Stanley Common

Live, enjoy, believe, aim high

At Stanley Common, we teach reading in a range of different ways in order to develop children's decoding skills, fluency and their comprehension.  

To support the teaching of reading at our school, Guided Reading occurs outside the daily English lessons and is supported by a scheme called Complete Comprehension.

Every man who knows how to read has it in his power to magnify himself, to multiply the ways in which he exists, to make his life full, significant and interesting. Aldous Huxley (writer)

Phonics & Spelling

Details of our approach to the teaching of phonics can be found in its own dedicated page by clicking here.

Once children have progressed through the phases of our phonics programme, they will be taught rules for spelling and decoding words using using a progressive teaching approach called No Nonsense Spelling.

No Nonsense Spelling is a new complete spelling programme designed to meet the needs of the 2014 National Curriculum. The programme is flexible and comprehensive, providing an effective spelling teaching programme from Year 2 to Year 6. 

Where children require additional support, we have a flexible approach to meeting their needs and ensure that children get support for their phonics and spelling development, no matter their age or ability.

Complete Comprehension

Complete Comprehension is a whole-school programme designed to support children from their first steps in comprehension through to secure ownership and confident application of comprehension skills. The series breaks down the complex process of reading comprehension into separate skills that closely match the curriculum requirements for Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2. Each teaching unit targets one comprehension skill, which is introduced through a modelling session and then practised using written questions.

Skills Taught In Key Stage 1 & Key Stage 2

Word Meaning

Read around the target word to see how it is being used in the text.

Retrieval

Touch the answer in the text before you fish it out.

Sequencing

Find the events in the text before you put them in order.

Inference

Use clues from the text and your own ideas to work out the answer.

Prediction

Decide what is most likely to
happen next in the text.

Additional Skills Introduced In Key Stage 2

- Read the whole question carefully.
- Find the key words in the question.
- Look for key words from the question in the text.
- Check that your answer matches the question.

Summarising

Find and talk about the text’s main points.

Relationship

Talk about the structure of the text.

Word Choice

Talk about the effect of words and groups of words used in the text.

Comparison

Compare the events, characters and structure of the text.

The lessons are taught in a two-week cycle with one year group focussing on their text and reading skill with the other year group completing a range of different reading and learning activities. 

Day

Stage

Activities

Week 1 - Teacher Led Whole Year Group Guided Sessions

1

Get Ready - Vocabulary Focus

The children discuss the Key Vocabulary from the text and complete a range of activities to ensure that they have a secure understanding of the language used in the text before they read it. In this session, the children will also look at the title and any illustrations, and discuss any questions they may have about its format or context before reading the text on day 2.              

2

First Steps & Explore - Reading and Responding

The children read the text together and then they are encouraged to discuss 3 – 4 questions in response to the text. With the teacher's support, the children will identify some issues from the text to be explored in more detail. There will also be discussion about some of the authorial techniques used.              

3

Skills Focus - Learning A Reading Skill

Children are taught explicitly how to answer questions about the text using a particular reading skill. This is supported by Skills Graphics. The teacher models works with the children to model how to answer questions for the skill using.               

4

Independent Questions - Applying Their Learning

The children complete a series of questions based upon the Reading Skill they are focussing on. This may also be followed by a series of Mix it up! questions which provide the children with an opportunity to practise all of the reading skills.             

Week 2 - Adult Supported Learning Activities

The activities provided for the children in the second week of the cycle are flexible and include grammar work, 1:1 readers, writing book reviews, reading for pleasure and other specific learning activities identified by the class teacher. An example sequence is given below:

6

Feedback 

Children look at the answers to their questions from the previous week and work with an adult to address misconceptions.

7

Reading for Pleasure

Children have access to resources to read for pleasure. This could include newspapers, magazines, collections of books or access to the library 

8

English Skills

An opportunity for children to practise key skills such as handwriting and grammar. This may involve a brief input or 20 minute session with the teaching assistant. 

9

Technology Time

Using iPads, audio recordings and laptops children access reading activities. These could include apps for phonics, Read Theory and Oxford Owl.