Grassmoor Primary School Book Banding

What are Book Bands? Book Bands are reading books which have been graded by difficulty. Each Book Band has its own colour. This means that as a school we are able to select books from different reading schemes with confidence, knowing that they are the right level for your child. The chart on the next slide gives an indication of the range of Book Band levels at which most children will be reading as they progress through primary school.

Approx reading age in years Year group School Term Book Band   Approx reading age in years Foundation Stage PINK  Less than5 years RED  5 years 1  (6 yrs) Autumn YELLOW 5 – 6 years BLUE Spring GREEN ORANGE Summer TURQUOISE 2   (7 yrs) Autumn  PURPLE  6 – 7 years Spring  Summer  GOLD 3  (8 yrs) 7 – 8 years WHITE 4 (9 yrs) LIME 8 – 9 years BROWN 5  (10 yrs)  9 – 10 years GREY 6   (11 yrs) DARK BLUE 10 – 11 years BURGUNDY    Reading Ready for Secondary School   (12 yrs) BLACK 11 – 12 years

Book Bands All bands aim to consolidate learning from previous bands Pink First word books. Realise heavy on pictures. Repetitive sentence structure Red More words and pages More complex story lines. Yellow Children need to read ‘between the lines’ [ Why?] More varied sentence structure.

Book Bands Blue More words with different sentence beginnings. Different punctuation. More complex story lines. less dependent on picture cues. Green Stories have a wider variety of characters and events Sentences may include lists of things or actions.

Book Bands Orange More pages to encourage reading stamina. More character speech to encourage reading with expression. Complex sentences Children are increasing encourage to read for meaning to fully understand the story. Turquoise Increase in descriptive language More print than pictures. Paragraphs begin to develop More challenging vocabulary

Book Bands Purple Longer sentences with a more challenging vocabulary. Short chapters to challenge and encourage reading stamina. Longer and more complex sentences Story detailed plots, characters and settings Non-fiction books is presented in a variety of ways.

Book Bands Gold More challenging vocabulary, Longer chapters for more sustained reading. White Children learn to empathise with the characters and consider why they behave as they do, The non-fiction books are divided into sections. Increased challenge in the layout of the non fiction information.

Book Bands Lime Wider range of writing styles Increased variation in sentence structure. Children reading Lime books will be able to understand more sophisticated word play. Brown More sophisticated words Books distinguish between the narrator’s voice and the characters’ voices. Plot is told through dialogue and action. .

Book Bands Grey Books explain a character’s motivations, Books discuss the points of view of the character Greater range of writing styles Dark Blue Greater complexity in character building and setting.

Book Bands Burgundy Books are beginning to recognise how layers of meaning allow for the build-up of humour or tension Children discuss how the author has achieved the effects. Black Children able to discuss how the author has achieved the effects. Books dealing with more complex issues.

Why are we using Book Bands? We carried out a reading audit in September. As part of the reading audit we carried out interviews with a range of different aged children, listened to individual children read, completed a book audit and completed ‘Benchmarking’ assessments on individual children. We found that the majority of children are fluent readers but had limited understanding of what they had read. We need to ensure that children at Grassmoor ‘ Read for meaning’. Your child might move more slowly through the book bands but this is due to the increased demand and expectation of reading skills within the curriculum.

Where we currently are with Book Bands? Since September we have been working hard to band all the reading books in school. The majority of books have now been banded. This means that books have a coloured sticker on its spine to indicate the band colour your child is currently working in. We have purchased new books to ensure we books in all book bands. We have been benchmarking children to assess independent reading levels using unseen, meaningful texts. We are no longer referring to children being a certain stage. It is important that the children know which colour book band they are reading from.

Benchmark assessment This is an accurate way to assess reading skills and make sure that children are reading the correct book band. 1]The child independently reads the text to themselves. 2] The children retells you the story 3] The running record 4] Comprehension questions 5] Analysis of the reading behaviour of the child.

How can you support your child? Make books part of your family life Join your local library Read books that they are interested in All reading is good [ stories, magazines, non fiction books] Get comfortable! Ask questions Read whenever you get the chance. Read again and again Regularly read with your child or children at bedtime. Books and poems which include rhyme and repetition are great for encouraging your child or children to join in and remember the words. Listen to your child read their school book-banded book whenever possible (at least 4 times a week)

Reading at home is different to reading at school. In school we teach children a wide range of reading strategies and give them skills to understand what they have read. We do this through in a variety of ways Phonics and Spelling Guided reading Independent reading Whole class reading Comprehension At home Reading is about having the opportunities to practise the skills taught in school and developing a love for reading by sharing books.

Reading strategies KS1

Reading strategies KS1

Reading strategies KS2

Reading strategies KS2

“Reading should be about having fun and adventure and magic, not just ‘making progress’.” Michaela Morgan