At South Padbury Primary School we base our approach to reading on the collective research that is often called ‘The Science of Reading’. This is based on the research that children need to develop certain pre-reading sub skills to be able to read words and ultimately comprehend what they have read. The six sub skills we consider to be important are; phonological awareness, phonics, vocabulary, comprehension, reading fluency and oral language.
These skills are intertwined and form the basis of all language lessons. They are hierarchical, as students need phonics and phonemic awareness before word reading, they need fluent word reading before comprehension, and they need to know words and their meanings and have background knowledge on a topic before higher level language skills develop. Reading comprehension is not in itself a ‘skill’ but is the outcome of proficiency in the 4 sub skills of phonics, PA, fluency, and vocabulary, as well as specific comprehension skills (understanding the main idea, understanding the structure of a text and retelling a story). Reading comprehension will not occur without adequate word reading which requires phonics and phonemic awareness skills and at least a 90 WCPM (words correct per minute) reading fluency rate.
Reading Definitions
Phonological Awareness: Understanding words and how to manipulate those words (blending/encoding phonemes/sounds to form words and read), (segmenting/decoding phonemes/sounds to spell words), syllables, rhyme
Phonics and Decoding: Knowing the letter names (graphemes) and sounds (sound-letter relationships) they make and sounding out words
Automatic Word Recognition (Reading fluency): When word recognition is automatic, reading can be fluent, accurate, and expressive.
Vocabulary and Morphology: Students must know words to communicate effectively. Vocabulary development refers to stored information about the meanings and pronunciation of words necessary for communication. Morphology refers to “the knowledge of meaningful word parts in a language typically the knowledge of prefixes, suffixes, and/or roots and base words.
Background/General Knowledge: Background knowledge is a critical component of comprehension. The knowledge a reader brings to their learning contributes to language comprehension. The more you talk to your children and explain the world and the more they read, the better their general knowledge is.
Syntax and Grammar: Syntax refers to the formation of sentences and the associated grammatical rules.
What Does Reading Look Like at South Padbury?
- Lots of oral language and talking and asking questions
- Lots of reading throughout the day
- PLD (Promoting Literacy Development) Synthetic Phonics Program
- Soundwaves Spelling Program
- Spelling Mastery Program for struggling students
- Reading fluency practice (Aim is 90 WCPM by the end of Year 2 to ensure a functional reading level for comprehension)
- ‘Find 15’ parent reading information
- Shared, paired reading between students
- Daily reviews to practice phonics, morphology, decoding (spaced practice)
- Spelling dictation to practice phonics, morphology, encoding and syntax
- A focus on handwriting to improve fluency and encoding
- PUP Phonics Upskill Program (1-3) to catch up struggling students
- RIPpers Reading Intervention Program (4-6) to catch up older students
- Integrating the reading and analysing of non-fiction texts and their structure across all learning areas to build background knowledge
- Daily reviews and daily writes to practice syntax, punctuation and grammar (spaced practice)
- Teachers reading to the class every day
- Students answering questions, reflecting and responding orally and in written form with the teacher and peers
- Retelling stories orally/through performance/images/movement (Talk 4 Writing)
- Innovating stories (T4W)
- Generating stories (T4W)
- Teacher reading aloud and explicitly discussing words from the story/text and teaching their meaning
- Older students undertaking novel studies
- Whole class reading and small group reading with an adult
- Regular assessment of students reading fluency rates, as this is a predictor of future comprehension ability
Want to Know More?
Parent Resources – Five from Five
Resources to support reading at home (literacyhub.edu.au)
Education experts break down the best ways to teach children how to read – ABC News
Reading Resources to Use at Home – SPELD NSW
Parent Resources – PLD – Promoting Literacy Development (pld-literacy.org)
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