Reading for end of reception/beginning of Yr 1

[girlmum6]

My daughter is due to go into Yr 1 in September. She is slightly behind with her reading having jusy finished Reception and I’d like to do my best to help her over the summer holiday to catch up a bit but she didn’t bring any reading books home so I thought I would get her some. I don’t have a clue what to get though. Does anyone have any recommendations for any books or apps or games perhaps. Something she might enjoy. Thanks

Do you know the reading scheme her school use? That will help you find suitable books.

Also think about the words you know she can read and were in her books. Try to get her to read other books with you and get her to read bits you know she can do. Don't force just slip it in here and there if she isn't keen.

Don't worry about it too much, highly likely that they will recap when year 1 starts.

Thanks @Koalaslippers. I believe it’s ELS they use.

Do you have a local library you could visit? My dd loved to pick her own books each week.

Thank you @Michele09. That is a good idea and yes we have one nearby.

It's not usual for schools not to send books home in the holidays. Families who intend to keep up reading are not just going to want 1 or 2 for 6 weeks, so they'd need to send about 6 home per child and that's an awful lot of books to lose if people don't bring them all back (and sadly some families are very slapdash with such things).

You can borrow phonics books from the library. Alternatively, you could buy a set like Julia Donaldson Songbirds from Amazon. It might not follow the exact scheme she does in school, but most schemes are pretty generic. There will be books in the set she can access now, some which may be too easy for her current level but are nice to boost confidence and some which you can put away for next summer.

Teach Your Monster to Read, Reading Eggs and Oxford Owl are all good apps for reading.

Personally though, I'd just enjoy books in general, rather than worry about phonics books. Join the Summer Reading Challenge at the library. Read to her daily and let her identify any of the high frequency words she's been working on in school on each page.

If school sent home any word cards last year and you still have them I'd revisit them regularly to keep them fresh in her mind (or you can easily make your own set on post it notes - words such as I, the, to, no, go, he, she etc). Play games with them, such a bingo, seek the word (a version of hide and seek where you hide the words and she seeks them and has to read them), splat (buy a fly swat at the pound shop and ask her to swat certain words on demand). Keep it fun.

The absolute top tip is that you read to her every single day. Give her a love of stories. She will learn new words from hearing them. Let her reread books so it can be enjoyable and not a task each time. Some suggestions
Russell and the lost treasure
Paddington at the seaside
The book with no pictures
Magic Faraway Tree - Enid Blyton
The Bear and the Piano
Just Like You - Fearnley

My top tip would be to purchase books from the reading scheme she is currently working through - after doing this, my daughter was free reading within a few weeks - we just read a different book each night

Totally agree with this @girlmum6 i really believe at this age it’s all about loving reading, cuddling up, and getting absolute joy and delight from the books you read to her and with her. Love this list and includes many my DD loved - enchanted wood and Far Away tree got my DD into reading.

My eldest child was behind in yr1 I purchased the biff / chip books, the usborne reading books (prob about 4 different sets that went through the levels), plus some space x books. It took about 3-6 months everyday for 20 mins then he just cracked it. He was away then could read and enjoy books. I did like it as they began very basic and you knew you was getting more advanced so I liked it in that sense (rather than picking random books)

Plus my other children read them too so in the end they wasn’t so ££££ but people sell them cheaper on Facebook

Usborne My Very First Reading Library 50 Books Set Collection Pack Early Level 1 and 2

£44 on Amazon but people sell for £10 …..

Libraries have some good “learning to read” books. Let her choose books she’d enjoy.
My Dd found a copy of The Magic Porridge pot at that age and loved it so much. The library had different versions of the story and dd was so excited every time she found one.

I love song bird phonics. It was the thing that got both of my children to a good level at that age and they’re stories they really enjoy (unlike a lot of the reading scheme books). I found the usborne first library series ramped up in difficulty quite a bit. We used them but at different points to supplement.

Don’t worry about reading schemes in the summer holidays. Take her to the library and let her explore different books and let her choose what to read. Also read to her so she can enjoy the pleasure of stories.

read to her, with her and in front of her (a book/magazine/newspaper form not phone/tablet)

read anything you want, she can join in with a sentence, a word or a page depending on what she can do.

go to the library/charity shop/vinted and pick up some early reader books.

my reluctant, behind child did better when we did every other page because it became too much of a slog for him to manage the whole book because he lost momentum.

put the subtitles on the tv

HI, @girlmum6 I also have a son going into Y1 in September. I am a teacher/tutor so have found some tricks along the way to help lol
I found that small bursts of learning helped best. I bought some foam letters (lowercase) and spelt out 4 words on the tiles/bath each time he had a bath. I chose words containing digraphs they were learning that week, or a couple of the tricky words. It helps to consolidate that week's learning and didn't take too much effort.
I would also write some of the words on a small whiteboard and he had to read them for a challenge.
Songbirds books are great as mentioned above because they are all decodeable and you can work through them at the stage she is at. I found a set quite cheaply on Vinted! Hopes this helps.

Schools don’t tend to send any reading home over the summer.

My son is also going into y1 in September. We’ve signed up for the library. I’m a reception teacher and they happened to have appropriate phonic books on one of the stands. I picked up a selection of these, as well as picture and reference books for us to enjoy together. My local library is doing a challenge with rewards and and stickers so the incentive is there too.

If you don’t mind me asking, what sort of thing was DD reading before the summer? I might be able to advise what to get

My advice is to make it into something they want to do.

So:
Have a sticker system. If she reads a book, she gets a sticker. Five stickers = ice cream.
Praise her for any reading.
Help when shopping by giving her simple lists
Treasure hunts were my dc's favourite (do a trail of about 6-10 clues where each leads to another. At a basic level you can do one word, or rhyming couplets or even riddles) with a little treat at the end.
Another one we had was labelling things. Give her a pile of words and she has to put them on the right place. Make it a game. Each take five words and see who can do it the quickest.
Make up your own book using word (and photos) to tell a story about her/her toys.
Snap games with pictures and words.
Write out a set of words on little stickers. She then gets 2-3 pieces of paper to sort the words (so one is things you wear, another might be things to eat, then another could be animals) and she can stick them on the right piece of paper.
Recipes. Cook with her and encourage her to sound out the simple words.
Some computer games/phone aps can help with spelling.
Write a letter to her and post it. She can reply if she wants to write (even typing on the computer and printing helps). You can get others like Grandparents in on it.
Read to her in a time which nothing can interrupt. Do some books she can help read (one page each I found a good method) but also some which just you read that she can listen to.
Try audio books when on car journeys too.
See if she'll read to her dolls/toys.
Let her read to herself, while you read to yourself next to her. Make a comfy corner or on a blanket outside.

But mostly just make it fun. if she's tired and doesn't want to, then don't push it. But act excited when she does do it, make her feel special for reading.