Structured paired reading

A simple thing that I like doing is asking pupils to read in pairs.

Take turns to read a sentence each.

Two children reading from a book together, sitting side-by-side at a classroom desk

Not only does this give children the chance to read aloud – extremely important for developing reading fluency – but it is an opportunity for them to collaborate and support each other. It’s also brilliant for raising awareness of what a sentence is, including end-of-sentence punctuation.

I recommend modelling this first, with two adults if possible. And as with anything, don’t just assume that they ‘get it’; check regularly for understanding. For example, one misunderstanding I have addressed in the past is that pupils are reading a line each, instead of a sentence!

(As always, change pairings regularly to maximise impact. Children will then get used to working with different partners, they get different types of support from different partners, sometimes they will give more support and sometimes they will receive more support, they will hear different ways of talking and reading… and so on.)