Phonics, Reading and Handwriting


 

Pendragon, we use the 'Storytime' phonics programme as the basis of our teaching of reading and spelling. This is a scheme that uses well-known popular children's story books to contextualise the sounds the children are learning. The children are immersed in a multi-sensory, interactive experience through the use of storytelling props. 
 
We use the Book Band approach to developing successful readers. The Book Band system allows us to grade or 'band' books by different publishers according to their difficulty level. We have a wide range of books from a variety of publishers such as Oxford Reading Tree, Collins, Nelson and Usborne. The bands allow the children to choose  books that match their ability level with confidence. At Pendragon, the simplest books are pink then red, yellow, blue, silver, orange, green, purple, gold, white, lime and the top level is brown. Teachers continuously assess the children, during individual and group reading sessions, on their word recognition and ability to answer questions in order for them to progress through the bands. On completion of the Book Bands, children become 'free readers' and can choose independently from their classroom and the school library.
 
 

Great Books Guide 2020: best new children's books

Here are 100 books from the last year that we think are great – and so will children.

Our priority is to get children excited about books, stories and rhymes because if reading is fun, children will want to do it. That's why we've put together this guide full of books we think are absolutely brilliant, carefully chosen to engage and excite children all the way up to age 11. We believe that the "right" book is always the book a child wants to read – and we hope this guide inspires you to find that book. 

Check out the books by age below, or download the full Great Books Guide 2020 (PDF, 6.0MB).

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