I know that schools cater to a variety of different cohorts, each with their own special challenges and interests.
Meeting these challenges, with the right resources (in this case books), is essential to their overall learning experience.
That’s why I’ve created recommended reading lists to cater to every individual learner in your Primary School.
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Hannah Rix, renowned SEND and English educator & Co-founder of Readingmate
Children aged 3-5 have a wide variation in reading and inference abilities in this age group (which is normal).
As a result, I’ve selected books with rich illustrations, repetitive language, and lots of use of rhyme. This should help children to predict, mimic and remember the words, and encourage them to join in with parents and teachers.
Key Stage One (KS1) is a very important year for children. It’s quite possibly the period of a child’s education where they make the most visible leaps in
progress.
At this stage they’re still learning to segment words with phonics, recognise words by sight, and differentiate homonyms. Many will start this period reading picture books.
At Key Stage Two (KS2) students should start to be introduced to a wide range of texts.
As well as this students should have plenty of opportunities to read and write independently, listen to rich read aloud texts and develop their questioning of texts.
The wonderful thing about books is that they don’t discriminate. They welcome any reader. My advice would always be to start by gaging the student’s interests and find a book to match it.
It’s worth looking for: books printed on off-white paper, with larger print, short prose that’s clearly spaced out, engaging diagrams, ideally short paragraphs and/or chapters for natural ‘rest breaks’ and keeping the books to 100 pages or under.
Ensure your shelves are filled with books with simple narratives, relatable characters and vibrant illustrations that complement the story.
Where possible, stories that your EAL students can see themselves in are a great choice too!
Books welcome any reader from any background. Ensure books are plentiful for students with SEND. They may not ‘read’ in the traditional sense but can get a huge amount from enjoying pages filled with engaging images.
To support them further, ensure the stories are simple, there’s a sensory element and (where possible) choose ones with rhyme and repetition.
SEND and English specialist, Hannah Rix, has created free downloadable guides for parents.
Discover the power of books and nurture your child’s love of reading with handy reading tips, time-saving hacks and incredible recommendations.
Co-founder and esteemed SEND English teacher, Hannah Rix, releases weekly blogs on key topics of the moment, as well as the most challenging, prescient, controversial and relevant issues facing your child.
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