Learn to Read, Love to Read and Library Read

‘Learn to Read’ 

Following an update from the DfE around phonics teaching we have moved to Essential Letters and Sounds, this is a phonics programme based on Letters and Sounds (2007). This new phonics programme will support your children in making quick progress to become fluent and confident readers.

To best support us in teaching your child how to read, we ask that they read the decodable text provided by the school 4 times across the week. Spending 10 minutes a day reading with your child will hugely support them in their journey to becoming an independent reader.

The school staff will select the books and we will be changing children’s books once a week, this allows your child to re-read each text several times building their confidence and fluency. This is especially important as they begin to learn that the sounds within our language can be spelt in different ways.

We are labelling these books as ‘learn to read’ (see image of stickers – note the colour of the sticker has no relevance.) It is a key part of learning to read that children re-read words and sentences that they can decode (sound out) until they are fluent (read with ease and precision). By reading texts several times children have the greatest opportunity to achieve this fluency.

The texts sent home are carefully matched to the phonics teaching taking place in school. Your child will be practising what they have been taught in school with you at home and they are a priority for home reading. We will only ask children to read books independently when they can decode these by themselves.

‘Love to Read’

These are books that are not yet fully decodable for the children but they will be able to choose their own book from a limited selection that ensures that they contain many familiar words, repeating patterns, and many decodable words. These books are additional books for you to read with your child, helping them to instil a love of reading from the very beginning of their reading journey. These could be read together with your child. They can read the words that they are able to and use their knowledge of language (e.g. repeating patterns) and comprehension skills to further develop their reading fluency.

‘Library Read’ 

These books will be chosen by your child from their classroom library or the main library. They will not be matched in any way to your child’s reading ability. They will be encouraged to develop their skills in selecting a book that interests them, to understand how a library works and how books can be used for relaxing (e.g. for their bedtime story) or can be used to excite or to find out information. These are the books that will usually be read by an adult to the child so that there is a chance for them to hear an adult at home reading and they can ask questions/talk about their book. The children can also be encouraged to explore these books by themselves but they will not be expected to be able to read them independently.