Please can you bring your child's purple book bag to school every day.  This is important because we will read with your child on a different day each week.

Each child has a Reading Record that will be written in by any adult who reads with the child. Please write a comment in the record book in order that we can see how your child is doing at home. You can also use this as a means to clarify any information or ask questions regarding any aspect of your child's reading.  We encourage you to use the book.

Pre-reading: 

I Spy cards - These give your child an opportunity to hear the beginning sounds in words (initial sounds).  Children listen for letter sounds ('a' for 'apple') not letter names ('A').

Children will also get a sound mat with their I-Spy cards.  This is to help with letter recognition.  Sometimes children put an 'uh' sound at the end of a sound (e.g. 'puh' not 'p' or 'muh' not 'm').  This makes it difficult for children to sound out words and put them back together again.  The following link will show you exactly how to say each sound clearly:  

http://www.pearsonschoolsandfecolleges.co.uk/demos/aaPrimary/Literacy/phonemes/Alphabet.html 

Picture books - Encourage your child to tell you the story by looking at the pictures.  Encourage them to hold the book the right way up and turn pages one at a time.  Talk about the front cover, i.e. title and author.  What page number is next?  Can you see anything that starts with 'p'?  What is happening on page 5?

Reading:

Tricky word sets - These are sets of high frequency words that the children need to practise consistently.  Your child will receive the next set of words once they are confident with the previous set. The class teacher will decide when to provide the next set of high frequency words. The children need to be able to recognise the words consistently and in a variety of contexts.  

Reading books - These books have a combination of tricky words (words that can't be sounded out, i.e. 'the'), decodable words (words that can be sounded out, i.e. c-a-t), and words that the children won't know but can use picture cues to help.  

E-books are also provided through Bug Club.  The books available to your child will compliment the level of book sent home.  Look out for upcoming dates for some Bug Club information sessions that will be held with the teachers, after school.

Alongside all of this we encourage lots and lots of sharing books as a family, reading to soft toys, and telling and listening to stories.

Happy reading!