Top takeaways

1. Every new class benefits from an educator with a clear vision and a plan for implementation. Discover a strategic way to get to know your class in the new term with a Summer Reading Quiz that turns the ‘unknowns’ of summer reading into ‘knowns’.

2. In less than thirty minutes in week one, you will know where your new children are as readers. You will have up to date information at your fingertips that tells you what they read (or didn’t) during the summer holiday and how they feel about reading.

3. This ripples out into every conversation about their reading and learning. A simple practice will even shape those initial conversations with parents at the school gate, as well as in October.

A fresh start and a room full of new faces

There’s a certain deliciousness that comes from beginning again. With every turn of the wheel, teachers are building their expertise and this is one of the most exciting aspects of the work. Every child is unique, and well-worn practices are moulded and refined year after year.

The newness of the term and the class can be deceptive. Some teachers look down the list of new names, only to discover they are not new after all. Children have siblings and the initial relationship with parents may have been forged several years earlier. Having taught siblings I know how different two children from the same family can be and I know that many teachers adore the privilege of teaching, as it allows us to adapt and refine our knowledge and experience for each individual child.

As a parent of siblings I was astonished to find out that teachers saw my daughters as chalk and cheese. My elder daughter was easy going and smiled all day, whereas the younger of the two found humour in every situation and could have the whole class laughing with her in an instant. It was hard going for all the teachers, but some were more worn down by her antics. So, while we might anticipate particular ‘behaviour’ from the more familiar names on the list, expecting the unexpected is a more realistic approach to take.

A new class of children and a teacher with an open mind create a wonderful energy of anticipation. Children relish a fresh start as they pile into classrooms with new bags, pencil cases, shoes and socks. They slide into school on polished floors that are slippery with varnish and with the energy that matches the potential offered by a fresh start. The energy that we bring to a new term is inspiring, but it’s up to us to shape each opportunity in every moment. If you are already back at school this is playing out right now.

The children who read all summer and relished every moment

You know the children who love to read, because they tell you. They’ll bounce towards you full of enthusiasm for their new favourite author, the excitement of being midway through an amazing series about ponies, or the really hard book that their parents advised them not to read, but which they finished anyway.

These children need to share all of their passion for reading with adults who can reciprocate. These children need you to know that they want to be challenged and their parents may feel the same way. Their dream is to have close friends of the same age who love reading challenging books as much as they do.

The children who wanted to read well, and are still wondering why it feels so flat.

You also know the children who are dutiful when it comes to reading. They read because it is expected and they expected to read well because they made the effort to practice every day. Each word that they read with accuracy is a feat of decoding, but that is as far as their reading has taken them.

Even by the age of seven, they have friends who enjoy reading and they feel they are different to them. After years of effort, they are left to assume they are missing ‘something’, because decoding the words could not be described as enjoyable at all. Perhaps, on the inside they are beginning to assume it’s their fault and that other children are clever, but they are not.

This cruel realisation unfolds within a motivated child who has tried to read every day of the summer break. The Summer Reading Challenge was a big part of the story. They put the effort in. They summoned their enthusiasm once again, trusting that if they ‘keep going’ it will come together and still, it all fell flat. There was no breakthrough, after all that they had been told. They kept going. They attempted the books, but it still felt pointless. For these children, accurate decoding has not yet led to ease, fluency and understanding in reading.

The children who didn’t read at all

For some children, there’s relief in not being expected to read for a few weeks. They had no intention of reading during the summer. Reading, writing, spelling and maths require consistent focus. Focus is their problem. It fades, scatters and fragments before they have had a chance to even figure out what is expected of them.

Their attention is directed away from the page in front of them. They need to run and allow their energy to carry them freely.

But in their new classroom in front of a new teacher at the start of a new term, there’s a disciplinary process that could deprive them of playtime and it would make them feel even more pressured to act in ways that would lead to further loss of play.

A fresh start is a chance for teachers and children to breakdown these behavioural cycles rather than to continue turning the handle and reinforcing them. A new approach could be just what is needed.

What could change in one 30 minute lesson?

There’s a simple way to get to know a new class as readers in the very first week of term. Imagine being able to set up a reading club for the children who need to share their reading experiences with each other.

Imagine knowing who is at risk of losing heart and self-belief, especially after so many years of trying to read. These insights change the tone of the conversations you have with their parents at the school gate.

Imagine regulating the children with vigilant attention, who are most at risk of never feeling that they belong at school. Finding these children straight away and making sure they feel seen and safe is an important first step to getting the term off to a smooth start.

I’ve created a Summer Reading Quiz. There are no right or wrong answers. It’s aimed at children in Key Stage 2 and will give you an up to date summary of your new class in terms of how they see themselves as readers, what they like to read and with whom.

Click here to download the Summer Reading Quiz pdf

The conversation you will have in October

Let's think ahead to the smoothest possible outcome at the end of October, which would be that every child is making optimal progress and every parent is happy at the end of their parent-teacher consultation.

No one wants to discuss progress in reading that is dropping below expectation, placing children at risk of losing access to the curriculum. Most teachers are there to teach and also want to make a ‘difference’, to be ‘the one’ who gave the child the confidence to believe in themselves.

This is what I see when I am visiting schools. I see heart-centred teachers, committed in every moment to making their impact on these children and making it count. My heart expands to bursting point as I walk along the corridor to ‘my room’ feeling the commitment teachers are making in every moment. This is why I consider it such a privilege to support the work of schools.

I support the work of schools in a very specific way: a rhythm-based approach to the teaching of reading. The children who need their teachers to help them with rhythm are those who have tried so hard and still feel that something is missing.

I published a paper in the academic journal Research Studies in Music Education. It reported on 15 lower-attaining readers and compared their reading scores before and after six weeks of rhythm-based intervention delivered by their own teacher. There were no other interventions in the year group and the reading was measured using a standardised reading test. The average (mean) gain in comprehension age was statistically significant.

The children that teachers are most concerned by also benefit from a rhythm-based approach. This helps them to make a shift in their attention, to hear the front edge of phonemes more clearly, to decode words more easily and to feel more at ease and more fluent in their reading.

Working with rhythm is not a matter of shaking a can of rice. It is much more about building precision in the way children respond to sound.

FAQs

What if my school didn’t run the Summer Reading Challenge?

That’s not a problem at all. There are no prerequisites for using the Summer Reading Quiz or signing up for Rhythm for Reading CPD.

Is the Summer Reading Quiz another thing to administer?

This is something that children enjoy. In fact most people enjoy being asked about themselves. Children do too as it means they feel included and that someone has taken the time and trouble to find out about what they think about reading. The Quiz asks children to draw a circle around their answer, so there’s very little actual writing involved.

What if a child says they read and clearly didn’t?

It’s helpful to reassure the children by saying there are no right or wrong answers. The most important part of this Quiz is that you give the answer that is true for you. If you do this you will have the perfect score.

If after the preamble, they have falsified their answers, this tells you that they are struggling with reading in several ways. This is a strong signal that this child needs immediate support.

How do I raise the topic of reading at home without making the parent defensive?

Focus on genuine progress and relay positive messages about progress in reading. The progress may be small but it is the first and most important step. The Rhythm for Reading Fluency Tracker offers an easy way to capture progress in reading at many levels.

What if most of my class is in the third group?

If they take the Summer Reading Quiz in September and again in January, you will be able to track their attitude to reading and find out what they might like to read in their spare time.

I would recommend daily Onset and Rime for these children, using rhythm to deliver the patterns.

If they are not able to control their attention enough for onset and rime, try playing the blending and segmenting game which is in this blog post and on the video.

Rhythm for Reading CPD will also equip you with tools and resources to support them further.

What if a child read plenty and still cannot tell me anything about it?

Ask them if their attention is fading suddenly or slowly? Ask them if their attention fades in one piece or in tiny fragments which scatter as if particles of dust. When attention is not sustained, children cannot anticipate what is coming next in their reading. This is why they are not able to monitor the meaning of the text. A rhythm-based approach can help strengthen their attention. Find out more about teacher CPD here.