Reading

Home Reading Information for parents 

Please click on the document below for information for parents regarding Home Reading Books:

Supporting Reading at Home - Information for Parents - Reception

Tips for parents and carers

Words to learn in Year 1 and Year 2

 

Reading at St Joseph’s

At St Joseph’s we recognise how important reading is.

Children are encouraged to look at and enjoy books as soon as they enter school in the reception classes.

Teachers and other adults in school read regularly to the children and there are book corners in all class rooms containing an interesting selection of story and information books.

The school is also proud of its library, and children have an opportunity to visit it weekly. Each child has a library card and can take out a book of their choosing. Books are then taken home and shared with parents.

In addition to their library book, children have an individual reading book which is based on the level of reading they can undertake independently.

They start with picture books and are encouraged to tell the story and talk about what is happening in the pictures.

As children learn their sounds (phonics) and build up their sight vocabulary through words that are taken home for learning, they can then access books with words.

We do not follow one particular scheme for reading but use a range of schemes including Collins Big Cat, Oxford Reading Tree, Sunshine Books, Jelly and Bean, Songbirds, All Aboard and Read, Write Inc. We group books of a similar difficulty together using a colour coding system. Children are made aware of which colour band they are working within and can then select a book from the appropriate box. Sometimes children choose to read the same book more than once.

Adults within the school will decide when they think it is appropriate to move a child to the next colour band and some children will eventually move on to longer chapter books.

As children progress through the school, they are encouraged to change their reading books whenever necessary.

Adults in school read with children once a week on an individual basis and will write a comment in the child’s home school diary. Parents are also encouraged to read at home with their children as often as possible. When an adult has signed the home school diary three times in a row, their child receives a stamp on their merit card.

Comprehension is an important aspect of being able to read. We use literacy lessons and guided reading sessions to teach children how to answer a range of questions about the text and to develop their understanding about what they have read.

We hold Stay and Play sessions in reception and Activity Afternoons in KS1 where we share with parents our approach to reading.

Most important of all is our desire to instil in our children a love of reading, and we encourage parents to do the same. Let your child see you read, read them bedtime stories even after they are able to read independently and make room for books in your home.