Curriculum News - Reading

​After months away for some children, we have seen a school full of busy readers. Incredibly, it has been as if the children were never away; excited teachers saw lots of enthusiastic readers, who were keen to share their lockdown reads with their classes.
During your child’s school day, they will receive a dedicated reading lesson (of at least half an hour), as well as several opportunities throughout the day to use their reading skills in many subjects across the curriculum. 
With the children welcomed back to school, we want them to stay motivated to read; we also want them to be encouraged and supported to read at home.
Here are a few things you can do to help them:

• Ask your child to choose what they’d like to read; they will feel more interested in the story if they have picked it out themselves. Don’t worry if they keep returning to the same story; this gives you the opportunity to discuss why they have chosen the book again.
• Sit close together. If you have younger children, you could encourage your child to hold the book themselves and turn the pages as you read aloud.
• Take a look at the pictures together; your children can infer a lot from illustrations and may even make predictions about what might happen in the story – a book cover can tell us a lot about the content inside!
• Use picture books. Picture books can be a great way to talk through your child’s fears and worries, or to help them deal with their emotions. Remember to give them space to talk, and ask how they feel about the situations in the story.
• Keep reading together – this is so important. Even if you have older children, it doesn’t mean you have to stop sharing stories – perhaps you could try a series of book.

Always ask questions and discuss the story. If you’re not confident about asking questions, log on to Bug Club, where you will find lots of questions about the story by just clicking on the bug icon. Let your child’s class teacher know if you’re unable to access this at home