Reading books and diaries.

Reading books and diaries need to be brought to school every day. This is due to interchangeable guided reading groups. 

Yellow words can stay at home and be used as flash cards for practise. 

We are going over 5 words a week and constantly recapping on the previous words covered. 

On a Thursday or Friday I will change the reading books and assess your child's sound and sight vocabulary (yellow words) knowledge to see if they are ready for a book with words. 

Many parents have written that their child was bored with the book after a few visits. If this is the case then please use the time to learn the alphabet sounds and yellow words by playing games and to learn to read them instantly by sight too. This is part of their reading homework also. 

I have a great deal of experience in teaching children how to read and if they struggle in the initial stages because their phoneme, grapheme and sight vocabulary skills are poor then they will be put off reading. Reading your first book should be easy, enjoyable and a positive experience. Not a building up and sounding out struggle which causes anxiety for both your child and you. 

Only when they are able to read some of the sight vocabulary without attempting building and know their basic alphabet sounds (not names) will I give them a book with words. These are very important development stages for reading. 

Learning to handle a book like a reader, use illustrations and discuss characters and plot are vital steps before being able to read words. 

Wooden peg puzzles like these are a great precursor for developing skills to learning high frequency words (sight vocabulary- words that cannot be sounded out or built up). 

These train the brain to learn and memorise through shape. Part of the skills/development for learning high frequency words are recognising and memorising the shapes of the words. Trying to sound them out gives no clue. Just think of the word 'come' or 'here' if you sound them out they sound nothing like the actual words. Learning to read them by memorising that 'come' begins with a 'c' and all the letters are the same size helps. 

Please be patient, I understand your eagerness and enthusiasm to get them onto books with words. I can promise you that it will come soon enough and you'll be amazed by their progress when it happens. 

It's our goal and duty to develop your child into a confident, fluent reader. It's a fundamental part of what we do every day in school. 

If you wish to discuss this further we will have opportunity to do so during parents evening at the end of October. 

Thank you for your support. 

Mrs James.