As we are now well into the new school year and families are establishing their daily routines, nightly reading is an important part of reinforcing the skills they are learning at school. Home reading should be happening in all grades from Kinder to Year Six. Children in the younger grades should be bringing home levelled readers and those in the upper grades who are confident readers will be expected to be reading novels for about 20 minutes each evening.

The purpose of reading at home is to build fluency, comprehension and most importantly a love for reading in a supportive environment. Home readers are only a small part of the reading at home expectation as these often only take a few minutes. It is also recommended that those students who are not yet confident readers spend more some more time being read to by any adult. Even students who are fluent readers benefit from reading aloud to an adult and being read to regularly.

When reading at home students should be bringing home a reader that is 2-3 levels below their instructional level. For example, if your child is reading at a level 9 they should be bringing home books that are around a level 6 or 7. This is because reading at home should be a positive experience and is to reinforce the learning that has happened at school.

Last year we purchased a large amount of new home readers, so there should be plenty of new and interesting books for students to be bringing home. It is really important that all students have a reading folder to protect the readers being transported to and from home. This helps to preserve the life of the books.

I’m sure many of you have seen statistics like these shown on the chart about the profound impact that reading at home can have. If there is one thing you can do to support your child to thrive at school it is by reading regularly at home.

Happy Reading

Jo Thomson

Literacy Coordinator