i-read Key Stage 1

Who has written the i-read texts?

All of the fiction and non-fiction texts and some of the poems have been newly commissioned for this project. The poetry has been selected for inclusion by Pie Corbett and Ann Webley series editors of i-read. i-read features texts by a range of well-known and well-loved authors, including Martin Waddell and Valerie Bloom.

What is the teaching and learning process within i-read?

The teaching materials provide for a four-part teaching and learning process:

Demonstration or modelling of reading strategies and behaviours by the teacher, using texts on the CD-ROM.
Shared and supported application of those skills, using activities on the CD-ROM.
Independent and guided practice by the children to consolidate learning.
Review and consolidation of learning in the plenary.
i-read also offers a range of non-ICT-based activities to support and develop work done in each unit. These include activities in art, design, PE, drama and music, which build on the themes investigated in the i-read story. The teacher’s notes provided on the disk support this process.

What is the scope and sequence of i-read?

For each term there are three themes. Within each theme there are two texts, taken from the range of fiction, non-fiction and poetry. The units cover the main text-level objectives from the renewed Primary Framework for Literacy, and reference is also made to speaking and listening objectives. Curriculum correlation charts are provided on the i-read website

Is i-read matched to the renewed Primary Framework for Literacy?

i-read is fully matched to the reading objectives of the renewed Framework.

It also takes into account the increased emphasis on speaking and listening, targeting a range of speaking and listening objectives in each unit. i-read also offers the opportunity to work with ICT texts for on-screen reading, which is another requirement set out in the Framework. Curriculum correlation charts can be found on the i-read website.

How can I use i-read to support my teaching of phonics?

Shared reading of the texts and poetry will help children to recognize high frequency words in context and build phonemic awareness. From each unit, the authors have carefully chosen particular words and phrases, such as phonically regular words, new or ‘tricky’ words, rhyming words, or words with particular phonemes and graphemes, for the teaching of phonics. These appear as focus highlights and the teacher’s notes offer the teacher guidance on how and when to use them. In addition, interactive activities give children opportunities to practise their phonological skills.

How much material is there and how long will it take me to use it?

i-read provides six units per term, split across three themes and covering a mixture of fiction, non-fiction and poetry. Each unit consists of five focuses (equating approximately to a one-week period). So, each CD-ROM provides enough material to teach for up to six weeks per term, or eighteen weeks per year. Of course, some classes may need more time on certain aspects and others may move more rapidly through a unit. This has to be at the teacher’s discretion, but should fit alongside most medium-term planning that you already have in place.

How are the units structured?

The units are all built around a main text. In each unit, all sessions except the last focus on the interactive teaching of reading skills. This ranges from applying techniques such as sounding out, re-reading and looking at the context in order to decipher the words on the page, to general enjoyment and appreciation of the texts. Focus 5 introduces the notion of preparing to write. This offers a starting point for independent writing in the genres or text types under study in the unit.

How will i-read help me to embed ICT into my literacy teaching?

i-read has been developed in line with the Primary National Strategy recommendations promoting the use of ICT texts as an integral part of children’s reading and of teacher’s tools for teaching. The following points have, therefore, been kept in mind:

The need to offer teachers a resource that supports the exploration of the technical possibilities offered by an interactive whiteboard, but keeps the focus on what the children need to learn;
the need to maintain a balance between the whole-class part of the lesson and time for the children’s independent work;
The need to enable children to apply to their own work what they have learnt from working with an interactive whiteboard.
The greatest potential for ICT, however, is in presenting ‘ICT texts’ for onscreen reading, as demanded by the renewed Framework. Each disk in i-read KS1 features a multimodal text, which allows the reader to navigate various routes through the text and to access information in different ways.

What sort of ICT features does i-read offer?

i-read has been developed as a blended resource from the outset, so any ICT feature is included for good reason rather than just for the sake of featuring extra ‘bells and whistles’. Here are some examples of the features offered by the program:

Selected audio enhancements – music, sound effects, poetry readings, oral storytelling and dialogues to hone listening skills;
Author interviews – authors of the texts explain how they go about the process of writing to assist children in the transition from reading to writing;
Video clips, animations and photographs to appeal to visual learners;
Pop-up questions, glossaries and pronunciation guides to help children engage with the text;
A range of interactive activities to allow practice of reading skills.

What if I don’t have daily access to an IWB?

No problem. The i-read teaching texts could be projected easily onto a plain wall for ease of viewing, or accessed on PCs in a networked suite. Whilst this type of projection would not allow access to the interactive features or activities, this is still a useful method for demonstrating and sharing skills. If there is no alternative technology available, then all the texts are available in the printed anthologies or as PDF files for printing out ahead of the lesson. i-read has been developed as a blended resource because we know that books and ICT work best together.

How does i-read allow for different learning strategies?

A unique feature of the programme is that it is based upon the explicit recognition of children’s differing preferred learning styles. For example:

On-screen annotation of texts, which appeals to kinaesthetic and visual learners;
The use of voice-overs, music and sound effects to draw in aural learners;
High-quality video clips, animations, photographs and artwork for visual learners;
The explicit teacher modelling of strategies in shared reading to support both visual and aural learners;
High-quality texts, written for the specific target age group, to motivate interpersonal and intrapersonal learners, who are sensitive to nuances of text and cognitive demand;
The strategy-led, cognitive approach developed through the teacher resources, to interest logical learners, who like to reason and solve problems.

How is speaking and listening supported?

The interactive, shared and guided approach to developing reading is built around the central role that talk plays in deepening comprehension and appreciation. Indeed, the programme is built around direct demonstration of specific strategies and also allows for the tentative exploration and development of meaning.

There are open questions for discussion and drama activities to help children imaginatively engage with the world of the text. Children are given the opportunity to form their own questions, and to discuss their own reading strategies and approaches to develop metacognition.

Many of the interactive activities do not feature right/wrong feedback; questions remain open in order to encourage debate within the session. This allows the teacher more freedom to orchestrate responses. Where feedback is given, it is constructive, and children are always offered the chance to try again if they get an answer wrong first-time round.

References to speaking and listening opportunities are provided in order to demonstrate where previously taught speaking and listening objectives can be consolidated.

How does i-read help me to meet the needs of my mixed-ability class?

When they first begin to read, children’s reading is mainly based on decoding the words on the page and interpreting meaning on the simplest level – that involving plot, characters, etc. i-read both supports the development of these basic skills and enables maturing readers to refine their reading skills, looking at aspects such as the style and effectiveness of the author’s choice of words, and how these features – and others – help the author to achieve his/her aim.

To this end, the questions provided on screen and in the teacher’s notes are built around five specific skills – literal, deductive, inferential, authorial and evaluative comprehension.

The focus highlight feature also helps children of all abilities. It offers targeted practice of high-frequency words, as well as focusing on decoding trickier words in a supported setting.

Whilst some classes may need more scaffolding, the materials are sufficiently flexible to allow you to move through a unit at your own pace.

It is suggested that children should be encouraged to read and re-read carefully – the first read providing an overall understanding, and the second allowing for more detailed and interpretative thinking.

What is the link with writing?

Essentially, i-read is a programme that focuses on reading strategies but leads into a final session in each unit which sets the class up for writing their own piece in a similar style. Clearly, at this level, children will probably not be aiming to produce a complete piece of written work, but i-read nevertheless offers children opportunities to practise writing simple sentences, captions and labels, and to complete cloze texts by adding their own words and phrases. Many of the ‘preparing to write’ sessions can be delivered using ICT resources rather than pencil and paper if appropriate.

How will i-read be useful for my teaching assistant?

i-read is an easily accessible programme for practitioners to use. A teaching assistant who is familiar and confident with using an interactive whiteboard may be able to lead a lesson using the teacher’s notes. A less ICT-confident assistant may be better employed working with groups during the independent activity section of the session.

Is there any additional support for i-read?

Yes! In addition to the teacher’s notes and help booklet, i-read has its own support website: www.cambridge-hitachi.com/i-read. Curriculum correlation charts, focus-by-focus breakdowns, short demos, author interviews and biographies are just some of many features present. If you have any further questions, you can contact your local Cambridge-Hitachi representative or call the i-read technical support team on: +44 (0) 1223 325040.

As with all resources, the material is merely the starting point – it is the skills of the teacher or teaching assistant that will make i-read really great in the classroom!

I uninstalled i-read Year 1 but the shortcuts of i-read Year 2 (start menu and desktop shortcuts) were also removed.

This is a known issue that is going to be addressed in the near future. Please consult this page again for a solution to the problem.

In the meantime, please launch i-read year 2 directly by browsing to its installation location and clicking on start.exe. The default installation location is C:\Program Files\CambridgeHitachi\i-read\year2. In order to avoid browsing to the installation location, you can create a new desktop shortcut and launch the application using the latter.