At Horndale County Infant and Nursery School we place great importance on home/school reading opportunities. This helps you see your child’s progress and is also a chance for you and your child to share a bond about school. Please talk to your child about what they are reading; what has happened so far, what they think will happen next, and are they enjoying it and why.
If you are listening to your child read and they get stuck on a word, you could try suggesting any of the following:
- Are there any clues in the picture?
- Blend the sounds together
- Can you think of any words that might fit?
- Read to that word again
- Keep going. Read past it. Look for clues
- Read up to the word again and just say its beginning
Don’t worry if they still can’t get the word, just tell them what it is and move on.
You can also help your child by reading to them. This helps them to access more difficult text, models more complicated sentences and introduces them to new words.
At Horndale County Infant and Nursery School we use Oxford Reading Tree books. These begin with non-worded books and move up to more complex worded books.
We have a reading system in place, which all staff use to direct children to the appropriate reading material according to their ability. Children are regularly listened to (at least once a week) and staff will assess when each child is ready to move on to the next level. This assessment will include questions relating to:
- Confidence
- Fluency
- Blending skills
- Comprehension skills
- Expression
- Knowledge of key features of a story
- Punctuation use
- Re-telling the story
Your child will not be moved on to the next stage until their teacher feels they will cope and progress well in the next stage.
