Reading

As mentioned on the Year 2 home page, it is expected that the children will all read at least 4 times per week.  It is proven that exposing young children to books and reading on a regular basis increases their listening skills and cognitive and language develpoment, as well as contributing to their social and emotional development.

We strongly believe that reading should not be seen as a chore and something that is done for enjoyment.  We recommend at least 5-10 mins per day, reading with your child.  This can be them reading to you or sharing a bedtime story together.

In Year 2, reading becomes more about the comprehension of texts in additon and less about the mechanics of being able to read.  Many children can read a wide range of words and texts but have little understanding of what they have read.  During reading sessions in the classroom, we focus on the comprehension side of reading and encourage the children form opinions about what they have read and explore the texts for hidden meanings.  This is known as inference.  It then enables the children to be able to answer questions about what they have read.  We would encourage you to spend sometime discussing books with your child and asking them questions about what they have read rather than solely focussing on the decoding of texts.

Follow the link below for some tips and questions to use when reading with your child.

Any problems, please don't hesitate to come and see us.

Common Exception Words

In addtion to the school reading books, the children are also required to read a number of words on sight by the end of Year 2.  These are called Common Exception Words and are everday words that we use, some that cannot be sounded out.  A list of these words can be found below.  We periodically assess the children in the classroom to check their sight knowledge of these words.  Please feel free to also practise them at home!  Once the children can read these words correctly, then they are able to begin spelling them correctly within their writing.