Sudbury Primary School

Guided Reading

Phase 1 and Phase 2 carry out daily Guided Reading sessions with children in groups, based upon their reading ability and Phonics level. These sessions follow a carousel of activities:

Day 1: Pre-reading activity

Day 2: Read with the teacher (reading aloud, answering VIPERs questions, discussing the text with the teacher)

Day 3: Post-reading activity

Day 4: Reading comprehension activity

Day 5: Reading for pleasure / ’free reading’

These sessions take place on a fortnightly basis – during week 1, the Guided Reading session focuses on decoding and word reading skills and during week 2, the session focuses more on comprehension. Teachers select packs of Project X: Origins books whose levels match the group’s current Phonics knowledge. These books are kept in class by the teacher and are not sent home with the children.

Whole Class Reading

Phase 3 and 4 carry out Whole Class Reading, using the agreed structure, which is based upon the Reading Reconsidered approach by Doug Lemov:

Day 1: Uninterrupted reading using ‘Control the Game’

• Implicit vocabulary instruction

Day 2: ‘Control the Game’

• Comprehension through AIR (Accountable Independent Reading)
• Children carry out ‘Read, Write, Revise’

Day 3: ‘Control the Game’

• Implicit and explicit vocabulary instruction linked to the text

Day 4: Close read (focus on a smaller part of the text)

• Use AIR again to hone in on inferences/deeper understanding of the text

Day 5: Repeated close read (focusing on a smaller part of the text) OR reading comprehension linked to the text

Teachers choose challenging, high quality texts from the list of Sudbury Recommended Reads or other banded books at an appropriate level to challenge all children in their class.

Reading Book Stations

Every phase has their own Reading Book Station with all the books they need. These are located in communal areas which are accessible to all members of the phase. Staff are expected to log in and out the packs that they take from the Station.

• Phase 1 and Phase 2 station (Phase 2 corridor), containing all Project X Origins books from Pink to Lime and other banded books from Pink to Lime.
• Phase 3 station (balcony), containing all Brown and Grey Project X Origins books and other banded books from Brown to Grey for pupils working at and below the expected level in reading
• Phase 4 station (round building), containing all Dark Blue and Dark Red Project X Origins books and other banded books from Dark Blue to Dark Red for pupils working at or below the expected level in reading.

Banded Books

Each Reading Book Station contains books which are not part of the Project X Origins scheme but have a book band level. These are available for children to take home – one book per week. These books are of a suitable level for that child (based upon the teacher’s assessment of their reading in Guided Reading / Whole Class Reading sessions and the use of PM Benchmarking.) Children are expected to read this book at home as reading practice, to support their reading skills practised in Guided Reading / Whole Class Reading sessions.

Sudbury Recommended Reads

Every year group has a list comprising books that are suitable for most children (those at age-related expectations) in that year group and which they should aim to read before the end of the year. This list has been collated using Pie Corbett’s Reading Spines.

These books are available in classroom book corners and in Booktropolis. Children are encouraged to use these lists to select books to read for pleasure and to aim to read all of the books on the list by the end of the academic year. (See appendices for each year group’s Recommended Reads list.)

Summary

Children receive high quality reading instruction in class in Guided Reading or Whole Class Reading sessions. They then have access to 3 reading books to take home at any one time:

• One banded book from their phase’s Reading Book Station
• One book from the Sudbury Recommended Reads list, or a free choice of their own, to be taken from their classroom Book Corner
• One book from the Sudbury Recommended Reads list, or a free choice of their own, to be taken from Booktropolis