Reading in KS2

‘Book Talk’ is a systematic way to teach reading strategies. It is underpinned by certain guiding principles; these are outlined below:

1. Pupils are organised into reading attainment groups and share a set of the ‘same’ books pitched at their level with appropriate challenge.

2. All pupils in the classroom will be accessing narrative, non-fiction or poetry at the same time.

3. Pupils will receive a daily 30 minute ‘Book Talk’ session and once a week will intensively work with the class teacher for a ‘guided read’

4.The session is layered with open-ended whole class questions to tackle the three layers of the reading rainbow.

"On average, reading comprehension approaches improve learning by an additional five months' progress." Education Endowment Foundation

The use of techniques such as graphic organisers and drawing pupils‘ attention to text structures are likely to be particularly useful when reading a range of non-fiction texts.

5. A hallmark of the session is on developing reading for meaning and oral comprehension techniques.

6. Book Talk is structured with three reasons to read. The reasons to read are taken from ‘The Reading Rainbow’. One reason is taken from the top layer of the rainbow under FANTASTIC. The second reason is taken from the STYLISTIC layer. The third reason is taken from the ANALYTICS layer. These are introduced to the pupils in chunks and it is through these generic lenses they think and discuss their reading material.

7. The sessions work best if they operate like conversations about books and ‘hands up’ is not used so there is a natural flow of talk about what they are reading.

8. During these sessions the pleasure principle of reading is fostered and highly engaging picture books should be used in favour of phonic based books to heighten engagement and excitement.

9. ‘Book Talk’ is sharply focused on reading for meaning, listening to friends read and talking about books.

10. During these sessions pupils could be ‘reading around the group’, reading in pairs or reading to themselves and the teacher will direct them in these different organisational ways.

In addition to Book Talk, children regularly take part in 'Stamina for reading' sessions and comprehension lessons.