Learning and Teaching
Home Reading in Prep, Year 1 and Year 2
Reading at home with your child can be a wonderful experience for all concerned and is a great opportunity to support your child’s learning and to help them develop a love of reading.
In the next week or so, students in Prep, Year 1 and Year 2 will begin bringing home reading material for Home Reading in their Communication Bag. As you would be aware, we are moving to a structured literacy block and implementing the Little Learners Love Literacy program as part of our teaching and learning at St Louis. This brings with it some adjustments to Home Reading.
Students will bring home a variety of different reading material, including Library books, texts from our levelled readers and decodable books. They will also have access to some decodable books online (more information to follow).
What is a decodable book?
A decodable book is a type of book that is specifically designed to help children practice reading by using simple, known words and patterns. The words in these books are made up of sounds and letter combinations that children have already learned, making it easier for them to sound out and read independently. They help children build confidence in their reading skills.
Whilst we will be incorporating decodable books, we also want to remind families that reading and exploring other reading materials is also of great value. Whether it be levelled readers, picture books, an article in the newspaper, a recipe in a cookbook - anything that gives your child the opportunity to engage with a text is worthwhile. Please be aware though, that reading of other types of material will be for you and your child to read together, rather than your child reading independently (unless they are confident to do so).
What can you do?
With a decodable text, encourage your child to point to where they are reading, to identify the letters/sounds and to blend them together to make words. Once they have figured out each word they can have a go at reading the sentence smoothly. You can also chat about the story or ideas in the book.
With other texts, read to your child but give them opportunities to participate. For example, you might read a sentence and they have a go at reading it after you, or take turns reading and support them with the more difficult words. Ask your child to find letters or words they know, to track where you’re reading with their finger under the words, talk about the story, discuss vocabulary that your child might be unfamiliar with and make connections to other books or experiences your child has had.
Reading Journal
It is great that so many students have brought along their new Reading Journal for 2025. These will also be sent home and we kindly ask that you fill in the journal each day to help us monitor and support your child’s home reading. We know that life can get busy and filling in the journal is an extra task so we thank you in anticipation of your support.
If you have any questions, please contact your child’s teacher or myself (Angela Healy - English Leader, ahealy@stouisaspendale.com)