Reading advice - just finished reception

[Ifyoubuildit]

My DD has just finished reception. She loves reading and is doing well at school with it. In the holidays she started to take herself off to her room to read. She'll sometimes do it for hours at a time. I can hear her and she's reading about 50% of the words and making up the rest based on the first letter of the word. She's not trying to sound anything out.

Should I stop this so that she doesn't learn the wrong words or just let her get on with it?

Ideally yes, as she should be learning to decode new words rather than guessing them. I would go back to listening to her read rather than letting her go off to do it, at least until she has got more of a grasp on decoding.

Don't worry just ensure that when she reads with you that you reinforce the idea that we read what's there not guess and encourage/support her in blending through the word to read.

In her story books there will be lots of words that are beyond her current level of phonic knowledge and skills so don't expect her to read them independently and provide books at her level to read to you.

Hi -

I was a primary TA for twenty years, and obviously anything one can do to encourage and support reading is good for the child.

There is a good book that children can use on their own, or with adult support, and will take a child right through primary school and to the start of secondary:

An inexpensive and easy to use book, that can encourage children with reading, spelling and writing, and really help them to understand Phonics, is reviewed in the MN Book Reviews section. Just search ‘Phonics’ and my name.