Free Online Training Course for Parents

Parents are encouraged to complete the free Udemy training which will guide them in how to support their child with the Initial Code and acquiring all the skills and knowledge for reading.

The links to this are:  www.udemy.com/course/help-your-child-to-read-and-write/    for Initial Code Units 1-7

and  www.udemy.com/course/help-your-child-to-read-and-write-part-2/   for Initial Code Units 8-11

Book Bags

All children must bring their reading book to school every day. The best way to do this is in their book bag as it will protect the book and children can get into a routine of picking up their book bag each morning. All children will have a reading record book, these are affectionately known as their ‘Jungle Book’ at Monkshouse because of the colourful picture on the front cover. Staff will record in the Jungle Book when they have listened to the child read and will write a positive and constructive comment to support the parent when they are reading at home with their child. Parents are expected to write and sign in the Jungle Book every time they listen to their child read their reading book at home. Your child will come home with two books in their book bag. One book is a reading for pleasure book that your child has chosen from their class book corner. The other book is their reading book which has been closely matched to their phonics ability.

Supporting Your Child to Read at Home

Reading should be a pleasurable experience. Encourage your child to enjoy their reading reading book by talking positively about the text, praising your child for good reading and by discussing the text that has been read. Below are our 5 tips for successful reading development at home:

• Choose a time of day when both you and your child are able to spend time enjoying the book together.
• Turn off any background noises, including the TV and any music.
• When your child finds a new word more challenging to read at a glance support them by saying “say the sounds and read the word”
• To support your child in developing fluency and comprehension, read back what has already been read by your child up to and including the point where the error occurred.
• Praise and encourage your child for their efforts and celebrate their successes.

Your child must read their reading book at home at least 5 times a week. It is important that children have the opportunity to read and re-read books because this is how different skills will develop. The first time your child reads the book they may have to sound out and blend some of the words with recently taught sounds in. Most of the words should be familiar to your child and they will have a degree of fluency to their reading, reading most words quickly, at a glance.

When your child is faced with a more challenging word, ask them to “say the sounds and read the word.”  This will encourage your child to segment the word and then blend the sounds together to hear and read the word. Occasionally your child may find this too challenging, in that instance say to your child “in this word(e.g. bread), these letters (point to the letters ea) make the sound /e/” This will teach your child that sound and support their phoneme awareness. It will have a positive impact on their fluency and comprehension.  Once children are more familiar with the sounds they are learning, they should be able to read the text with greater fluency which will lead onto the development of expression in reading and then greater understanding (comprehension) of the text.

If you have any questions about your child’s reading book or phonics lessons, please speak to your child’s class teacher.