Phonics books from the library

[Sunsflowetsinthegarden]

Does anyone recommend any phonics books that I might be able to borrow from the library (not e books)?
My son has just started in reception so only initial sounds at the moment and I have some of the Julia Donaldson Songbirds books but was wondering if libraries usually carried any early phonics scheme reading books? I tried searching ‘phonics’ online on our local library catalogue website but nothing came up!

I would stick with the school books for phonics, they will be chosen to reflect where he is up to.

Use the library for reading for pleasure, books you can read together and foster a love of reading with.

Thank you. We do that anyway but he was so chuffed when he could read his first book by himself that I got that I was wondering if there were any others like it as he hasn’t had any from school yet.

Stick to ones from school. There are lots of different schemes and the phonics books at the library will not fit the colours/banding that your school uses. Just choose books you love and can share from the library and remember that reading to your child is just as important for developing wider literacy skills.

Have you considered the alpha blocks books? They are really good and familiar because they are on TV or biff, chip and kipper.

I disagree with @Sirzy. I argued with the class teacher all last year requesting harder books for DC. She was bored out of her mind. On starting the new year her new form tutor has put her up 3 levels. They still don't challenge her at all.

https://www.books2door.com/products/usborne-my-first-reading-library-50-book-collection-ages-5-7-paperback?srsltid=AfmBOop-pHY2obS1un1GflXQl78v5_ZbvzszPHup7Uu9OTzSD5qmZ98p

These are good, my DC enjoy the stories and even the purple ones are pretty simple to read.

What phonics scheme does your child's school follow?

They use Little Wandle. I know the sounds that he is learning each week so didn’t really see any harm in getting some books that support the sounds he has learnt (I wasn’t going to go ahead - just read book that have the sounds he has already learnt so he can have a go at reading for himself!)

Doesn’t school send books home for the level they’re at? My DC has also just started reception and she gets two books a week sent home and gets to pick new ones each week. They read their books with the teacher/TA’s twice a week too.

When at school my GS started on read, write, Inc and when he stopped going and changed to home ed we kept going with the read write inc. but after I think it was green level I was feeling they were a bit tedious and we changed to the Julia Donaldson Songbirds which I'm guessing are what you have?
He really got stuck in with them. They felt more like a proper story. He's on level 7 Oxford now and enjoying the biff chip and kipper stories.

We have looked in the library and really couldn't find his level consistently so we just buy a selection for each level instead. Amazon and WOB are pretty good.

But it was the Julia Donaldson Songbirds which really got him going and loving it. He can read anything now he doesn't stop reading.

I also spoke to someone from Oxford Reading Tree and the different schemes and levels can be intertwined.

We haven’t had any books sent home yet and had a message to say they will get a reading for pleasure book sent home once a week so I’m not sure when a scheme one will be coming…

I've felt the same with little wandle, it's painfully slow. I couldn't find any books in our local libraries remotely similar.

I work in a library, we have a range of phonics books at different stages. Definitely a good idea to have a look. Also library is a great place to install a love of reading . Ours as well as having lots of books also runs lego sessions, craft, story time and singing sessions. There a reading challenge where they get certificates for every six books

Oxford tree, ask your local librarian too.

If he has just started reception I would look at RWI books. I have some I was thinking of selling on vinted but I didn’t bother because they’re so cheap, I assume due to people who bought them durring lockdown are getting rid if theirs now.

Look at the oxford tree ones and work up. Dd could read before reception but they are trying to understand where her comprehension is so they have started slowly. We do her school reading and also do level 10,11,12 books on other days because she’s a good technical reader (obviously we discuss the stories). It’s fine, it’s all reading practice.

We used to go to the early reader section of the library and the DC would pick anything that appealed to them. They read what they could, I helped with anything harder and we talked about story and pictures.

I believe being in control is what helped a love for reading with my children. We’ve visited the library weekly since they were babies and they still look forward to being able to choose their own books outside of what school dictate they are able to read. I can feel their frustration when school say they should only pick from a certain range

Both have a reading age 2+ years above their actual age and I genuinely believe this contributed.

If you know which scheme the school is using then go to your local library and check what they hold. Ours holds a couple of schemed but not the one our school uses. If he's just started he will be at the bottom of that scheme.

When they are older you can switch between schemes (we do this at the moment) as you can work out where he is. Our library has a handy reference card next to the books which tells you how the scheme levels relate to other scheme levels etc.

Focus on finding stories and books that interest him, and then pick out the words you know he can sound out. When I read to my daughter, every so often when I come to a CVC word, I stop and ask her what it says. That way, she gets the thrill of being able to read a word herself through a story that she's interested in and wants to learn to read herself. The best way to get a child to learn to read is to get them to want to learn to read, which you do by making books exciting.