Reading at Home

Your child will bring home different types of books to read at home.  This page explains each of the books that you will see. 

Sound Blending Books

When children are first learning to read words, they will bring home sound blending books.  These books have one word per page.  When reading these, encourage your child to say the individual sounds (taking care to say the pure sound for example: ‘mmm’ and not ‘muh’) and then blend the sounds together to read the word. These books look like this:

Paper Versions of the Books Read in School

Once children have mastered the sound blending books, they will move on to reading phonics books every day in school. These books are carefully selected to match the phonics knowledge that your child has learnt so far.  Over time, these books become progressively more challenging.  Children  read these books three times (over the course of three days).  The first time they read a new book, they are learning to read each word and to develop fluency; the second time, they are developing their expression and the third time they develop their reading comprehension. After they have read the book in school, they bring a paper copy home to read to you.  This is a chance for you to celebrate the progress they have made together.  These books look like this:

Book Bag Books

Children will receive a second story book to read at home. This is a new book that they will not have seen before. Your child should be able to read all of the words in this book.  If they get stuck, you can encourage them to sound the word out (in school we call this ‘Fred Talk’ and they will be very familiar with this).  If they get stuck on a word that is not phonetically decodable, simply tell them what the word is. These books look like this:

Ways That Parents and Carers Can Help with Reading at Home:

• Listen to your child read the paper version of the book they’ve been reading in school and celebrate their successes!
• Support your child to read their new book/books.  If they get stuck on a word in one of these books, encourage them to sound the word out.
• Always keep these books in your child’s book bag so that they can be swapped for new ones, when ready. 

If you have any questions about reading books, please speak to your child’s teacher who will be happy to help you.