Early Reading at home

Early reading:

“The more you read, the more things you will know. The more you learn the more places you’ll go!” Dr. Suess

At Balliol Primary School, appropriate reading at home is strongly promoted. For children on the Read Write Inc Phonics programme, home reading books are linked to pupils’ phonic knowledge and understanding.  Also, children take home a reading for pleasure book that their parent/carer can read to them, which models rich vocabulary.

Before you begin reading with your child, practise saying the sounds.

Click here to find out how to say the sounds

Pupils are taught a new sound by using a picture mnemonic or a phrase to help them remember the sound. They continue to practise these sounds at speed and read these in words before applying these skills to reading a book. Please do not use letter names at this early stage. 

More support for parents:

• Reading the bouncy sounds with your child
• Reading the digraphs with your child
• Reading the stretchy sounds with your child
• Sound blending
• Spelling
• Handwriting

Parent/carers workshops:

Parents are supported through Reading workshops, class drop-ins and parent meetings, so that parents/carers understand how best to support their children in learning sounds.

We hold regular book swaps or book stalls at our school fairs to ensure that children are exposed to high quality books at home and develop a love of reading. We use incentive schemes, such as our Reading Reward prizes and Accelerated reader 80% or above in quizzes or words read challenge, to encourage practise at home.