Read beyond the course
Keep a chosen book alongside The Little Book Garden. Include stories, poems and information texts, with plays from Stage 3.
A daily reading routine
- Choose a manageable passage and explain unfamiliar words before reading.
- Read together, then reread a short part with greater independence and expression.
- Discuss a detail, a question and a personal response. Give a reason for your view.
- Keep a reading log with title, author, a useful word and a response.
- Revisit a passage later and recommend the text to a particular reader.
A guided wider-reading project
Choose a short fable with an adult. Hear it first, then retell three events with pictures. These older editions are shared-reading resources, not a phonics reading level.
The linked editions are free to read at Project Gutenberg. Tutors should choose passages for the learner’s reading needs and discuss unfamiliar or dated language. Keep modern, culturally varied library reading alongside these historical works.
Writing and spoken language
Use the unit tutor guides for specific oral tasks and offline work. Practise comfortable handwriting, plan aloud, draft, receive feedback and revise. Take turns and explain how you responded to another person’s idea.
Phonics with an adult
Follow the learner’s school phonics sequence alongside these lessons. Revisit known sounds, teach a new sound-spelling relationship explicitly, blend for reading, segment for spelling and apply it in a decodable text. Do not ask a child to guess a word from its picture. These story lessons include shared reading and are not all independently decodable texts.