Literacy

This year P4-7 children at Hazlehead Primary are taking part in the First Minister’s Reading Challenge in conjunction with the Scottish Book Trust in order to build a rich reading culture within our school community.  Children are more likely to become readers if they are part of a reading culture where reading is highly valued and celebrated

Each child has been issued a Reading Passport in which to track their reading journey this year with an aim of reading one hundred books. In addition, your child will have access to Accelerated Reader.  Accelerated Reader is an online computerised system which tracks children’s progress as readers.  The first step is to test the child for a reading age.  This result is fluid and dependent on a number of factors, but helps us guide the child towards books that are most suitable for their personal growth.  We retest the child at several points throughout the year to makes sure the child is being supported appropriately.

The children are then allowed the freedom of choosing books they want to read from AR Bookfinder.  AR Bookfinder http://www.arbookfind.co.uk/UserType.aspx  helps them find and select books within a suitable reading range for their ability.  Each book is worth points which are earned when the child takes an AR test.  Each child has a target set based on their reading age and the amount of time spent reading.  Ideally every child reads for a minimum of half an hour every day at home.

When the children finish reading an AR book they log on to Renaissance Place https://ukhosted58.renlearn.co.uk/1892803 and take a comprehension test on the book.  This data helps inform us on how well your child is comprehending the books read and we can provide the correct support as a result.  You can also check your child’s progress through Renaissance Home Connect,

The children will still have reading books which will be read with the class teacher as well as a variety of different reading activities to build their comprehension.

Sometimes these books will be sent home as home readers, at other times they will be expected to be reading their chosen AR book.

I hope you have found this information useful and that you can support our efforts in school by encouraging your child to read frequently and to talk about the books they are reading.