Developing Young Readers
We have recently updated our teaching approach to Reading.
We recognise that reading is the most fundamental skill that we can teach our pupils that underpins their entire learning journey. Successful readers access curriculum content more effectively. We dedicate significant teaching time to reading and the stories that we teach become a central part of our curriculum. The reading skills and spoken language that our children acquire allow them to approach all curriculum subjects with confidence and enrich their lives beyond school. Our rigorous approach to teaching Phonics ensures that our pupils become confident readers from an early age which equips them to tackle increasingly challenging texts and comprehension tasks. Our Keep Up Not Catch Up strategy, ensures that no child is left behind. Our approach to teaching reading incorporates oracy, drama and high quality texts which develop children’s vocabulary and reading skills. Carefully planned progression ensures that children are exposed to increasingly challenging texts and are taught to use a wide range of comprehension skills. The answering of comprehension questions is explicitly modelled in order to provide pupils with the skills to independently tackle any comprehension task within school or beyond. We instil a lifelong love of reading through our carefully chosen whole class texts, the promotion of rewards and challenges and our whole school reading culture, where every day we hold whole class story time. Children are encouraged to see the value of stories as a special part of their learning journey.
Agreed Teaching principles for Reading
Children experience daily high quality Phonics lessons from day one
Children have matched home reading practice books
Keep Up Not Catch Up strategy to ensure no child is left behind in reading
High quality class texts are used to teach a wide range of comprehension, literacy and vocabulary
Word clarification and pre-teach allows pupils to expand their vocabulary in Reading lessons and across the wider curriculum
Explicit modelling of comprehension strategies underpins the reading process
Teaching Approaches for Reading
Shared Reading (explicit teaching of comprehension skills through high quality texts)
Read, Write Inc Phonics (systematic teaching of reading, spelling and handwriting)
Accelerated Reader (motivates pupils to read with independence and allows teachers to closely monitor reading standards for progression)
Reading Spine (exposes pupils to a range of classic authors and modern texts
How do we measure the impact?
Accelerated Reader quizzes to assess comprehension and understanding
Reading Spine progression
NFER and SATs to support benchmarking against national standards
Shared reading comprehension during the lesson
Tracking of RWI Phonics progressions every 6-8 weeks
1:1 Reading sessions
Certificates and Awards
Below will tell you more about how we teach reading and how we help children to develop a love of reading. There are also some ideas for books to share at home.
Plus at the top there are reading updates as we celebrate our children!
Another published author at Penponds
Congratulations to Holly, who has followed in her sister's footsteps to become a published author. We are so proud that Freya, wrote her debut book while she was with us at Penponds and now so has Holly. I wonder how many more will follow.
Holly's book is entitled The Mighty Heroes - The Movies That Came to Life and can be purchased via amazon here The Mighty Heroes: The Movie That Came to Life : Dickenson, Holly: Amazon.co.uk: Books
Reading Challnege @ Penponds
Thank you to all who took part in the sponsored reading challenge. Our oldest School Council: Rights Ambassadors counted up the money raised this week. The whole School Council had previously chosen the books they would like to purchase, so after totting up the money raised, the books were ordered. We also had another surprise donation this week of quite a lot of money, from Alyssia, Esmee and Jaxon so we will be ordering even more books with this donation.
If you still haven't handed in your donation money or would like to complete the challenge still, please do so and bring in your money raised. All monies are renewing our books stocks in the library. We are also purchasing a selection of Dyslexia friendly books too.
Published Author at Penponds!
Amazing news!
We now have a published author at Penponds School!
Freya Dickenson has written her own book and had it published.
Three Dragons of Element.
It is now on sale on Amazon, so if you’ve just finished your book or fancy a change - try out Freya’s first Novel - it’s a real page turner!
Follow the link:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0C2S7N7VZ/ref=mp_s_a_1_4?crid=1XS9R547MCGJJ&keywords=three+dragons+of+element&qid=1681921988&sprefix=three+dragons+of+element%2Caps%2C111&sr=8-4
Freya has always written comics which we have printed and sold at school, but now she is writing novels! Congratulations to Freya and well done, what an amazing accomplishment!
We now have a published author at Penponds School!
Freya Dickenson has written her own book and had it published.
Three Dragons of Element.
It is now on sale on Amazon, so if you’ve just finished your book or fancy a change - try out Freya’s first Novel - it’s a real page turner!
Follow the link:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0C2S7N7VZ/ref=mp_s_a_1_4?crid=1XS9R547MCGJJ&keywords=three+dragons+of+element&qid=1681921988&sprefix=three+dragons+of+element%2Caps%2C111&sr=8-4
Freya has always written comics which we have printed and sold at school, but now she is writing novels! Congratulations to Freya and well done, what an amazing accomplishment!
More budding book makers at Penponds!
Hermione and Maddie have made an activity book all about Space for younger children! The book includes 'Dot to Dot', 'Sentence Jumblers', 'Spot the Difference' and much more. We have made copies of the book so it is ready to be shared. Well done to you both! We are so proud of you. What a start to the summer term we are having!
Our children are really showing they are living out our vision of 'Aiming High and Achieving Our Best' and being 'Leaders of their own Learning'!
First Book completed for Ethan!
We are so proud of Ethan!
Ethan has read and more importantly enjoyed, his first chapter book! He has read Diary of a Wimpy Kid and is already a good way into reading the second book in the series!
To celebrate Ethan’s achievement, he spent Friday afternoon watching the movie of the book with Mrs Bailey whilst chomping on popcorn. Ethan spotted lots of similarities between the film and the book, but the character Greg did not look how Ethan expected he would look in the film compared to the book description. Keep reading Ethan and Mrs Bailey thanks you for a wonderful afternoon!
We love reading at Penponds!
As we were preparing to celebrate World Book Day 2023, every night leading up to the big day , we shared a bedtime book virtually. These videos were posted on Facebook, here on our website and on Class Dojo to enjoy at home.
As we were preparing to celebrate World Book Day 2023, every night leading up to the big day , we shared a bedtime book virtually. These videos were posted on Facebook, here on our website and on Class Dojo to enjoy at home.
You can always revisit these stories whenever you like from home.
The first one is Zog - written by Julia Donaldson, illustrated by Axel Scheffler, published by Scholastic and read tonight by our Headteacher, Mrs Bailey.
The first one is Zog - written by Julia Donaldson, illustrated by Axel Scheffler, published by Scholastic and read tonight by our Headteacher, Mrs Bailey.
Enjoy!
The second one is Aliens in Underpants Save the World written by Claire Freedman and Ben Cort, published by Simon and Schuster. - read tonight by Miss Mac.
The third story is Peace at Last written by Jill Murphy, published by Macmillan children's Books - read tonight by Miss Green.
The fourth story is The Gruffalo written by Julia Donaldson, illustrated by Axel Scheffler, published by Macmillan Children's Books and read tonight by Mrs Watts.
The fifth story is a collection of poems by Michael Rosen, Illustrated by Chris Riddell and published by Walker Books and read tonight by Miss Berry.
Our sixth story is 'The Life of a Little Plastic Bottle' - written by Suzanne Fossey, illustrated by Gisela Bohorquez, published by Autumn Publishing and read by Mrs Richards.
Our seventh story is ‘Oi Frog!': Written by Kes Gray, illustrated by Jim Field, published by Hodder Children’s books and read by Mr B. Enjoy!
Our eighth story is Goodnight Spaceman, written by Michelle Robinson, illustrated by Nick East and published by Puffin books. Read to you by Mrs P.
Our last story is, 'The Boy Who Unplugged The Sea’, written by Paul Brown, illustrated by Chris Capstick and published by Fourth Wall Publishing, read by Mrs Barnes.
Reading Tea Parties
Children enjoy a tea party with Mrs Bailey, our Headteacher, when they excel in their efforts and share their love for reading. Hot chocolate, biscuits and cake are usually on the menu, as well as spending time talking about our favourite books and authors.
Why our staff love reading...
Mrs Bailey -
Reading is a huge passion of mine! This could be reading to learn more about education and latest research or it could be delving into a good story to escape and enter the world of imagination. My favourite time to read is during the holidays where I can truly relax, hopefully in the sunshine, and lose myself. I love reading historical novels, based around people that lived a long time ago. I love reading about the Tudors and my favourite author is Philippa Gregory. I also love reading stories to my children and we read as a family every night before bed. We are currently working our way through the Harry Potter series - loving every magical moment!
Mrs O'Connell -
I love reading EVERYWHERE ... but especially in my garden or in bed just before I go to sleep. I love to read mystery books, the ones that keep me page turning. My favourite author is Agatha Christie who was dyslexic. She uses amazingly juicy language and weaves gripping plots that keep my attention and make it almost impossible stop reading and put the book down. A cup of hot chocolate, a cheeky biscuit, put my feet up and a good book ... just magic.
Mrs Watts -
I enjoy reading the Morganville vampire series by Rachel Caine - the storyline grabbed me from the start and I found the books very hard to put down - always wanting to know what was going to happen - the twist in the story you didn't expect keeps it interesting.
Mrs Barnes -
I absolutely love reading books full of adventure, action, mystery and romance. Reading for me is about escaping into a world of imagination. My favourite childhood stories were the adventure books about a group of children called the Famous Five. Also, l like to read about historical events, and another book l particularly love, is a heartfelt story about a friendship between a man and his horse during World War One called War Horse.
Mrs Richards -
I love sharing stories with my son and we still read together most nights even though he is getting bigger and bigger! He enjoys funny books by Dav Pilkey. I prefer to read autobiographies and love sitting in the garden in the sunshine with a good book.
Miss Rule -
I love reading as I am able to imagine the world in which the author has created and I feel I am lost in the story. I enjoy reading books which are full of adventures, mystery and surprises that holds my attention so I always want to know what happens next.
Mrs Rule -
I love reading a range of books from mysteries to autobiographies. I also enjoy reading books that are based around Cornwall. One of my favourite authors is Ann Cleeves OBE as her books are full of plot twists and surprising outcomes.
Mrs Wood -
I love stories of adventure, that take you to different environments or countries. Call of the Wild was a book I have re-read recently as it was one of my favourites as a child. I usually read myself off to sleep with a Poldark novel as I have the box set to get through! Although fiction they also give you an idea what it was like to live when mining was at the forefront for Cornwall. I have always read to my children and grandchildren and the love of books stays with them. Books just widen your understanding of the world and I can't imagine my life without them.
Miss Berry -
I love reading books. At the moment I am enjoying reading books which teach me about being a good Mummy to my little boy. Books help me to make good choices and understand what is the right thing to do to keep my baby happy and well.
Mrs Mitchell -
I love reading ‘THE HUNGRY CATERPILLAR’ to children in school. I also used to love reading this to my own children at home – it was one of their favourite books!
Miss Murphy -
When I was little I found reading really tricky. I would read a whole page and not remember one thing about what I had read. After a long time, and lots of tests later, I was given some special glasses to help me read. Suddenly, a new world was opened up to me! I love reading now and my favourite thing about it is how it creates an imaginary world. Mystery stories are some of my favourite to read because I can turn into a pretend detective.
World Book Day Week at Penponds! March 2022
Have a look at the FlipBook we made to celebrate World Book Day. We did so much, we actually had a week!
Click the photo to see the Flip book.
