Dear parents and carers,

At Westcliffe Primary School we have added a new approach to the teaching of reading in KS2 in order to help children with their reading comprehension. This will be taught alongside our normal reading comprehension (ERIC) sessions as well as in other areas of the curriculum where there are opportunities to read texts or books. Our new approach (referred to as ‘assisted reading’) will focus on the three aspects of reading fluency. I have prepared 2 tutorial videos to assist you: An Introduction to Assisted Reading and An Example of Assisted Reading

Reading fluency consists of three components:

• Decoding accuracy - the ability to decode words accurately in text when reading. Children practise this during daily Read Write Inc sessions in Key Stage 1 and twice-weekly during ERIC sessions across the school.
• Automaticity – the ability to decode words fluently and rapidly without the need to use phonics strategies.
• Prosody – the ability to use phrasing and expression in reading.

When readers use the right volume, tone and other aspects when reading aloud, they are actively showing understanding of the words they read.

In school

We are using assisted reading as a way to improve fluency of our young readers. Children need to hear examples of skilled fluency to learn how a reader's voice can help make sense of a text. There are different types of assisted reading. In the classroom, we are focussing on echo reading, choral reading and paired reading.

• Echo reading

The adult reads a short section either a sentence or short paragraph, with lots of expression and the children repeat it in the same way. Sometimes it is necessary to break down more difficult sentences into clauses or smaller sections so children can remember and repeat effectively with expression. In short extracts, it is important to repeat several times, as repetition builds fluency.

• Choral reading

The children read along with the adult, who models fluency and expression.  This is used during literacy, story time or at any time across the curriculum when texts are shared. In short extracts, it is important to repeat several times, as repetition builds fluency.

• Peer reading

The children hear the extract (a sentence, paragraph, or page) being read by the adult, then in pairs they take it in turns to read parts of or all of the extract given to them. The rules for peer reading are to be kind and not to interrupt or help (unless their partner asks for it). Once finished, then they swap over. Reading it several times is important to build fluency.

What you can do

When reading with your child, you can use either of the assisted reading methods. When you model sentences or paragraphs, your child will hear good examples of how words and sentences should be read and also what their voice should be doing at specific punctuation, like question marks and exclamation marks. The idea is that your child will then copy these sentences using the correct expression and, over time, improve their fluency and comprehension.

After the disruption to children’s education recently, reading has never been more important. We strive to give our children the best start in life and set them on the road to a success, whatever they may want to do. We hope to foster their love of reading and encourage them to build a relationship with books that will last a lifetime. We thank you for your support with this and ask that you continue to read with your child at least 3 times a week at home. This is the minimum requirement; children reading every day would be the ideal scenario. It doesn’t always have to be their reading book. If your child reads a magazine, comic or another book from home, for example, that can be recorded in their diary and count towards their reading tally. We also ask that children bring in their reading book and diary every day so that an adult in school can listen to them read when the opportunity arises.

In regards to changing books, we believe reading a book several times (even for the older children) is far more beneficial for building fluency and comprehension. Research has shown that reading a text up to 3 times has a positive impact on fluency of reading as well as helping your child to have a better understanding of what they have read. Therefore, if your child comes home with the same book, it is likely because we want them to have another go at reading it before changing it.

If you have any questions about reading, please feel free to seek out Miss Nicholls in the Library before or after school each day. Alternatively, you may arrange to speak directly to your child’s class teacher, or me.

Thanking you in anticipation,

Miss M Ross

Reading Leader