic approach equips the children to become good spellers and gives them word-tackling strategies. The sight recognition or whole word approach allows the children to learn high frequency words and the child also develops a picture of the shape of each word. The third comes from reading a variety of scheme books and real books from the library.
When a child is reading books in school, home/school liaison becomes essential to the success and development of the individual child’s development. Daily contact with parents, either by speaking directly with them or through the use of a reading diary ensures progress and guidance for the child. It is important to use similar strategies at home and at school to enable the child to feel comfortable and confident when reading.
At St Aubyns we share the ethos of helping and encouraging the child and use the following guidelines. These will vary as the child becomes a more proficient reader but many will be appropriate for both emergent and confident readers.
• Read to the child lots of different stories, poems and rhymes. Let them join in where possible, especially if it is an old favourite and much read story. Children are never too old to enjoy and benefit from listening to written language. Revisiting books does not mean that a child is standing still in his or her progress. It is not always a matter of getting onto the next book.
• Praising a child at every opportunity will not only raise self-esteem and confidence, they will feel successful and will want to practise more. The more they practise the better at reading they will become.
• Relax when reading together and if a child falters on a word give clues, either from the pictures or help to build the word; don’t let them struggle for too long as this can lead to frustration and disinterest. Reading is for fun and a child will progress far better with no pressure or drilling.
• It is important to realise that a readiness to read and reading ability can vary greatly. Some children take to reading quickly and experience no problems whilst for others progress is slower.
• If a child is reluctant to read, suggest taking turns or read just one or two pages. Avoid exerting too much pressure on a child as they can become tense and anxious. An enjoyable five or ten minutes is better than twenty minutes that are a struggle. Allow the child to have books which appeal rather than those which may seem appropriate. Comics and home made books may be the key to reading for enjoyment.
• Be a good role model. Let children see adults reading and encourage the child to read to adult members of the family. Encourage retelling of a story to ensure a development of reading for meaning.
If a child is encouraged to foster a love of reading we, as teachers and parents, play a most vital part. Our aim at St Aubyns is to promote a life long love of books and the realisation that reading is an enjoyable experience. A child who enjoys reading is more likely to continue doing so in adult life and let us hope that the inspiration and guidance given at home and at school ensures the development of this most rewarding of skills.
Anne Sams
Head of Pre-Prep