Through our teaching of reading we intend to:

• increase the likelihood of children reading for pleasure,
• increase the likelihood of children understanding the next book that they read,
• widen children's vocabulary and
• help children to gain general knowledge and cultural capital.

Each term is organised around an anchor novel with children also reading from related fiction, non fiction, poetry, picture books, poems and song lyrics.

Unit of work phase 1

Each unit of work focuses on an extract from one of the books.  In the initial phase of the unit of work, children learn the necessary prior knowledge that will enable them to fully understand the extract.  This includes:

• knowledge of the type of plot,
• geographical and historical background knowledge and
• vocabulary relating to key concepts.

Unit of work phase 2

In this phase, we work on reading fluency through modelled and shared reading.  Children learn to read with good prosody and to mimic a good reader's thoughts and behaviour.  Teachers check that children have understood the extract and use discussion to ensure that they do.

Unit of work phase 3

In this phase, children work on developing their comprehension of the extract.  A range of question types and responses are expected from children to support them to think deeply about the text.