Magenta Levels 1 and 2

Purposes and Strategies

use pictures to work out the story
relate pictures to print
follow direction of the print (left to right)
find the correct starting point on the page
reread to gain meaning
develop memory for text (repetition)
recognise early high frequency words
match one to one
handle books correctly
use the book title as a key to the story
listen attentively to shared stories
identify a letter and a word
understand what is meant by.... picture, text,
cover, letter, word, first, last, top, bottom,
front, back, page, story
use initial sounds as cues
identify some sounds in a sequence c-a-t
Purposes and Audience
Listen to and participate in stories, rhymes
and poems
Recognise different types of texts fiction,
non-fiction
Ideas
Relate our experiences to the stories
Retell a simple story in sequence
Draw a picture to describe the story
Think about what may happen next
Identify the beginning and end of the story
Language Features
Recognise some High Frequency words
Recognise Upper and Lower case letters
Recognise Capital Letters and Full Stops
Recognise simple symbols
Structure
Identify story beginning and end
Understand that stories must make sense
Targetted letter/sounds/sight
words/structural analysis/blends
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
I ,am, Mum, Dad, is, to, the, go, going, on, up,
look, here, said, it, in, at, come, we, went, can
see
ending (s)
diagraph (sh)

Reading Programme Learning Intentions

Red Levels 3, 4 and 5
Yellow Levels 6, 7 and 8
Purposes and Strategies
Make links between illustrations and print
Use directional movement
Secure one to one matching
Change the first letter in a word to make a
new one (cat, hat)
Use initial and final letter to work out words
( cat)
See similarities in words (cat, hat)
Build some simple word families (match,
patch)
Reread to confirm and self correct
Read on and return to a word I dont know
Use prior meaning in the story
Cross check (look right, sound right,
meaning)
Purposes and Audience
Use the terms fiction and non-fiction
Use pictures to predict and confirm the story
content
Ideas
Discuss favourite books
Notice details in illustrations
Retell a story in more detail
Predict what the text might be about
Provide a different ending to the story
Describe a character at a beginning level
Identify the main character in a story
Identify simple ideas from text (form
generalisation links)
Relate text to own experience
Read text in speech bubbles
Predict the next event in the story
Language Features
Remember many High Frequency words (+
retention of previous)
Identify questions marks, exclamations
marks, (consolidate full stops)
Identify /recognise consonant blends
Structure
Identify first and last concepts in a sentence
Begin identifying rhythm, alliteration and
rhyming words in text
Read two syllable words ie away with
appropriate 1 to 1 matching
Targetted letter/sounds/sight
words/structural analysis/blends
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
my, for, are, you, oh, shouted, thank, you,
home, away, where, and, as, if, an, no, there

Purposes and Strategies

Reread and self correct when meaning is lost
Use initial letters and endings to decode
Scan words and use chunks of letters
Cross check meaning, structure,
graphophonic and visual cues.
Build word patterns using initial consonants,
vowels and endings (walk walks walking)
Use some letter sound links correctly in
reading (shop shoe)
Hear and distinguish dominant sounds in a
word (cup)
Purposes and Audience
Understand the difference between questions
and answers
Ask questions related to the text
Find picture books, fiction and non-fiction
books in the library
Understand the purpose of a text
Ideas
Relate text to own experiences
Talk about the plot and characters
Discuss favourite books and recommend
them to others
Sequence the events of a story
Distinguish between fantasy and realism
through illustrations, layout and storyline.
Retell the story with more detail
Explain an idea from a factual text
Grasp the main idea from the story
Understand the literal meaning
Use illustrations, context and my experiences
to assist with meaning.
Language Features
Consolidate awareness of rhyme, rhythm and
alliteration
Read text with a variety of prepositions
(place and position on, under, over, beside,
above etc)
Structure
Identify speechmarks and ellipses
Establish concepts about print
Targetted letter/sounds/sight
words/structural analysis/blends
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
like, this, they, after, big, little, here, will, she,
help, with, not, play
Blends: th fr pl tr dr ch br diagraph sh
endings s ed ing

Blue Levels 9. 10 and 11

Purposes and Strategies
Consistently cross check cues Does my
reading sound right, look right, make sense?
Review structures and word endings look,
looks, looking, looked
Use a range of strategies
Show understanding of texts read both orally
and in written forms
Use blend knowledge to attempt unknown
words
Scan words and sentences
Develop word skills to analyse compound
words e.g tooth brush
Build word patterns using consonant blends
and diagraphs (ch, th)
Refer to the text to identify information
Purposes and Audience
Use expression to convey meaning
Read with correct phrasing
Read fluently with expression
Interpret punctuation such as exclamation
marks
Ideas
Make inferences and accept others points of
view
Ask questions about the text
Talk about my personal response to the text
Relate this text to a similar text Ive read
Provide a more developed response to the
text
Develop my reading vocabulary
Interpret visual information in the story
Use terms like author, illustration and title
Language Features
Identify punctuation marks and their purpose
question marks, commas, speech marks
and ellipses
Recognise rhyming words and build word
families
Recognise when and where capital letters are
used
Read word endings accurately s, ed, ing, er
Identify compound words
Identify changes in font
Identify plurals
* Identify contractions
Use gender words correctly
Identify vowels and consonants
Structure
Comment on specific aspects of plot,
character, setting and sequence of events

 Make comparisons between texts focussing

on text, illustrations and print conventions
(identify different types of text)
Targetted letter/sounds/sight
words/structural analysis/blends
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
Blends/diagraphs th fr pl tr dr ch br
Endings e ding
please get let have who good make know

ending (s) introduce singular/plurals introduce

ed,
diagraph (sh)

Green Levels 12, 13 and 14

National Standard: End of One Year at School

Purposes and Strategies
Use range of strategies more frequently
Consistently cross check cues
Take risks and make approximations more
confidently in reading and writing
Use punctuation correctly in my writing
Purposes and Audience
Beginning to read silently for a purpose
Read for meaning and understanding
Make a personal response and share it with
others
Read a range of texts selectively for pleasure
and information
Read orally with expression using
punctuation correctly
Ideas
Increase my skill in reasoning and predicting
Develop comprehension skills oral and
written
Create meaning from a range of texts and
illustrations
Identify features such as headings and
diagrams
Talk confidently about plot, characters and
sequence of events
Summarise the content of a factual text
Give an alternative ending to a story
Understand there might be more than one
interpretation of a text
Language Features
Punctuation direct speech, bold print,
apostrophe, colon
Name letter combination to make 2 letter
blends
Build word patterns using blends such as thr
and root words
Word endings en, ay
Locate and read compound words at Green
level
Identify contractions and discuss purpose
and meaning of apostrophe
Distinguish between direct and indirect
speech
Structure

Orange Levels 15 and 16

Purposes and Strategies
Integrate the use of cues across a range of
texts
Read with fluency and expression and
phrasing
Analyse multi-syllabic words in text e.g.
mon/star a/li/en
Describe our own reading progress
Re-run and read on to gain meaning
Purposes and Audience
Read independently by choice
Ask others questions during discussions
Make a more indepth response and share it
with others
Ideas
Make more indepth predictions and
justifications
Relate a story to my personal experience
Relate a story to another story
Make more sophisticated inference from text
Summarise text in detail in own words
Innovate on a wide variety of text types
Use a dictionary
Understand a table of contents and how to
use it
Language Features
Recognise specific range of high frequency
words
Recognise nouns and verbs in text
Identify and name features such as blends
and alliteration
Use contractions
Be confident about changes in font
Be familiar with paragraphs
Structure
Be conversant with a wide range of genres
Be conversant with fables, myths, legends
and fairy stories
Talk about plot, characters, setting and
themes of stories
Targetted letter/sounds/sight
words/structural analysis/blends
Blends: dr, pr, sw, wh, gr
Endings: y, ies, er, ly

Turquoise Levels 17 and 18

National Standard: End of Two Years at School

Purposes and Strategies
Read text with complex sentence structure
Enjoy reading longer stories and articles
Develop a curiosity about language and
words
Use references such as atlases and
dictionaries
Ideas
Look at deeper meaning in stories where not
everything is spelt out
Discuss setting of a story
Draw inferences from text
Realise that they may not agree with
everything that is read
Compare different styles of illustrations
Take initiative in responding to books
Talk about own interpretation of texts such as
advertisements
Language Features
Read more challenging vocabulary
Be conversant with a range of contractions
Recognise and use compound words
Structure
Know the purpose of headings, diagrams,
table of contents and indexes
Targetted letter/sounds/sight
words/structural analysis/blends
st cr sp kn fl pr qu
Vowel Blends: ou ai oo
Medial vowels a away, again, around
Endings: nt, nd, ll, ly, ck, nk
Prefix: be, to, a
magic e
when 2 vowels go out walking, the first one
does the talking and says his name
when a word ends with a vowel, a c c
consonant and an e, the vowel says his name

Purple Levels 19 and 20

Purposes and Strategies
Read a range of texts silently
Read for pleasure
Maintain meaning over a longer and more
complex structures
Justify reading choices (discuss own purposes
for reading)
Ideas
Talk confidently about books and authors
when reporting and retelling
Confidently ask others questions during
reading
Discuss morals and values
Justify own opinions of the text
Discuss major characters, the parts they
play, the sequence of events
Compare and contrast settings of stories
Summarise a range of texts in detail
Understand varying points of view
Compare storylines of books read
Discuss in detail differences between fact
and fiction
Language Features
Read text with more specialised vocabulary
Identify increased range of blends st, cr, sp,
kn, fl, pr, qu
Structure
Be conversant with terms such as chapter,
event, question, and comment
Point out and explain features such as table
of contents, index, and diagrams, maps and
headings
Targetted letter/sounds/sight
words/structural analysis/blends
st cr sp kn fl pr qu
Vowel Blends: ou ai oo
Medial vowels: hot, hat, hit, hut
Endings: nt, nd, ll, ly, ck, nk
Prefix: be, to, a
magic e
when 2 vowels go out walking, the first one
does the talking and says his name
when a word ends with a vowel, a c c
consonant and an e, the vowel says his name

 Habitually identify a range of concepts about

prints
Discuss book characters, scenes and
episodes with understanding
Targetted letter/sounds/sight
words/structural analysis/blends
Blends: dr pr sw wh gr
Vowels: a e i o u y
Vowel Blends: ee ea oa ou
Introduce short
vowel
Endings: y ies er ly
Plurals at
green level
Antonyms/synonyms of words at green level
Prefix a away, again, around
Final substitution e.g feet feel, feed
teach book woman Mr Mrs drive yelled room
your ready our day laugh but first swim river
old came about Miss road

Gold Levels 21 and 22

National Standard: End of Three Years at

School
Purposes and Strategies
Read a range of texts for pleasure and
information
Skim a range of texts, locate specific
information and summarise in own words
Cope with more complex characters and less
predictable story lines
Extend reading interests
Ask reflective questions
Respond critically to a range of texts
Ideas
Summarise different text in different ways
(such as key ideas)
Use information from text to produce a
poster
Discuss morals and values in greater depth
Compare concepts such as setting, theme,
plot, and characters
Build on or respond to comments about
books
Recognise a story within a story
Identify common features of different stories
by the same author
Compare and contrast information such as
the features of different stories or factual
texts
Language Features
Identify a full range of blends sc scr sm sn spl
squ tw spr str
Structure
Use headings, diagrams, maps, graphs, and
tables to scan and locate information in a
variety of texts
Use a table of contents, glossary and index

Vowels: a e i o u y
Compound words away again around
Vowel Blends: ee ea oa ou

Silver Levels 23 and 24

National Standard: End of Year 4

Purposes and Strategies

Skim a range of texts, locate specific
information and summarise in own words
Extend reading interests
Identify and reflect upon information while
reading
Use headings, diagrams, maps, graphs and
tables to scan and locate information in a
variety of texts.
Use a dictionary and thesaurus
Use information technology to access
material in library
Purpose and Audiences
Read a range of genres for pleasure and
information
Identify how the author uses language to
convey meaning and influence the reader
Ideas
Identify literal meaning
Identify inferential meaning
Justify own opinion about the story
Clarify vocabulary or meaning independently
Listen to and interact with others when
discussing issues that arise in different text
forms
Compare and contrast information such as
the features of different stories or factual
texts
Language Features
Identify homonyms, synonyms and antonyms
Discuss the various language features found
in different texts, e.g. alliteration, simile,
metaphor, etc
Structure

with confidence
Targetted letter/sounds/sight
words/structural analysis/blends
sc scr s msn spl squ tw spr str
Substitutions: Initial, medial and final letters
Suffix: e ding er es
Prefix: ex un im in per be
Antonyms, homonyms, synonyms
When a word ends with e drop the e before
adding ed, ing and er.
If a word ends with one vowel and one
consonant, double the consonant before
adding ed and ing.
When a word ends with y, change the ye to i
before adding es and ed.

Use a table of contents, glossary and index

with confidence
Locate key information and content
Targetted letter/sounds/sight
words/structural analysis/blends
Letter Clusters: gh, au, ion, ow, oi
Prefixes, Substitutions, homonyms: ex, un, im,
in
Initial, medial and final letters
Long and short vowels
Silent letters: kn, b, ise, ence
When a word ends with x, zz, ss, ch, sh, add es
to form pluras
Change f to ves to form plurals
i before e except after c