Reading at Maple Ridge
Reading At Maple Ridge
At Maple Ridge we aim to foster a joy of books and reading and place a high importance on reading skills. Each day all children are given time to read independently books of their own choosing and read with an adult, with regular opportunities to visit the school library to change their reading scheme and own choice of book. All classrooms also have a varied collection of books for children to access at any time.
Children in reception, year 1 and 2 take part in regular interactive story sessions using the ‘story sack’ scheme. Children in years 3 and 4 take part in sharing story sessions in our Cedar room which parents are also invited to attend. This is an opportunity for children to start sharing stories with other adults and children outside of their class. It is also a time for parents to come and share stories with their children and to support ideas for sharing stories at home. This was following a survey from parents feeding back that some children were finding it difficult to access books with their parents in the home setting.
Storylinks
Some children in years 5 and 6 have the opportunity to take part in a therapeutic programme called ‘Storylinks.
StoryLinks is a therapeutic partnership support programme. It uses therapeutic story-writing to support pupils’ emotional well-being alongside developing reading, academic and imagination skills.
Sessions are light-hearted and fun. The main focus is on making up a story, taking it in turns within a group to add ‘what’s next’ verbally. In co-creating stories the group address the pupils’ behavioural, emotional and social difficulties through emotional metaphor. Within the story the group can provide peer understanding and develop solutions together.
The StoryLinks tutor oversees the sessions and gives the story opener, which is about an emotional situation or related to an issue that may be affecting one or all of the group. Each child has their own folder where their stories are kept and it is shared with the class and home. Reading should take place between sessions to give a sense of ownership and developing the themes of the story the child has helped to create.
If you would like to know more please follow the link below to the Storylinks website.
All children have the opportunity to bring Library books home to share with you on a weekly basis. We also give children the opportunity to bring home ‘reading books’ from a range of different reading schemes. These include:
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