Rainbow Readers

The Rainbow Readers Packs provide comprehensive sets of structured, teacher/TA led resources that work on all aspects of reading.

Each of the seven available packs contain a set of teaching resources that explore the aspects of reading described in Scarborough’s Reading Rope (2001 & 2010). The Reading Rope provides a model of reading that has stood the test of time and was developed using the evidence of academic research often referred to as ‘The Science of Reading’.

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The Rope considers two main strands to skilled reading:

• decoding the printed word (English being considered to be based on an alphabetic code of how sounds correspond to letters) and

• language comprehension (the child’s ability to understand spoken language). It further separates these into threads that contribute to each strand: Oral language structure, Written language structure, Vocabulary, Background/subject knowledge, Literacy concepts, Decoding, Automaticity, Phonemic Awareness, Fluency and Comprehension

The activities in each pack are based around a decodable book, the Rainbow Reader that matches to one of Sets 1-7 of sounds and letters that pupils learn about in Book 1 of the Phonics for Pupils with Special Educational Needs programme. The Rainbow Readers packs are compatible with many other phonics programmes that use the same Sets 1-7 teaching sequence of sounds.

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Please note that this resource is to be used alongside a systematic, synthetic phonics programme and is not a substitute for access to structured phonics instruction.

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Here's what Dr Sarah Moseley has to say about the packs:

"The strengths of the packs are that they promote the importance of providing opportunities to learn the wider skills of reading including literacy knowledge, vocabulary and written language structure alongside teaching of phonics."

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"Strategies provided within each section enable professionals to extend learning to support pupils to deepen their understanding in aspects that they may be struggling with."

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"The Rainbow Readers resource packs provide that important link between reading and writing, making this a useful model for use across the curriculum."