Reading - A Guide for Parents and Carers
At Mudeford Junior School, we know that reading is the foundation to the children’s overall learning. Without adequate reading skills, a child faces barriers throughout the curriculum. Because of this, we adopt a range of strategies to ensure that our children become confident readers who understand what they read, and most importantly enjoy it! At Mudeford Junior School, the foundation for learning to read for pleasure and understanding comes from:
- The teaching of active reading strategies, comprehension skills and the development of new vocabulary knowledge during timetabled reading lessons and in English lessons;
- Pupils select a 'reading for pleasure' book from the library or classroom and have opportunity to read these at home and at school.
- Children are also given the opportunity to read in other curriculum areas;
- Reading with volunteer and parent helpers who share the reading experience for short periods of time during the school day;
- Continuous assessment and monitoring to ensure all children are reading at a level appropriate to their age;
- Specific catch up and booster schemes for those children who are recognised as not meeting expected standards in reading for their age;
- Access to a wide range of genres in both fiction and non-fiction.
- Displays in classrooms celebrating and recommending reading.
- Each class has Reading Ambassadors who champion reading with their peers and help organise competitions and make recommendations about books.
How You Can Support Your Child’s Reading Development
Your support in developing your child’s reading ability is essential. In fact, research shows that reading to and with your child is the single most important thing you can do to help your child's education. It's best to read little and often, so try to put aside some time for it every day.
Think of ways to make reading fun - you want your child to learn how pleasurable books can be. If you're both enjoying talking about the content of a particular page, linger over it for as long as you like. Books aren't just about reading the words on the page, they can also present new ideas and topics for you and your child to discuss. In fact, once children have learned to read the next stage is reading to learn!
Using phonics (sound knowledge) to work out unknown words by segmenting them and blending the sounds back together is a skill all readers can use - fluent or other wise. There are some very useful videos on the Oxford Owl website to help parents with using the pure sounds to help children read. See the link at the bottom of the page.
Using phonics (sound knowledge) to work out unknown words by segmenting them and blending the sounds back together is a skill all readers can use - fluent or other wise. There are some very useful videos on the Oxford Owl website to help parents with using the pure sounds to help children read. See the link at the bottom of the page.
Tips for helping your child to enjoy books:
- Visit the library as often as possible - take out CDs and DVDs as well as books.
- Schedule a regular time for reading - perhaps when you get home from school or just before bed.
- Buy dual-language books if English isn’t your family’s first language - you can talk about books and stories, and develop a love for them, in any language.
- Look for books on topics that you know your child is interested in - maybe dragons, insects, cookery or a certain sport.
- Make sure that children’s books are easily accessible in different rooms around your house.
- Consider books that open your child's mind to other cultures and ideas that are not part of their everyday life.
- Look at the links at the bottom of this page for more great ideas.
Every child at Mudeford Junior School is given a Reading Journal when they join our school. This is to act a record of everything the child has read as well as a space for the children to respond to what they have read. Your child’s teacher will monitor their Reading Journal to ensure that they are reading regularly. When you listen to your child read, please make a short comment on how well they got on as this information will be used by their teacher. As children get older, although we expect them to become more independent readers, we still like parents to ‘keep an eye’ on their Reading Journals because this is an important log of the range of texts they are accessing.
In the front of the Reading Journal is a guide to how you can help your child read.
Below are some links that will take you to information and websites with further guidance.