Willington Primary School uses Accelerated Reader (AR) and The Bug Club. AR is a computer programme that helps teachers manage and monitor children’s independent reading practice. The Bug Club is a finely-levelled reading scheme with online books and a personalised website for each child. For further information download the guides below.
Bug Club is a finely-levelled reading scheme, which ensures that all children can find books at exactly the right level for them. What’s more, there are online versions for every printed title and a personalised website for each child.
Using the online reading world
If you have access to an internet connection, your child can enjoy reading Bug Club books online as well as in print. Each child has a unique homepage and can log into it by following these steps:
Please note: We strongly recommend using Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox web browsers with Active Learn. If you prefer to use Internet Explorer, please check you have at least IE9 in order for everything to work as it should.
2 .Enter the login details (as provided on your child’s Bug Club mark)
3. Your child’s homepage will appear.
Reading a book online
We allocate books to your child according to their reading levels. These books will appear in the ‘My Stuff’ area of their personal homepages.
Throughout the books there are quiz questions for your child to complete. To answer a question, just click on the bug icon. Your child does not need to finish all the quiz questions in one sitting and can come back to the book later.
When your child has finished all the quiz questions in a book, your child will earn ‘ActiveLearn Coins’. By reading more books, your child will earn enough coins to ‘buy’ a reward in one of the many reward schemes.
The answers to the quiz questions will be sent back to our teacher site so that we can see how your child is progressing. We will also be able to assign more books for your child to read if the virtual book bag is running low.
When your child has finished a book, it will move to ‘My Library’. Children can read these books again if they want to, or they can choose new books from ‘My Stuff’.
Getting Involved
Sharing reading
Until they are fluent readers, younger children will benefit from reading aloud to you as often as possible. When sharing a book with your child, try to take opportunities to talk about the book – before, during and after reading.
Before reading: look at the book cover and talk about your child’s expectations. Is the book likely to be fiction or non-fiction? Have you read other books together about these characters or by this author? What does your child think the book is going to be about?
While reading: support your child when unknown words need tackling: you can sound them out, split them into syllables, or identify suffixes and prefixes. Remind your child to listen to the words while reading them, to make sure that they make sense. Have a ‘meaning check’ every now and again to ensure your child understands the text.
After reading: talk about the book. What was it about? Did it match your child’s expectations? Ask questions beginning with the words how and why to check that your child has been able to read between the lines. Ask whether anything seemed puzzling. Then ask your child to explain what the best and worst bits of the book were, and why.
Need help?
If your child is having trouble using the pupil world, help can be found in the Help Section of ActiveLearn Primary (in the top right-hand corner of the website).
Bug Club Troubleshooting Guide
Reading and Phonics
Phonics Scheme
At Willington Primary School we use a synthetic phonics programme ‘Read Write Inc.’ Read Write Inc. is a method of learning centred around letter sounds and phonics.
Reading opens the door to learning. A child who reads a lot will become a good reader. A good reader will be able to read more challenging material. A child who reads challenging material is a child who will learn. The more a child learns, the more he or she will want to find out.
Using Read Write Inc, the children learn to read effortlessly so that they can put all their energy into comprehending what they read. It also allows them to spell effortlessly so that they can put all their energy into composing what they write.
When using Read Write Inc to read the children will:
- learn 44 sounds and the corresponding letter/letter groups using simple picture prompts.
- learn to read words using Fred Talk.
- read lively stories featuring words they have learned to sound out.
- show that they comprehend the stories by answering questions.
When using Read Write Inc to write the children will:
- learn to write the letters/letter groups which represent
- 44 sounds.
- learn to write words by saying the sounds in Fred Talk.
- write simple sentences.
- compose stories based on picture strips.
- compose a range of stories based on writing frames.
To find out more please visit or download the parent information below.
Home Reading Scheme
At Willington Primary School we use a variety of home reading materials. Initially as children begin to learn to read they will be provided with a Read Write Inc Phonics Book Bag book.
As children progress in their reading they will be introduced to the Bug Club.
When children become fluent readers they then move to the Oxford Reading Tree Scheme, a well-established and popular reading scheme which is highly successful at teaching children to read. Reading is one of the most important skills your child will learn in the early years at Willington Primary School. Oxford Reading Tree makes learning to read fun, with stories that children want to read for themselves.
To support your child’s learning with Oxford Reading Tree download the guide below or visit their website: Oxford Reading Tree
Willington Primary School also uses Accelerated Reader (AR) and The Bug Club. AR is a computer programme that helps teachers manage and monitor children’s independent reading practice. The Bug Club is a finely-levelled reading scheme with online books and a personalised website for each child. For further information download the guides below.
A Parents Guide to AR
ORT Guide For Parents
The Bug Club
