Reading
We pride ourselves on being passionate readers and work hard to instil a love of reading within the children. Every classroom has a vibrant and stimulating book corner, with a range of genres and titles to engage the children.
Every morning the children come into school and participate in ERIC (Everybody Reading In Class) for at least 20 minutes. Combined with home reading, this ensures that the children are exposed to more words, stories and texts to build their vocabulary and to practise their reading skills.
Children first begin learning to read at Mission Grove through our phonics programme, Read Write Inc. They are also read high quality texts and have the opportunity to talk about and perform the different stories they have heard or read.
As they progress through their reading journey, the children move onto the Accelerated Reader program. Each child is given a specific band of books they can read, and the children choose their own books to read within that band. Once they have finished reading a book, they can complete a short quiz online to check their understanding. Every word they read is counted, and we have a special 'Millionaire's Club' for those children who read one million words in a year.
Guided reading takes place on a daily basis in Year 2, with texts that are specifically matched to children’s reading abilities; staff work with the children to develop their reading and comprehension skills by using a range of questions and activities.
The children participate in whole-class reading lessons (CLPE), using books linked to their topics, or works from acclaimed children's authors. These sessions allow the children to practise reading aloud, while staff can monitor their understanding through discussions as well as written work.