Reading and Phonics Home-School Partnership
In Reception, the children will begin with a lilac book (no words) and progress onto a book with words after the teacher has taught the sounds and your child is able to blend those sounds in order to confidently read their reading book.
Lilac books: Please look at the pictures with your child and help them to talk about what is happening in each picture. This will help your child to develop an understanding of a story as well as developing story language. Children enjoy looking at familiar books and re-telling stories. This a very important part of learning to read.
Phonics books: Your child should be able to read these books with confidence as they will have read them in school. It is important for children to re-read familiar books to develop fluency. This is a very important skill in reading and greatly helps their reading comprehension.
Your child will have a book that will be kept at school during the week to allow the children to practise fluency with their class teacher/teaching assistant each day. On a Friday, your child will bring home the book they have been practising at school which they will keep until the following Friday. This is to allow for further practice and fluency at home. When children are heard read individually in school, this will be recorded in your child's reading record book with a comment on explicit reading skills for fluency and comprehension. Adult helpers may also hear your child read in school. This will be recorded in your child's reading book with an 'I have read with an adult today' stamp. Please read with your child daily and sign their reading record book.
Once children start learning letter sounds, they will be given a phonics pack consisting of cards with the sounds they have been learning during the week and words to practise reading and writing. Please also practise the phonics cards in their phonics packs at home daily. This counts as reading and can also be recorded in your child's reading record book.
Please keep reading record books and phonics packs in your child's book bag so that we can update them when needed. Reading books will need to be returned on a Friday so that they can be changed.
Please support us and your child’s reading enjoyment and progress by ensuring you read a little bit each day and sign your child’s reading journal.
Each class has a designated day for a library visit. Our library day is a Thursday. During library time, children can bring home a library book in addition to their school reading book. We like to allow children the choice to pick books that interest them and for you to read to them at home. We expect our library books to be looked after and returned in the same condition in which they were borrowed. We will not issue new library books for home without the return of the previously borrowed book. If books return damaged or lost, there will be a charge to allow us to replace the books.