Reading in Early Years

At Beechwood we encourage a love of reading by developing spaces where children can relax and enjoy spending time reading and completing reading-related activities. Our curriculum is rich with quality texts to support children's learning and capture their imagination. 

During a usual school week, your child will have plenty of opportunities to practice reading and applying their phonics skills. Your child will engage in one-to-one reading tutoring with an adult who will support them with their phonics skills, reading harder-to-read words and their comprehension skills. They will engage in a guided read with a small group of children where they can share their learning with others of a similar ability. They will engage in shared reading daily led by an adult who will promote reading skills and strategies to support your child in becoming a confident and fluent reader. At the end of the day, all classes across the school put their pens down to nuzzle into a good book and relax.

In Reception, we also host a Reading Cafe at 3pm on Wednesdays where you can come and join your child for storytime with the class. This is a great opportunity for us to celebrate our learning with you.

It is important that you read with your child each day and a minimum of four times a week and evidence it by signing their reading diary. 

During early reading it is important to not only practice reading with your child, but to build on their reading comprehension. Therefore, it is important that after reading, you discuss the story and talk about the pictures. You can use questions such as: 

What happened in the story?

Who were the main characters?

How do you think they felt?

Oxford Owl has lots of books and reading tips on their website! Click on the owl to follow the link and explore!

Children have been created an account. Their login details are in their reading diary.

There are lots of books through Book Trust too!