As part of our move to whole-class reading, we have introduced a starter activity called a RIC. In these activities, children use the reading skills of retrieval (R), interpretation (I) and commenting on the creator's choice (C) to understand a variety of media. The RICs are based on poems, song lyrics, film trailers, adverts, photos, cartoons and anything else which inspires us! The idea is that all children can access the Retrieve question and most can have a good go at the Interpret question. If time, children attempt the Choice question before we spend a few minutes going over the answers as a class, with pupils getting the chance to add to their answers with other people's ideas. This means children get the chance to access high-quality answers and write them down. To read more about creating the activities and delivering them in lessons, please click here (opens in a new tab).
People at various events and through Twitter have been quite interested in these starter activities so you can find some examples below. In Key Stage Two, these are used at the beginning of Reading lessons which happen 2 or 3 times a week. In Key Stage One, these are used two or three times a week in whole-class sessions.
To see all other blog posts about whole-class reading lessons, click here.
Thanks for these, we are going to trial this approach next term.
ReplyDeleteThanks for these. We're going to trial this approach next term.
ReplyDeleteHi there,
ReplyDeleteLove this idea but as an NQT am struggling to come up with the plans myself.
Was wondering if you had any more examples (like the War Game one) but with different texts that I could access to get me started?
I know you mentioned using Matilda etc and would love to see how this pans out over some weeks
Thank you
Email me jo(at)mrspteach.com and I'll see what I can do :)
Deletehow long do these lessons normally last?
ReplyDeleteHi Nick,
DeleteNormally, around an hour however sometimes we plan shorter ones and some have been known to last longer especially if the RIC has some great questions which can be discussed in detail.
Jo
Hi Jo,
ReplyDeleteThis is a great idea. Thank you so much for sharing. I am having trouble breaking down the objectives into manageable chunks. I have looked at your example planning and am able to amend it for the first lesson but I'm not sure where I should be going next. Do you have any advice or have you come across anything that breaks it down into manageable chunks? I was new to Year 4 last year and wasn't happy with the progress the children made in reading. I'm even more confused now the new curriculum has come in!
Many thanks,
Sarah
Hi,
ReplyDeleteI love this idea and can see how it can be very effective. I work in Year 2 and want to use this style, however for a lot of the children an hour lesson on comprehension will be too long and I am concerned that I would not get enough comprehension skills across just doing the RIC. Do you have any suggestions for how i can make this approach work in a half an hour slot?
Thank you,
Becky
Wow! So pleased I stumbled upon this Mrs P. I was disillusioned with Guided reading and this has helped me so much! We do RIC every other morning and a whole class text in between - it works brilliantly... Children and SLT love it...! Just thinking if there was a communal area that we could share new RIC ideas together. Thank you again!
ReplyDeleteThat would be an awesome idea! I love the idea of it but am daunted by the planning.
DeleteMaybe via a Facebook page?
DeleteHi I would be really interested in some advice on setting this up for Y1!
ReplyDeleteHi
ReplyDeleteAre all your RICS picture based?
My chdn have got to grips with the images and now want to challenge them with short text extracts have you tried this at all?
Hi Nic, Yes we tend to do this more in Y4 now. Less RIC activities as well - fortnightly instead of every lesson.
DeleteHas anyone set up a FB page to share RIC examples ?
ReplyDeleteHi- does the RIC starter always link to the main text?
ReplyDeleteCan this ppt be downloaded? My school's firewall won't show the images. It would be useful to have the Power Point. Thanks
ReplyDeleteIs there any examples of stimulus? I've been using adverts but looking to expand. I teach year 4
ReplyDeleteis it possible to download the powerpoint example?
ReplyDeletethank you