Reading to learn
'The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you will go.'
Dr Seuss
As your child grows in confidence and picks up the basic skills of reading they will begin to 'read to learn'. This is where the focus on reading becomes about comprehension and gaining information. This is an essential life skill for all of us whether it be to read a sign which alerts us to danger or to carry out a research project.
We are excited to be in the process of developing a new whole school library which will have a variety of fiction and non fiction texts and each class has access to their own book box or class library.
Reading across the curriculum is a focus for us, and carefully selected texts that the children can use in both English and in their Quests, will allow for further opportunity to read about the world around them. To support text selection, reading spines have been created for each year group and their different Quests.
Enter text...
In Key stage 1....
Reading to learn begins when children start to read stories and information books. Children will be able to decode unfamiliar words using their phonic knowledge and at this stage have a good idea of basic grammar, enabling them to understand sentences and the meaning of them.
By the time children reach year 2, they will be expected to read a story or information text and retrieve information to answer a variety of questions. (This is assessed in their end of year SATs.)
What might this look like in school?
In Early years, children will identify words with matching pictures to read labels and signs. For example to know where to put the Lego.
Children in year 1 might be asked to read some sentences on fact cards to find out information about their class animal.
In year 2 children will be given several paragraphs to read about castles and they might be required to locate information about what castles were made out of and then use it in their own writing.
They will be introduced to the way texts are organised and taught how to use this. e.g. contents page and subheadings.
In Key stage 2...
Reading to learn becomes an essential skill as children explore different areas of the curriculum such as history, geography, Science and computing as well fictional texts.
At this stage children will be reading a variety of more complex texts and developing their research skills. They will learn about the format of these texts and how they are organised in order to help them locate information quickly. e.g. subheadings, fact boxes, index.
What might this look like in school?
- children are able to decode more complex and unfamiliar words. They will find out the meaning and be able to add them to their own vocabulary.
- they will be able to visualise what they are reading and make links to what they already know.
- children begin to question what they have read and use the text to delve further.
- They will begin to analyse the text and consider why the author has used particular strategies and perhaps try using some of these strategies in their own writing.
- They will learn to summarise information more confidently being able to discuss key points of what they read and develop their own opinions.
At the end of year 6 children's comprehension skills are assessed using the KS2 SATs.