Learning and Teaching

Home Reading

As we are midway through Term 2, it is timely to revisit our Home Reading program and how it is structured. Reading is one of the most important skills children learn at school. They are taught a range of strategies to assist them to become ‘good readers’.

At Corpus Christi School, home reading is an essential part of our reading program. It provides children with the opportunity to practise the skills and strategies they are being taught at school, sharing their learning with their families and developing a love of reading and sharing books.

Choosing books

The term, ‘just right’ book is one which you may have heard used by your child. All children have a collection of ‘just right books’ that they read at school during independent reading time. They may even bring them home to read. A ‘just right’ book is determined by the child’s ability to automatically recognise words within the text, decode unfamiliar words and to comprehend or understand what has been read. These elements all need to be balanced in order for a text to be determined ‘just right’.

It is important that your child choose books from the level or set that has been given to them by their class teacher. Teachers read with the students from their class or community each week and make decisions based on the skills demonstrated during the reading. By choosing from the level or set given by the teacher, your child is reading at their just right level and is able to confidently practice the skills they have been learning and enjoy what they are reading. 

Recording

In Years Prep to Year 2, children are given a home reading diary. All children are expected to read every night at home and record the text read in the reading diary. We suggest that you read for 10-15 minutes per night.

In Years 3 - 6, reading is part of their homework. It is expected that students are reading for an average of 15 to 20 minutes per day. 

Pause, Prompt, Praise

While reading with your child, you can follow the Pause, Prompt, Praise structure to help them practice their reading strategies. 

Deborah Courtney

Director of Learning and Teaching