Reading at home

Reading for Parents

Pink colour band books.

-Book language is different to the way we talk. Children who hear lots of stories being read to them will find learning to read easier.

-Use the pictures and story to talk about the book. Why did she say that? What do you think is going to happen next? Have you ever been to a …?

-Your child should be pointing when reading.

-If your child is stuck on a word and is not attempting to solve it, tell him/her what the word is. -Reading the same book a number of times is really beneficial. It gives the child a chance to practice and the book become familiar.

What will a good pink level reader do?

Locate the front cover. Open the front cover. Turn pages. Know to read the left page before the right. Match their finger to the word as they read it.

Red colour band books.

-Try to make reading fun. If your child gets stuck on a word and is not attempting to solve it, tell him/her what the word is.

-Your child may need to point when reading.

-If your child is stuck on a word that can be sounded out encourage them to do so while you run your finger underneath it.

-Talk about the book. It will help your child to be a better reader.

-Reading the same book a number of times is really beneficial. It gives the child a chance to practice and the book become familiar.

What will a good red level reader do?

Ser go    ound out words. Listen to him/herself and notice their own mistakes. Begin to correct their own mistakes. Re-read to have another go.

Yellow colour band books.

-Try to make reading fun. If your child gets stuck on a word and is not attempting to solve it, tell him/her what the word is.

-Your child may need to point when reading or may be able to read without their finger.

-If your child is stuck on a word that can be sounded out encourage them to do so.

-Other good prompts to help them when they are: ”Try that again. What would make sense and start with a …?” or “What would look right and make sense?”

-Reading the same book a number of times is really beneficial. It gives the child a chance to practice and the book become familiar.

What will a good yellow level reader do?

Sound out words in different ways: pl-ay, p-l-ay. Listen to him/herself and notice their own mistakes. Correct their own mistakes. Re-read to have another go. Understand the book and talk about the main ideas.    

Blue band books.

-Try to make reading fun. If your child gets stuck on a tricky or unusual word and is not attempting to solve it, tell him/her what the word is.

-If your child is stuck on a word that can be sounded out encourage them to do so. Can they break it into chunks to help them solve it? E.g. wind-ow, w-ind-ow

-Before or after the book discuss the story. This will help your child’s language skills and make reading easier.

-Reading the same book or section of a book a number of times is really beneficial. It gives the child a chance to practice and become more fluent.

What will a good blue level reader do?

Sound out words in different ways: ham-ster, hamst-er . Listen to him/herself and notice their own mistakes. Correct their own mistakes. Re-read to have another go. Understand the book and talk about the main ideas. Start to read in phrases so it sounds like talking.    

Green colour band books.

-Try to make reading fun. If your child gets stuck on a tricky or unusual word and is not attempting to solve it, tell him/her what the word is.

-Books at this level have longer sentences and may have more characters in. There may also be vocabulary that is not familiar. Encourage your child to ask if there is a word they do not know.

-Reading the same book or section of a book a number of times is really beneficial. It gives the child a chance to practice and become more fluent.

What will a good green level reader do?

Sound out words in chunks as words may be longer e.g. e-norm-ous, e-nor-mous (use your fingers if needed to mask the word and show your child where to look). Understand the book and talk about the main ideas. Read in phrases so it sounds like talking. Take it in turns to read a page each so that your child can hear what phrasing sounds like. 

Orange colour band books.

-Try to make reading fun. If there are hard or unusual words in the book, tell your child the word, and what it means.

-Books will now have longer words with 2/3 syllables in them like… hospital, pancake. Encourage your child to read these words in syllable chunks. Clap the syllables so they can hear the break e.g. hos-pit-al. Use your fingers to show them the syllable chunks.

-Books at this level have longer sentences and may have more characters in. There may also be vocabulary that is not familiar. Encourage your child to ask if there is a word they do not know.

What will a good orange level reader do?

Sound out words in chunks as words may be longer e.g. e-norm-ous, e-nor-mous (use your fingers if needed to mask the word and show your child where to look). Understand the book and talk about the main ideas. Read in phrases so it sounds like talking.  

Turquoise colour band books.

-Try to make reading fun. If there are hard or unusual words in the book, tell your child the word, and what it means.

-Take turns to read pages so that your child can hear what a good reader sounds like.

-Books will now have longer words with 2/3 syllables in them like… hospital, pancake. Encourage your child to read these words in syllable chunks. Clap the syllables so they can hear the break e.g. hos-pit-al. Use your fingers to show them the syllable chunks. “Clap and say” helps us remember words.

What will a good turquoise level reader do?

Sound out words in different ways. Listen to themselves and notice mistakes. Self-correct. Re-read to have another go. Understand the book and talk about the main ideas. Read in phrases with expression.

Purple colour band books.

-Try to make reading fun. If there are hard or unusual words in the book, tell your child the word, and what it means.

-Your child may be able to read in their head. Make sure you also listen to them read aloud to you so that you can check their understanding and accuracy.

-The book may have chapters and a blurb. Point these out and discuss them.

-Try to have conversations about the book with open ended questions e.g. “I enjoyed that story. My favourite part was when…What was your favourite part?”

What will a good purple level reader do?

Sound out words in different ways e.g. in chunks, in syllable, spotting little words inside big ones. Listen to themselves and notice mistakes. Self-correct. Re-read to have another go. Understand the book and talk about the main ideas. Read in phrases with expression.   

Comprehension and inference Upper KS2.

As your child becomes a more competent reader it is really important to ensure that their level of comprehension matches their reading ability. Comprehension can be as simple and straight forward as retrieving information about what they have just read but can be more complex when we think about inference.

In order to develop a positive attitude to reading and what is being read you might support your child by asking and discussing some of the following questions.

Questions to use with a variety of texts-

Who would you say this book is aimed at? Do you think it is successful for this audience?

What made you choose this book?

Would you recommend this book to a friend?

How does the title engage the reader?

Questions to use alongside a story-

When reading a number of books with a similar theme-

How do these books deal with the same theme?

Do the approaches of the author differ?

What can you say about the viewpoint of the author?

Can you name any other books that you have read on this theme?

Questions to use alongside a non-fiction text-

What does this section of text tell you about?

When might someone choose to use this book?

How is the information organised?

Why do you think the order or headings were chosen?

When faced with an unfamiliar technical word, consider how it is used in the sentence. What do you think

it means?

Does the structure of the book help you to understand the subject?

What specific information do you need to retrieve from this text?

Where would you look for information on...?

How could you use the contents/index/glossary to help?

Questions to encourage inference-

Who would you like to meet in the story? Can you give reasons for your choice?

Why did (a character) behave in this way? Knowing what you know now, what do you think they were

hoping to achieve?

Give examples of words chosen by the author to describe (a character)? Are they effective?

What impression does the author want the reader to have of this character? How do you know?

Does the author have a viewpoint on...? How does s/he show this?

Questions to encourage prediction-

What do you think is going to happen to the main character and how will they feel about this?

What makes you think this?

Using the front cover, can you make a list of details about what you see? Who is on the cover?

Where are they? What is in the background? How might these details give us clues about the content

of the book?

Based on what you know about (a character/event), how do you think the author will develop the story?

Can you make a list of details to support your idea, using evidence from the text to say

whether they are stated or implied?