A HUGE well done to all of our Readers of the Week in this final week of the spring term!  Well done TEAM Park Street!

I look forward to handing out more awards in the last few months of this year!  Go for it!

As we approach the lead up to the Summer term, we are excited to share that our children through school will be heading down to the local Library to engage with the local facilities and spend their Incredible Me time sharing stories, finding books of interest and learning more about the role of the Library in the community. 
The dates are as follows for our library visits, with more information to follow:

21st April 2023 – Team LF
28th April 2023 – Team DB
5th May 2023 – Team JD
19th May 2023 – Team CB
9th June 2023 – Team AC
16th June 2023 – Team JF
23rd June 2023 – Team CH
7th July 2023 –Team EO
14th July 2023 –Team CW

Well done to our Readers of the Week this week!  I am so proud to now be handing out PLATINUM awards!  Keep this up Park Street!

In reading, Team LL and AF are thoroughly enjoying reading Secrets of a Sun King by Emma Carroll – exploring vocabulary use and text features of historic fiction.  The classes have been reading a wide range of texts linking to their history theme of Ancient Egypt: information texts,  extracts from Howard Carter’s diary, contemporary newspaper articles about the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb from 1922,  websites and online information. Within reading lessons the classes have explored a range of narrative extracts, poems and non-fiction texts. Year 6 have had a focus on vocabulary – applying a range of strategies to develop their breadth of vocabulary, considering the impact of word choices and developing accurate definitions. The teams have been developing inference skills by unpicking the concept of ‘impression’. They have been describing the  impression they have of a given character and then supporting their views with concise and accurate evidence from the text. Year 6 have also been developing summarising skills.

This half term, we have really enjoyed reading books about our Amazing Animals theme. Our core book is Dear Zoo by Rod Campbell and we have been reading and re-reading it so we can learn to join in. We learnt the words "perfect" and "fierce" from this book and have been trying to use them in our speech. In our reading area, we have six copies of this book and the children are enjoying reading it with their friends. 
While reading our books we have been learning to go from front to back, turning the pages carefully one at a time and pointing to the writing left to right. 

A massive well done to all of our readers of the Week yet again!

In Team CB the class have been working exceptionally hard in their reading skills over the course of the Spring. The children have moved to looking at more complex reading skills such as inferencing and explanation questions where the focus is on interpreting the text rather than directly retrieving from it. The class have shown great determination and resilience in doing this and have made excellent progress. An area the class continues to work on, is developing and broadening vocabulary so that children can use and apply these words to their own writing as they continue to incorporate a rich and varied vocabulary. Texts studied during the Spring include Fantastic Mr Fox, Atlas of Adventures and non fiction texts including newspaper articles.

In phonics and literacy Team CW have been learning and securing their knowledge of Set 1 sounds from Read Write Inc. They can segment these sounds and read them in words. The class have been practising “Fred in Your Head” faster and are learning to read words on sight rather than segmenting each sound first. Some of the class have begun reading short sentences and reading tricky red words within them. The team have been answering simple questions about what they have read as well. Team CW's topic last half term was “Magical Storyland” and the core book was “The Three Little Pigs.” The class focused on learning key vocabulary from the story first including “howled,” “trembled” “clattered,” “plodded” and “bellowed.” They could join in with key phrases from the story and by the end of the topic could retell the story in detail to friends. The class also had Bedtime Story Day last half term. Rainbows love reading and this was another opportunity to share their love of books. The class dressed in pyjamas and brought their favourite book to school. They shared their book with friends and told them why they love it so much, which character is their favourite, what happens in the story and what their favourite part is. Different adults from school dropped into the classroom throughout the day to share their favourite story with the children and  they listened to some new ones they had never read before. Reception even got to snuggle up with a story and have a hot chocolate! It was an amazing day! Rainbows are also enjoying the reading workshop every week where parents are invited into school to read with children at the end of the day. Some of the Rainbows have won a story to take home with them from the raffle draw. Finally, Team CW are also working hard at Talk Through Stories which helps them get to know a story really well including the characters and plot. It is helping them develop their vocabulary so they can understand and use these words themselves.

In reading, Team AC have continued their work with RWI where all children have worked hard in their own groups to learn their speed sounds and use these to become more fluent readers. The class have spent time developing an understanding of the vocabulary used in different texts which has then enabled them to have a clearer understanding of what they are reading. In ‘literacy and language’ groups children have spent time developing fluency through choral reading and echo reads giving feedback so we can improve our expression and intonation when reading texts. Once a text is fully understood the children move to concentrate on comprehension questions where children will ‘retrieve’ and locate the information needed to answer questions. To do this successfully the class have been working on using the procedure as follows - Read the question, identify key information, skim/scan for target language, re-read the question and form an answer.

A HUGE well done once again to our Readers of the Week this week, who have managed to fit in so many reads this academic year!  Well done!

​I wonder who will have read the most by the end of the school year...?