Read, read and read some more
The importance of ‘just reading’.
How much and how often children read really matters. During this challenging time of school closures, ‘just reading’ is one of the best ways to keep children learning and growing.
Once children have mastered decoding through their phonics work, reading as much and as widely as possible will ensure that they continue to develop, not just academically, but emotionally too. And the best way to improve reading is the most enjoyable – reading! As the reading scientist Mark Seidenberg puts it, “The serious way to improve reading – how well we comprehend a text and, yes, speed and efficiency – is this: Read. As much as possible. Mostly new stuff.”
Encourage children to read themselves and parents to read to children using our range of weblinks to free books online. In addition, encourage parents to follow one of the weblinks to free audio books or authors reading live given in our ‘Home Learning’ tab. Encourage children to read stories, non-fiction and poetry – we have given links to all. Encourage parents to listen to their child reading aloud, even if they are in Key Stage 2. Enjoy talking about the books they read and discuss unfamiliar words. Reading aloud will help children to build their fluency, so that when they read silently the ‘voice in their head’ is fluent too. A guide for parents to support reading fluency is given below.
Be aware of copyright laws. Please find attached a list of appropriate rich texts, including poems and films that you can use for home learning.
