Home Reading

We believe that it is very important for children in the Foundation Stage to develop a love of books and enthusiasm for promoting their reading skills to enable them to gain knowledge and enjoyment from reading. As a parent you are their first teacher and can play a vital role in the partnership between home and nursery by supporting your child’s learning.

The children in the Foundation Stage class are exposed to a ‘print-rich’ environment of signs, labels, books, key words, displays and role play areas that give opportunities for 'reading', all of which the children are encouraged to notice. There is a book area of picture books, or ‘real’ books which the children can enjoy sharing and listening to during story time. In this way children’s enjoyment and a sense of purpose for reading is fostered.
‘Parents and carers….involvement in developing reading through providing a wide range of experiences and a language-rich environment is vital’ National Literacy Association 2010.

We hope that you will be able to help your child with their reading at home through a number of activities. It is important that your child enjoys reading with you and that it is not a chore. There are many activities that you can do together to help them. Try and use a variety throughout the week. The skills that they are developing are as follows:

Reading Skills to Develop (taken from the Early Years Foundation Stage practise guidance arranged in developmental order from 30 months to the Early Learning Goals)

 Listen to and join in with stories and poems
 Begin to be aware of the way stories are structured
 Suggest how the story might end
 Show interest in illustrations and print in books and print in the environment
 Handle books carefully
 Know information can be relayed in the form of print
 Hold books the correct way up and turn pages
 Understand the concept of a word
 Explore and experiment with sounds, words and texts
 Retell narratives in the correct sequence, drawing on language patterns of stories
 Know that print carries meaning and, in English, is read from left to right and top to bottom
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