Reception and Year 1;

Children will bring home 1 book every Friday to read that is entirely decodable, this means that they should be able to read this books as they already know the sounds and graphemes contained within the book. 

We only use pure sounds when decoding words (no ‘uh’ after the sound). We must use pure sounds when we are pronouncing the sounds and supporting children in reading words. If we mispronounce these sounds, we will make reading harder for our children.  

We want children to practise reading their book 4 times across the week working on these skills:

Decode – sounding out and blending to read the word.

Fluency – reading words with less obvious decoding.

Expression – using intonation and expression to bring the text to life!

 If your child makes a mistake with a word, there are four ways in which you can help:-

• · if the word starts with a different sound, point to the word and ask 'Does that look right?'
• · if the word does not fit into the structure of the sentence, read the whole sentence just as the child did and ask 'Does that sound right?'
• · if the word does not help the sentence to make sense, read the whole sentence just as your child did and ask 'Does that make sense?'
• · if your child still cannot read the word tell them what it is.

At the beginning of each academic year, we will hold separate information session for Reception and Year 1 parents and carers to find out more about what we do for Phonics, Reading and English at our school. Please do join us.

More support for parents and carers can be found here: https://home.oxfordowl.co.uk/reading/reading-schemes-oxford-levels/essential-letters-and-sounds/

Year 2

If children are still working at a specific phonic stage they will continue to bring home a phonetically decodable book each week. Continue to support reading as discussed in Year 1.

 When children are established as reading graphemes, words and sentences confidently across phonic phases, they will begin to bring home books that follow colour band coding. The books they bring home will be deemed at the appropriate level by their class teacher. Please continue to read with your child at home and sign their reading record to show an adult has listened to them. We would encourage parents and carers at this point to focus more on your child’s understanding of the text. This means your child may read some of the text/book and you talk about and ask questions about the pages they have read. Here are some examples of possible questions you could ask:-

· 

· What happened at the beginning/middle/end of the story?

· What did .... do?

· Which word told you that the giant was sad?

· Where did .... go?

· Describe ...

· How did ....?

· Why did ....?

· What does the word .... imply about .....? Eg What does the word plush imply about the owner of the house?

· How did ..... react?

· Why is ..... important in the story?

Harder to read and spell words

Ensure that your child can read the common exception words without needing to sound them out. This will help your child to read with greater fluency, confidence and accuracy.

Please click on the links below to access these words.

Learning by example

Let your child see you reading for pleasure and for a purpose. Children love to copy adults. By letting them see you reading, you are giving positive messages about reading.

Sharing Books

Take every opportunity to share a book with your child. You don't always have to read the words. Talking about pictures is just as important. If you are reading the words, point to them as you read. This helps your child to start to recognise the shape and size of some words.