WE LOVE TO READ!

Reading for Pleasure

Reading for pleasure is given a high priority at Cedars.  We hold an annual Super Reading Week to celebrate World Book Day in March, during which our children have access to a variety of reading experiences, including visits from local authors & visits to Blackburn Central Library.  Reading Buddy sessions take place on a half-termly basis and children enjoy sharing stories with children from a different class.  We have a fantastic school library which is open at lunchtimes and children enjoy and share.  We also celebrate ‘Author of the Month’ and have lots of competitions for the children to take part in. 

Classroom Reading Corners

Each classroom has a reading corner which promotes reading for pleasure and provides children with a comfortable place to enjoy a good book. 

At Cedars, we believe that reading is a fundamental life skill that impacts on the acquisition of all knowledge. We recognise that reading is the core skill to everything that children do and our priority is making sure that all pupils, regardless of their background or ability, make rapid progress in reading words accurately and automatically so that they are able to develop their comprehension, and access all areas of the curriculum. We want every child to be highly engaged in reading, to be confident to talk about books and authors and to understand how reading helps them to become lifelong learners. By teaching every child to read well, prioritising time within the school day to read, and embedding a culture of reading into the core of what we do, we believe that we have the opportunity to make a huge difference to our children’s education.

Home Reading

Reading helps your child’s wellbeing, develops imagination and has educational benefits too.  Just a few minutes a day can have a big impact on children of all ages.  To begin, children decode words by sounding them out (Fred talking)  and then blending these sounds together.  Once they have practised these words a few times, they begin to read them ‘at a glance’. This is why your child brings home a book that has been carefully chosen so that they can work out all the words for themselves.  Re-reading a text, gradually increases the number of words in it that they can read ‘at a glance’.  Children need lots of praise and encouragement to read unfamiliar words and it is important that they are encouraged to break these words down rather than guessing.  This supports children to become accurate with their reading.  If they make a mistake, praise them for trying and encourage them to go back and have another go.  Once children are reading accurately and at speed, their reading comprehension will develop. Until then, you can develop their understanding through reading to them, talking about books and poems and helping them to learn new vocabulary. 

Get Caught Reading Challenge

Some exciting news! We have selected the winners of the Get Caught Reading competition. 

A big thank you to all the children and families who took part in the Get Caught Reading competition.

It was so lovely to see you all immersed in a variety of books around your homes and local area.

We can now announce the winners!

Huge congratulations to our winners! 

Keep your eyes peeled for more competitions coming soon!

 Local Author Visit to our school.

As part of our reading journey we had an amazing visit from a Local Author Hafiza Issa. We shared a book all about understanding autism and diversity through the eyes of a young child in this universe. To find out more about how she was inspired to become an author and share her experiences through a story book by visiting her webpage: https://www.hafizaissa.online/

The Masked Reader Videos

EYFS - Talking Through Stories

Talk Through Stories is for all children, but it is especially for children who do not come from a language rich home. It is designed to extend and deepen children's vocabulary so that they can understand the books they will soon be able to read for themselves. Time is not on their side. That is why it has been so important to plan specifically and systematically - step by step - to develop their vocabulary.  Here at Cedars we have selected books for each half term to share with pupils.  

Coming soon Talking Through Stories .....pictures/video

Come and Read - Year 1 Every Thursday 8.30am

It has been lovely to see so many of our parents coming into school on a Thursday morning to share a book with their child.

We hope to see more of you next Thursday morning.

Local Library Year Group Visits

As part of our Reading Curriculum all Year groups visit the local Library and EYFS will arrange a visit from the Library services to come and share stories.

English Reading - visit local library to develop a love of reading (poetry day/author/reading for pleasure/workshop)

EYFS - summer 1 librarian story time at school 

Year 1/2 -Summer 1 Reading for pleasure 

Year 3 spring 1 author workshop 

year 4 spring 1 author workshop

Year 5 Spring 2 poetry workshop

Year 6 spring 2 poetry workshop

Local library Librarian to visit school summer 2 (assembly) to launch summer reading challenge.

Year 5 spent the afternoon at Blackburn Library, they were told how to use the online services to access encyclopaedias and online books.    They discussed their favourite authors and to tie in with Micheal Rosen day some children found books written by Micheal Rosen.  Children listened attentively to how the library uses the 'dewey' system to arrange non-fiction books.   The children spent tile browsing and reading books, some used their library cards to self-scan and take plenty of reading material home!