Reciprocal Reading

At Holy Family, we see reading as an integral part of the school curriculum that impacts on all learning. We value the importance of being a confident reader and work hard to develop children’s reading skills. We want children to enjoy reading a wide range of different books and be able to talk about books and authors.

Intent
Our intent shows the progression of Reading across school.
EYFS, Year 1 and 2 Intent
Year 3 and 4 Intent
Year 5 and 6 Intent

Implementation
Our implementation shows what can be seen in practice in class and within the school environment.
EYFS, Year 1 and 2 Implementation
Year 3 and 4 Implementation
Year 5 and 6 Implementation

Impact
By teaching English through high quality age-appropriate texts children develop the skills needed to be confident and motivated readers with an understanding of a range of texts types. Children become enthusiastic readers who have the skills to decode words in order to read fluently.

The focus on vocabulary teaching across schools ensures children develop an understanding of language as well as what they have read. Children have frequent opportunities to discuss texts and focus on comprehension skills in order to develop their understanding of a range of text types. Teachers regularly read to children installing in them a passion for reading and a love of books.

Children are given purposeful, meaningful experiences to write including journaling, writing competitions, producing articles for our school newsletters and letter writing. In Key Stage Two children are given frequent opportunities to write across the wider curriculum.

We assess pupils by reading with them regularly as well as completing termly formal assessments. The development of children’s reading can be seen in English books, Reciprocal Reading books and assessments. Teacher assessments are collated termly and are evaluated by the English Lead.

What is Reciprocal Reading?

We aim to develop a life long love of books through a whole school approach to the teaching of reading. Children are taught reading through the Reciprocal Reading approach. Reciprocal Reading is an effective and proven four step approach to developing reading and comprehension.

In Foundation and Year 1 children are initially introduced to Reciprocal Reading through whole class story sessions on the carpet. During this time teachers use images to help highlight the four steps of Reciprocal Reading to the children. As children become more confident readers they begin to use the approach during whole class, guided and individual reading sessions.

When taking part in a Reciprocal Reading session children engage with the following four steps:

Step 1 – Predict
Use the story clues, illustrations and headings, predict what is going to happen next in the story or text.

I think… I bet… I wonder if…

I imagine… I predict…

Step 2 – Clarify
Clear up any parts of the story you found confusing.

Find examples of good vocabulary and explain their meaning.
Find examples of unfamiliar words and punctuation and explain their use or meaning. Children can then discuss word meanings with grownups or look up the word meaning in a dictionary.

Step 3 – Question
Ask questions to help understand and discuss what has been read.

You should think of questions as you read the book.
Use the following question words and phrases to help:
Who? What? Why? When? How?

Literal Questions
Asking the reader to recall information stated in the text.

Evaluative Questions
Asking the reader to decide their own opinion on whether or not they agree with the author’s ideas.

Inferential Questions
Asking the reader to “read between the lines” and answer.

Step 4 – Summarise
Summarise the main things that happened in your reading/story.

Use bullet points and as little words as possible to do this.

Use the following to create short summary sentences:
The main events were…

The problem/resolutions were…

The characters involved were…

The story was set…

The most important part to the story was…

Reciprocal Reading