In our reading work, pupils have read a wide selection of non-fiction including biographies, information texts linked to natural disasters, historical sources, information texts and web pages linking to our RE topic on Buddhism. We have been equally enthralled by the fiction texts we have read including: a range of modern and historical narratives by authors such as George Layton, Emma Carroll and Derek Landy. We explored Lewis Carroll’s Jabberwocky poem and read, learnt and performed a selection of Christmas poetry – which we recorded for our Christmas performance. We continue to work on our VIPER skills but have had a more detailed focus on inference reading comprehension questions around characters and their emotions and also questions requiring more detailed comparison description.

Team LF have read Dracula, written by Bram Stoker, during our reading lessons this term. We have focussed on the vocabulary used within the text in order to support our understanding of the novel. The story also lent itself well to other VIPERS elements, allowing us to work on retrieval, prediction and inference. We have used stem sentence responses to support with the structure of our answers and become more familiar with the point, evidence, point evidence (PEPE) technique. We also briefly touched on summarising and this is something we will be continuing with at other points in the year. As part of our GASP approach to writing, we have also engaged in the reading on non-fiction texts (such as newspapers) to develop our understanding of different text types and support us with the analysis of features.  

In reading, Team CB have continued to explore non-fiction texts linked to our topic of Mountains and Rivers. We have focussed upon the technical, subject specific language to develop our understanding of key terms and concepts across the curriculum. In addition to non fiction texts we also studied the poem A River’s journey by Angela Yardy which combined the true account of a rivers journey with features of personification throughout. These texts were fantastic for VIPERS based learning linked to vocabulary. We have also started to explore inference this half term. This was introduced through image stimulus to begin with to support the children in recognising the need for their own thoughts plus evidence from the stimulus in order to successfully inference. The class then worked hard to apply their views into a written response with sentence stems generated from the questions posed. 

This half term Team CH have been incredibly busy working hard on their reading skills. The class have been working hard to follow the Read Write Inc programme to support children to become confident and independent readers and writers. We have worked hard to learn different phonemes, digraphs and split digraphs followed by Fred Talk and reading words with the support of Fred the frog. ​

​In reading this half term, Team EO have continued to have a heavy focus on phonics - learning to read the letters by saying the correct sound. Children have spent time consolidating previously taught sounds and learning new sounds in their groups. We have spent time learning to read green word cards by doing ‘Fred Talk, Read the Word’, ‘Fred in Your Head’ and then reading the words speedily in our phonics groups. Some of us have also been trying to read tricky red words and high frequency words! Our core book this half term has been ‘Zog’, which we have enjoyed listening to over and over again. This has enabled us to join in with repeated phrases throughout the book.  We have also picked out vocabulary that was unfamiliar to us and we have discussed what these words mean.

​Each week Team CW focuses on a different story. Our stories this half term have been Meg and Mog, Rama and Sita, Day Monkey Night Monkey, Noah’s Ark and the Nativity Story. We have based our learning activities in provision on these stories to strengthen our knowledge of them and their features. We have used our small world and role play areas to retell them using story language. We have been learning new vocabulary from each story and have been able to use this in our play. Our familiar book this half term is “Peace at Last” by Jill Murphy. We love this story and like to sit in our reading area with our friends and look at the book and retell the story. We can join in with familiar words and phrases and talk about what is happening and why.

​In reading, Year 6 have been focusing on the VIPERS skills. The children in Year 6 have centered much of their reading around Alex Rider: Stormbreaker. The children have regularly completed speed reads to develop their fluency and to have the opportunity to explore a wide range of texts. We have focused on writing answers that begin with a stem sentence starter and uses the information from within the text to provide an accurate answer.

In the first half term, we have looked at non-fiction texts. Team LF have read ‘The Highwayman’ poem and started Bram Stoker’s ‘Dracula’. From this, we have used our VIPERS skills to ensure we understand what we are reading, analyse the text and answer a range of questions about it. We have focussed on ensuring we are familiar with the language used within the texts and used scanning techniques to retrieve information. We have also begun to look at inference and used the ‘Point, Evidence, Point, Evidence’ technique to structure our answers. When reading as a class, we have focussed on intonation, expression and taking note of punctuation to ensure we are fluent in our reading, further supporting our understanding of the texts.