Thank you to those parents that access their children’s reading online, we can really see the impact this is having. It is important that the children build their stamina in reading and understanding longer text. Being able to answer oral and written questions about a text is a useful way to check this and we are working to develop these skills.
Reading fluently is important to help a child understand the text. When a child reads slowly, the meaning is lost.
The DFE guidance states that, ‘in age-appropriate books, a year 2 pupil working at age related expectations should read words accurately and fluently without overt sounding and blending, at a rate of over 90 words per minute.’
This is a guide and not an exact measure, however aiming for the 90 words a minute helps to build reading stamina, as it enables longer texts to be read in a shorter period of time.
We will be sending home a short texts with an average word count of 90 words and some comprehension questions to enable children to practise their comprehension skills. The children are used to this kind of working and in class are encouraged to underline/circle important question words (clues), then to skim and scan the text to find the clue words. Once found, they re-read the sentence and the one before and after to find their answer. Once they have located the answer, they circle it in the text and finally record their answer to the question.
Question types include:
– Vocabulary questions help you to look at how authors and poets have chosen to use certain words or phrases and their meanings. They also encourage you to think of alternative words.
– Inference questions help you hunt for clues in a text about how someone might be feeling. They need you to be a detective and understand what you have read.
– Prediction questions help you to think about what might happen next based on the text you have read.
– Explain questions help you think about what you have read and to give reasons for why things have happened.
– Retrieval questions help you to look at the text and retrieve facts.
– Sequence questions help you to put the events in a text in the order in which they occurred.
The reading and questions should take around 10 to 15 minutes to complete and this homework can contribute towards the 20 reads a month so please record it in the children’s reading records if you would like it to count!
If you have any questions, please come and speak to a member of staff in Year 2. Thank you for your continued support.