Reading

 

We intend for our children to become fluent, confident readers who understand the importance of reading. They will read a rich variety of fiction and non-fiction literature ranging from: graphic novels, classic texts and magazines to comics, poems and modern stories. An enjoyment of reading is at the heart of the curriculum and through this, children will be avid readers that choose to choose to both read to learn and to read for pleasure.

 

All children will have participated in a variety of quality book related experiences and have acquired the linguistic skills in order to discuss, evaluate, reflect, compare, critique and engage in dialogic talk about a wide range of literature in order to form an opinion.

 

 

 

 

VIPERS is an acronym to aid the recall of the 6 reading domains as part of the UK’s reading curriculum.  They are the key areas which we feel children need to know and understand in order to improve their comprehension of texts.  VIPERS stands for

 

The 6 domains focus on the comprehension aspect of reading and not the mechanics: decoding, fluency, prosody etc.  As such, VIPERS is not a reading scheme but rather a method of ensuring that teachers ask, and students are familiar with, a range of questions.  They allow the teacher to track the type of questions asked and the children’s responses to these which allows for targeted questioning afterwards.

In Key Stage One children reading skills are taught and practised using the VIPERS during whole class reading sessions.

 

KS1 Content Domain Reference  [VIPER]

1a draw on knowledge of vocabulary to understand texts [Vocabulary]

1b identify/explain key aspects of fiction and non-fiction, such as characters, events, titles and information  [Retrieve]

1c identify and explain the sequences of events in texts  [Sequence]

1d make inferences from the text  [Infer]

1e predict what might happen on the basis of what has been read so far  [Predict]

During a typical session, teachers will share what the content domain/s the children will be focusing on for that session. Teachers carefully select the key vocabulary words they want the children to learn and where appropriate, they are applied during literacy sessions with children being encouraged to use them in their daily language.

 

During these sessions teachers will cover a range of texts including fiction, non-fiction, poetry, songs and picture books. Types of text given are appropriate to the age and key stage of the children.

Children will read during these sessions in a variety of different ways. They may hear the teacher model fluent reading and then have time to reread the same extract themselves, they may read individually and feedback, work in groups, take turns in pairs or read aloud to their peers.

 

Teachers will plan key questions based on the reading skill identified for that lesson and from Year 2, children will record their answers in their reading book. Children are encouraged to develop their oracy by verbalising their answer before writing anything down. At times children are given sentence stems and vocabulary that is expected to be used within their answer. Children are encouraged to provide evidence for their answer based on a text extract or a picture they have seen in the book. Where appropriate children are encouraged to use evidence from within the text.

 

Alongside this reading lesson, children will be read to daily during their class reader session, visit the school library weekly, access their classroom reading corner and enjoy reading for pleasure.