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FS2 and KS1 Phonics and Reading Resources

How often should I read with my child?

The reading book will be sent home each night, we ask that you read it at home at least 4 times across the week (this could be part of the book or the whole book). It is important that your child has the opportunity to REREAD the book a few times. Remember that we don't want this to replace all reading, trips to the library, books off of the shelf and favourite rereads are all incredibly important when building reading skills. Children love to hear their loved ones reading to them! Reading with your child is so important to prepare them to succeed as a reader.  

We ask that you bring the book to school each day. Books will be changed on a Monday ready for the week.

Why do we ask you to reread the books with your child?

We want the children to become confident and fluent readers. By reading the book more than once, children have the opportunity to build on different skills with each read. Often with the first read, children are decoding, reading tricky words and taking in the main events of the story. We also want the children to develop other reading skills...

  • develop an understanding of vocabulary in the book.  
  • Link what they read and hear to their own experiences.
  • Become familiar with the story. Being able to sequence, discuss and answer questions.
  • Reading with prosody (reading with rhythm and intonation)
  • Recognise predictable patterns.
  • Make a prediction.
  • Checking that the text makes sense by rereading.
  • Make inferences based on what is being said, done and from the illustration.
  • Clear understanding of the text.
  • Expressing their opinion of what they are reading.

There are lots of skills to build on and by supporting fluent readers, children are more confident to build on these complex skills!

Recommended Reading List for Key Stage One

Reading for Pleasure

Research has shown that reading for pleasure can make a huge difference to children - not only academically (even in subjects like maths) but also socially and emotionally. There are lots of different ways to support children with reading for pleasure. It is important that they see you enjoying reading... there is your excuse to curl up with a cup of tea and enjoy a good book! You are modelling positive reading behaviours. You also do this in the way that you speak about reading, share your positive experiences of reading. Visit the library or bookshops together and enjoy browsing the wealth of books.

We all enjoy different genres of books and so it is important to introduce your children a wide variety of rich and inspiring books (see below for ideas). But don't worry if your child keeps asking for the same book, they are passionate and developing their understanding. Read aloud to your child, they love to hear you creating the characters with your voice and so have fun together. Think about where you love to read - is it in bed, on the sofa, in a den? Create a fun reading space together. It is important to make time for reading, it is something fun to do together with incredible benefits!

The book trust has put together some advice for parents who are struggling to ignite the passion for reading in their child (link below)

Questions to ask when your child is reading

Questions to ask before you start reading:

  • What do you think of the front cover?
  • What do you think it might be about?
  • What does the blurb (bit on the back of the book) say about the book?
  • Do you think this might be happy/exciting/sad book?

Questions to ask to check understanding:

  • What has happened so far?
  • Who have we met so far in the story?
  • What is the main character like?
  • What kind of genre is this book (fantasy/adventure/comedy etc…)
  • What is happening in the pictures (if the book contains pictures)

Questions to ask on their opinion:

  • Do you like the characters?
  • Who is your favourite character? Why?
  • What do you think might happen at the end?
  • How would you like it to end?
  • Would you have done anything differently to the character?
  • Would you be friends with any of the characters?
  • How do you feel when reading this book?
  • Would you read another book by the same author?
  • If you could give the book another title what would it be?
  • Are you enjoying it so far and if so what is your favourite bit?

Questions to ask once you’ve finished reading the book:

  • Did you like this book? Why?
  • Which bit of the story was your favourite and least favourite?
  • Which part of the story was the funniest/saddest/happiest?
  • Would this book make a great film?
  • Would you recommend this book to one of your friends?

Prediction Questions:

  • Where do you think...… will go?
  • What do you think x will say / do next / is thinking?
  • How do you think the story will end?
  • Who do you think has done x?
  • What might x say about that?

Inference Questions:

  • Why do you think...?
  • How do you think...?
  • When do you think...?
  • Where do you think...?

Phonics

At Saint Patrick's Primary School we prioritise the teaching of phonics and early reading. Synthetic Phonics is a way of teaching reading. Children are taught to read letters or groups of letters by saying the sound(s) they represent. Children can then start to read words by blending the sounds together to make a word.

We follow a systematic approach where each grapheme is introduced clearly; a focus is placed on blending to read and segmenting to spell. We use Letters and Sounds and fully decodable reading books. 

What is the Year One Phonics Screening Check?

The phonics screening check was introduced in 2011-12; it is a short, light-touch assessment to confirm whether individual children have learnt phonic decoding to an appropriate standard.  It consists of a list of 40 words, half real words and half non-words, which all Year 1 children read to a teacher. It takes place at the end of Year 1 and is a statutory requirement. If children do not pass the phonics screening check in Year 1, they will retake it in Year 2.