A book to practise. A book to get lost in.

A child can be learning to read a short sentence and still be fascinated by a long story about oceans, dragons, or the moon. Those interests do not need to wait until independent reading catches up.

It helps to think about the job a book is doing today. Is your child practising reading the words? Or are you reading aloud so you can enjoy the language and ideas together?

A book for practising the code

A decodable text is designed around particular spelling patterns. It is useful when those patterns match what the child has been taught.

Before asking your child to read, check the text yourself. Are most of the spellings familiar? Are there a few words that need a quick explanation? A book labelled “easy” may still include patterns your beginner has not learned yet.

Ask the teacher for texts that fit the current teaching sequence. A good match gives your child a chance to apply knowledge rather than rely on remembering a repeated sentence.

A book for a bigger world

For read-aloud time, you can choose a book for its subject, humour, pictures, or language. You do the reading and your child can enjoy the ideas.

A picture book with complex vocabulary may be excellent for this shared time even when it would be frustrating as independent practice.

You can pause for a comment, explain a word, or wonder about a character. You can also keep turning the pages when everyone is caught up in the story.

Try a two-book basket

Here is an original family routine. Keep two choices in a basket:

• A practice choice: a short text recommended by the teacher or matched to familiar phonics.
• A shared choice: a book your child is excited to hear.

Offer a little supported practice, then settle into the shared book. On a tired day, the shared story alone might be the right invitation.

The basket is not a reward system. Your child does not have to earn an interesting story by completing a reading task.

Help at the point of difficulty

If your child gets stuck during practice, attend to the letters and sounds with them. Model the part that needs teaching and read the word together, then return to the sentence and its meaning.

Avoid making the picture or the first letter the main route to guessing the written word. Pictures are still wonderful for discussing what is happening in a story.

Find material that fits

UFLI's printable resources include decodable passages associated with its lessons. Check the relevant teaching content before choosing a passage.

The broader principle of practising word reading in connected text is included in the IES foundational reading guide. The two-book basket is our suggested home routine, not a tested programme or a promise of particular results.