We use the Whole Class Reading (WCR) approach to teach reading, as we have done for the past few years.
Each reading lesson begins by sharing a whole class text which could be a chapter from our class novel or an extract from a non-fiction text linked to one of our curriculum topics. The teacher always reads the chosen text to model decoding of words and fluency.
The rationale behind using whole novels helps pupils to build depth of understanding. It is absolutely pivotal that children are exposed to full books and texts to deepen understanding, and we cover this through a whole class daily read which can also tie into English lessons. This ensure pupils have access to and study a text in its entirety from start to finish and build the skill of following a text through.
Each reading lesson is structured to help pupils develop the following key skills:
* vocabulary (what do words / phrases mean)
* explain (authors intent and impact on reader)
* retrieval
* predicting
* inference
* sequencing
* summarising
An example of what a whole class reading lesson looks like can be viewed by opening the attached Powerpoint presentation.