A lot of work goes on behind the scenes at Edge Grove to support reading across the school. I have the pleasure of working with Ms Kyriacou in Pre Prep to ensure that early skills in reading are deeply embedded through our phonics programme.
Last Friday saw myself, Ms Kyriacou, Mrs Woolnough and Mrs Aldridge work hard to prepare more books to be brought into the reading scheme so those children in Years 1 and 2, whose sight reading means they can read books with words beyond their phonic knowledge, have a broader diet of more challenging reading material. As parents, it is key to ensure that phonemes are learned, even when decodable books are a little bland. Children who can segment words, and confidently recall all 44 phonemes, along with their corresponding graphemes, are much better readers and spellers when faced with more difficult vocabulary higher up the school. You should see ‘Non Decodable Challenge Reads’ coming home soon.
It was a pleasure to meet with Year 3 and 4 parents last Tuesday, along with Miss Treadwell-Collins, and explain how Lexile testing helps us monitor pupils’ progress in reading from Year 3 onwards. The slides from the presentation can be found on the Edge Grove App: Information - Documents - Reading Matters - English Presentations.
Pupils in Year 3 and 4 will be taking their Spring Lexile test shortly and then they will be bringing home a new book bag with their reading book and a progress card. On the card you will see their Lexile score and the Lexile band from which they are reading. Children can read 100L below their score and 50L above in order to find challenge in their reading books. Outside of these parameters, a book will be too easy or too difficult. I have provisionally booked a meeting with Year 2 parents on June 29th to explain Lexile testing ahead of children’s transition to Year 3. To make progress in reading, children should read with an adult for at least 10 minutes each day.
Last Thursday saw the publication of a fantastically useful list of books chosen by the National Literacy Trust, in a charity partnership with Good Housekeeping Magazine.
I am pleased to say we have almost all of these in our school libraries for Edge Grove pupils to borrow and enjoy.
The introduction to the article states that ‘recent research by the National Literacy Trust found that almost one in five children between the ages of five and eight does not have a book of their own at home.’ In World Book Week (Week 8 commencing 27th February after half term) we are inviting families at Edge Grove to support the work of the Children’s Book Project by sending your pre-loved books into school. We will be collecting them in the foyer of the main building and taking them to be distributed, through the project, to women’s groups, children’s centres and schools in order to reach children across London and Oxfordshire. You can find out more here.
Don't forget to check out what our Edge Grove School Journalists have been up to this week here.
