Parent and Carer information to support your child's reading (DfE July 2020):
Reading helps your child’s wellbeing, develops imagination and has educational benefits too. Just a few minutes a day can have a big impact on children of all ages.
Try to read to your child every day. It’s a special time to snuggle up and enjoy a story. Stories matter and children love re-reading them and poring over the pictures. Try adding funny voices to bring characters to life.
Give children lots of opportunities to read different things in their own time - it doesn’t just have to be books. There’s fiction, non-fiction, poetry, comics, magazines, recipes and much more. Try leaving interesting reading material in different places around the home and see who picks it up.
Choose a favourite time to read together as a family and enjoy it. This might be everyone reading the same book together, reading different things at the same time, or getting your children to read to each other. This time spent reading together can be relaxing for all.
Make a calm, comfortable place for your family to relax and read independently - or together.
Libraries in England are able to open from 4 July, so visit them when you’re able to and explore all sorts of reading ideas. Local libraries also offer brilliant online materials, including audiobooks and ebooks to borrow. See Libraries Connected for more digital library services and resources.
This is a great way to make connections, develop understanding and make reading even more enjoyable. Start by discussing the front cover and talking about what it reveals and suggests the book could be about. Then talk about what you’ve been reading and share ideas. You could discuss something that happened that surprised you, or something new that you found out. You could talk about how the book makes you feel and whether it reminds you of anything.
You could try cooking a recipe you’ve read together. Would you recommend it to a friend? Alternatively, play a game where you pretend to be the characters in a book, or discuss an interesting article you’ve read.
Play games that involve making connections between pictures, objects and words, such as reading about an object and finding similar things in your home. You could organise treasure hunts related to what you’re reading. Try creating your child’s very own book by using photos from your day and adding captions.
You know your child best and you’ll know the best times for your child to read. If they have special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) then short, creative activities may be the way to get them most interested. If English is an additional language, encourage reading in a child’s first language, as well as in English. What matters most is that they enjoy it.
Below you will find some useful websites in supporting parents with phonics and early reading:
(click the bold text to follow the link)
Oxford Reading Owl - This parent page is extremely helpful in advising parents how to support particular aspects of reading.
PhonicsPlay - Parents are by far the most important people in helping children learn to read. Here you will find lots of information for parents about phonics including: what exactly phonics is, how it is taught in UK schools and suggestions for helping pre-schoolers prepare for learning phonics. You will also find lots of games and ideas to explore with children at home
Alphablocks - Watch as the letters of the alphabet tell stories and make words using phonics. Play the learning game, watch clips and print activity pages.
Recommended Reads:
At Roselands we use Pie Corbett’s Reading Spine to introduce children to quality texts at an appropriate age. The Reading Spine helps schools to build a core selection of the very best books to read aloud with children. It is a core of books that create a living library inside a child’s minds: a store of classics and essential reads that help children engage at a deeper level and enter the world of the story, fostering a love of reading from Nursery through to Year 9. We encourage our families to share these books too.
Recommended Reading Books |
Recommended Reading Books |
Reception Owl Babies – Martin Waddell The Gruffalo – Julia Donaldson Handa’s Surprise – Eileen Browne Mr Gumpy’s Outing – John Burningham Rosie’s Walk – Pat Hutchins Six Dinner Sid – Inga Moore Mrs Armitage – Quentin Blake Whatever Next – Jill Murphy On the Way Home – Jill Murphy Farmer Duck – Martin Waddell Goodnight Moon – Margaret Wise-Brown Shhh! – Sally Grindley |
Year One Peace at Last – Jill Murphy Can’t You Sleep Little Bear? – Martin Waddell Where the Wild Things Are – Maurice Sendak The Elephant and the Bad Baby – Elfrida Vipont and Raymond Briggs Avocado Baby – John Burningham The Tiger Who Came to Tea – Judith Kerr Lost and Found – Oliver Jeffers Knuffle Bunny – Mo Willems Beegu – Alexis Deacon Dogger – Shirley Hughes Cops and Robbers – Alan and Janet Ahlberg Elmer – David McKee
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Year Two Traction Man is Here - Mini Grey Meerkat Mail – Emily Gravett Amazing Grace – Mary Hoffman Pumpkin Soup – Helen Cooper Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Book? – Lauren Child Dr Xargle’s Book of Earthlets – Tony Ross Not Now Bernard – David McKee Tuesday – David Wiesner The Flower – John Light Gorilla – Anthony Browne Emily Brown and The Thing – Cressida Cowell Frog and Toad Together – Arnold Lobel The Owl Who Was Afraid of the Dark – Jill Tomlinson Fantastic Mr Fox – Roald Dahl The Hodgeheg – Dick King-Smith Flat Stanley – Jeff Brown Willa and Old Miss Annie – Berlie Doherty |
Year Three The Iron Man – Ted Hughes Cat Tales: Ice Cat – Linda Newberry The Sheep-pig – Dick King-Smith The Abominables- Dick King-Smith The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe – CS Lewis The Battle of Bubble and Squeak
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Year Four Bill’s New Frock – Anne Fine Charlotte’s Web – EB White Why the Whales Came – Michael Morpurgo The Firework Maker’s Daughter – Phillip Pullman The Snow Walker’s Son – Catherine Fisher Perry Angel’s Suitcase – Glenda Millard Voices in the Park – Anthony Browne
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Year Five The Wolves of Willoughby Chase – Joan Aiken Varjak Paw – SF Said Wolf Brother – Michelle Paver Street Child – Berlie Doherty The Midnight Fox – Betsy Byars Tom’s Midnight Garden – Phillipa Pearce FArTHER – Grahame Baker-Smith |
Year Six Holes – Louis Sachar Clockwork – Phillip Pullman The Hobbit – JRR Tolkien Skellig – David Almond Fireweed – Jill Paton Walsh
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