Reception Home Readers

Dear Reception Families,

It is an exciting time for your child as a reader; we are going to be sending home books for them to read with you and their family. Please take the time to sit together to enjoy the book. The first stage will be to look at the front page and discuss what the book might be about. After that, walk through the book together, looking at each page and encourage your child to infer what is happening from the pictures and maybe spot some words they already know. Then allow your child to read the book to you.

To support your child with their reading, they will have a ‘Reading Strategies’ prompt sheet in their reading diary. These strategies are to be used when your child reads at home to prompt them to use a range of strategies which will develop confidence and fluency when reading aloud. These strategies will be taught in school. Please make a note in the diary when you have read with your child. 

The strategies are shown below:

At DBIS we use a reading system called Book Banding; your child will be given a book with a coloured label. 

The colour band your child brings home will have been carefully considered to ensure the book your child reads with you is read at a high confidence level. This is so they can ‘show off’ their reading and consolidate reading strategies they have been taught. 

After the children have self-selected their books, they can return them on their ‘reading days’. These will be communicated to you by your child’s class teacher. They will be responsible for checking these books out of their class library. As the children select books, they may wish to re-read a book or have the book for longer than usual. This is fine, and they can discuss this with their class teacher. If you have any concerns about their chosen book, please speak with your child’s class teacher. We really want to encourage independence and ownership over their readers. This reading journey is about developing your child as a reader. 

If you have any queries, please do not hesitate to contact your child’s class teacher or Ms Coote. 

Kind Regards,

The Reception Team