Reading books
25 Sep 2024
Dear Parents / Carers
We are making a couple of changes to the way in which we use reading books in school.
As has always been the case, all children will bring home their school reading book - this will be a phonically decodable book if they are in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 or a book on Accelerated Reader (AR) if they are in Key Stage 2. It is during Year 2 that the children will transfer from phonically decoadble books to AR books. These books are for the children to practise their reading with you, and show you what they can do.
Over the course of the next week or so, we are also going to add a free reading book in for all children in School. This book will be a book that your child has chosen because it's something they want to read. It could be a joke book, a non-fiction book, a comic, a magazine, anything really that they want to read. This book is a book for sharing, and could in fact be read by the adult to the child instead of vice versa.
We know that we are very lucky to have a system like Accelerated Reader (AR) now in place in our school. It is integral to ensuring that our children continue to read books at the completely correct level for them once they can decode, and so develop their fluency, automaticity and comprehension skills as they get older. However, we also know that the children can be restricted in their choice of reading books due to their ZPD range, which is why we are introducing a free reading book too, so that the children can choose anything they like.
When reading in class, the children will still be required to read their phonically decodable or AR book and equally so, when they're heard to read 1 to 1 or in small groups. However, when they're at home, they can choose which book they read and this will be the same when we have shared reading sessions in school or in extra reading sessions.
We are working on developing our stock of reading materials in school, and thanks to FONSS we have already been able to purchase some new books, so that we have a variety of options for the children to choose from. We would like to offer magazines and comics along with books, so watch this space! The children will also be able to choose an AR book that isn't in their ZPD range as their free reading book.
The free reading book really is about loving reading; we just want the children to enjoy what they read/ listen to, and so it would be absolutely fine for an adult or older sibling to read to them if they would prefer that. Your children will start to bring this extra book home either at the end of this week or the beginning of next.
If you have any questions about this, then please see your child's Class Teacher or Mrs Barker (deputy@gfnsschools.co.uk).
Thank you for your ongoing support.
