P365 – Day 216 – home readers

This term Juniordwarf has started bringing home ‘home readers’ from school.

The explanatory note from his teacher said that the books have ‘simple and often repetitive texts’ and that the aim is ‘to encourage children to develop a positive attitide to reading, develop confidence in their own ability and develop a belief that they can read’.

Juniordwarf has loved books ever since he was a baby, and we’ve spent a lot of time reading to him. As his interest in and understanding of the letters of the alphabet has increased, he’s learned to point out letters in the books we read, and even before he developed any reading skills, he was able to recognise words that he saw regularly. Words like the days of the week, ‘open’, ‘closed’, ‘Dad’, ‘Mum’, his own name, and other simple words.

Now he’s started Kinder it’s time to take that a step further, which is both exciting and terrifying. The challenge is going to be to encourage him to look at the words and work out what they are, instead of reciting the story from memory, while still keeping it fun for him. The last thing we want to do is force him, and for him to stop enjoying books.