Reading at Stoneydelph
Reading is such a fundamental part of our curriculum at Stoneydelph. It is through our understanding of the written word that we can access the world, a greater range of information and find and express ourselves.
At Stoneydelph, we have broken up our reading curriculum into two phases: early reading and phonics and reading (for those that are ready to progress on from phonics; typically those in years 2-6). We also aim to embed a love of reading for all children no matter what level of education they are at. Once children are ready to move on from Phonics, they join Whole Class Reading. During these sessions, children explore a range of picture, short stories, chapter books and classic novels as they build up their comprehensive skills.
From September 2023, Mrs A Phillips is pleased to be taking over the leadership of this branch of Reading within the school. For more information on our Early Reading and Phonics programs, please look at that page on our website or speak to Miss S Fox, our Early Reading Subject Lead.
Library Time
School Libraries
Getting children reading for pleasure and for the enjoyment that books can offer them is a key priority at Stoneydelph. Over the last few years we have built up libraries in both the KS1 building and the KS2 building.
Children get to visit these libraries once a week and get to pick a book which they are then able to read daily in their love for reading time. In order to facilitate this, a time table has been created for each class to make their weekly visits. For the KS2 building's library please see the timetable below:
Monday - Chestnuts (Yr 6)
Tuesday - Magpies (Yr 3)
Wednesday - Oaks (Yr 5)
Thursday - Woodpeckers (Yr 4)
Friday - Robins (Yr 4 & 5)
Visiting Glascote Library
This year, for the first time, we have been able to arrange for the children to make regular visits to Glascote Library which is a volunteer led library and part of the Staffordshire Library Service.
Each class from Year 1 to Year 6 will make a regular visit to the library where they will be able to pick and exchange library books, read new fiction and non-fiction and listen to stories read to them by their teacher. In order for this to happen, the school is working with the library to ensure that every child is signed up to the library service - which is completely free - and has a library card which can be taken home with them to be used to borrow books from any Staffordshire library. These cards can be kept at home with families to share and enjoy and just need to be brought back into school for their next class visit.
This term, we are also happy to announce that Reception will also be visiting the library. They will be visiting on a Friday afternoon and either fortnightly or on a three week cycle depending on their learning activities.
The timetable of visits to the library can be seen in the document below.
Introducing... Yoto Players
We're so excited that we've been able to bring in technology to the classroom to enhance the way our children experience Storytime. Yoto players are a brilliant way to give more diversity in reading styles to our classrooms and allow children to listen to stories in their reading for pleasure time.
Our Yoto players (named Jane and Terry) will be situated in each Key Stage and will be available for all classes to access. We have already started to collect some well loved classics to our collection and can't wait to start listening and collect some more. Don't worry though, these don't replace independent reading or our class novels. They are just another added extra to open up the world of books, stories and tales.
If you'd like to learn more about Yoto players, then please see their website using the link below.
Reading Dates for your Diary
Although reading, stories and books should be part of everyday life, we love to celebrate the worlds that open up to us when we open a book. As such, we have added several reading related events to this years academic calendar for the staff, children and even the parents to enjoy. Details of these events will go out to parents via school Dojo closer to each event itself.
Autumn Term
Roald Dahl Day - Wednesday 13th September
Million Word Challenge Launch Day - TBC
National Poetry Day - Thursday 5th October
Spring Term
New Year, New Book Literacy Night - TBC
World Book Day - Thursday 7th March
Summer Term
Pyjamarama Day - TBC
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Bedtime Stories
As part of the summer term's reading event, Pajamarama, we will be publishing our own bedtime stories for you and your children to enjoy. There will be a new one released each month by different members of staff.
Later on in the year, we will be asking you as families to create your own bedtime story for our Pagamarama Family Competition.
There are many great stories out there and like the BBC Bedtime Stories there will be some picture books for younger children, while for older children the bedtime stories will be an extract from a book intended for older readers.
While you are waiting for ours to appear, have a look at those created by the BBC using the iPlayer or YouTube using the links below.
What are we reading in school this Spring?
We have an exciting curriculum for reading which covers a huge array of topic types, genres and authors. The books that the children explore are often linked to the topics that they are learning about in Geography, History, Science or other wider curriculum areas but some of them will be because the staff love them and want to pass on their enjoyment of them.
Each term children will have at least one class novel which is read to them by their teacher and often at least two books which are read as part of whole class reading. Some year groups or classes will read more and occasionally a text may take longer to get through. This is because of the length and complexity of the text.
Explore the books that are being read in KS2 this half-term using the images below. We will be uploading our whole-school text coverage overview shortly.
Staff Recommended Reads for Adults
We recognise that children are more likely to take pleasure from reading and see it as a desirable activity for relaxing with if they see the grown ups around them reading and enjoying stories and books. As such, we have picked the best book recommendations from staff here at Stoneydelph for adults to enjoy. We will update the recommended read each month but if you miss any, they will be uploaded as documents below for you to look back on and enjoy.
Mrs Parsons' Recommended Read for Adults - March.
I can recommend Susan Lewis as an author but get your tissues ready!
'I have something to tell you' and 'One minute later' are the last 2 books are read and they were excellent. She writes with an engaging style about family secrets and key events in family life that lead to twists and turns in the plot that you won't expect.
Previous Adult Recommended Reads from Staff
