Your child has been allocated a reading book as they are able to recall many of the individual letter sounds that are used to form words.

The next step for reading is to blend the known sounds together, a skill we are practising every day at school.

Please read the words that are shown either on the back page or inside the front cover of the book so that your child is more familiar with the words when they see them in the text.

Support your child with blending the letters together to help them read the word (I always find it useful to cover the other letters in the word so the child only focuses on the sound they are working on). Ask them to go back to the beginning of the word and say the sounds more quickly until they are able to blend the sounds together and identify the word. You will have to model this with your child to begin with but they will soon get the hang of it.

Re-read the whole sentence to your child once they have read each word and check they understand the meaning.

Please record in the reading record when you have read with your child. We will change the book once the child has read the book twice, ideally with you at home and with an adult in school. There may be occasions when your child is asked to read the book again if they are struggling with the text.

When you are out and about, ask your child to read signs, road names, labels or anything else they see.  This is a great way to model reading and show your child how important being able to read is.

Remember, take every opportunity you can to continue to share books with your child, nothing beats listening to a great story. A love of books is the foundation of high-quality reading and is the gateway to the whole curriculum.