Priory Park Infant school Reading spine

 We want our School to be a place where children listen to, enjoy, discuss and work with a selection of high quality books.

The 'Reading Spine' is a selection of stories that are used through reading aloud to help children engage at a deeper level and enter the world of the story. Quality texts develop the imagination and equip the reader with vocabulary and language. (75% of our vocabulary comes from reading.)

 We have provided the 'Pie Corbett Reading Spine' in our Classrooms so that children have access to these high quality texts.

We use the books in every year group over the School Year.  If a child has spent 3 full School Years at Priory Park, by the time they leave at the end of Year 2, they will be familiar with 42 high quality texts.

Reception Reading Spine books:

These books mainly use patterned language but begin to have a stronger emotional connection with the reader. There is also plenty to discuss and wonder about. Many of them lend themselves to retelling and creating new versions or further adventures featuring the same characters.

Year 1 Reading spine books:

These picture books offer deeper exploration of emotions and wonder. They are mainly rooted in the everyday crises of life. Children need to be involved in careful reading of the books, playing close attention to the detail and entering imagined worlds to experience the stories deeply – then talking it through.

Year 2 reading spine books:

In Year 2, it is important to start to move from sharing picture books into sharing chapter books. These will demand that the children use their imagination. Many of the chosen books operate on different levels – from the satisfaction of good stories to the exploration of deeper themes.

How the books are used

Copies of the core books for each year group will be provided in each classroom for teachers to use for reading aloud for pleasure, which will happen on a daily basis to  bring the stories alive for children.

The books will also be used where appripriate to refer to when teaching writing . e.g drawing on language, vocabulary or grammar used in the stories to inform writing.

Non fiction and poetry will also be threaded into daily reading aloud sessions e.g. in relation to topics being studied.