Reading at home

Your child will experience the most success in reading when they read at school and at home. At St Nicolas' we expect children to read at home at least 5 times a week and record this in their planner. Children's long-term success can be linked back to the amount of vocabulary a toddler knows at the age of 2. Children's vocabulary acquired through quality discussion and interaction with adults and sharing of books.

Books sent home

Whilst on the Read, Write Inc (RWI) phonics scheme, your child will be sent home a fully decodable RWI book. This book is matched to your child's phonetic level and they will have this book for 4-8 days. Evidence from research and our experience with RWI  storybooks show that children who read their books several times make better progress in reading. It is expected that they re-read the book at least 3 times to build up fluency, confidence and expression. Children should be able to read this book mostly independently. Please ask remind them to ‘Fred talk’ a word if they get stuck.

Any other books sent home (for example levelled books and library books) are sharing books that will need adult support to help them read the words. As children progress further up the school, they will need less support on word reading, but it is important that they still read aloud to build up fluency and expression. In addition, discussion about the books they are reading will still need to continue.

Please ensure books are kept in their book bags as we also listen to your child reading regularly in school.

Books sent home at St Nics'