Reading

When supporting your child’s reading encourage them to use their sound knowledge to read the words. If they can’t blend the sounds the first time, encourage them to have another go. If not, read it to them.

 

The first time reading the book they may only be focusing on decoding each word (sounding it out.) When children are at the beginning of their reading journey this can take a lot of energy. They are having to recognise the sound and remember what sound it makes. They may have to do this for several words in a sentence. The next time round they may begin to blend the words quicker and even remember the word from last time.

 

It may only be on the third of fourth time of reading that your child, still doing the above steps, is then able to go back and read the full sentence with pace, fluency and understanding.

 

*If your child does know the word encourage them to say it, they do not need to sound it out if they can read it.*

 

Tricky words (a list can be found in the resources section on the class page) children need to be able to recognise and recall these words as they cannot be sounded out. It will take a few times seeing these words before your child is able to read them with confidence.

We often listen to the songs below to help us learn them:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvMyssfAUx0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R087lYrRpgY

 

Research suggests a child needs to see/encounter a word between 15-20 times before it goes in to their long-term memory and they are able to read it confidently.