Grey Books
Listening to your child read – Grey Books
The information here will help you to support your child in making steady progress with their reading.
In our school, children read each Read Write Inc. book at least three times in class with their partner., aiming to build their fluency/speed and comprehension and confidence. By the time the children bring the book home they should be able to read it like a storyteller - they feel confident about reading it and can’t wait to read it to you, their grandparents or even their teddy bear. They are meant to be able to read all of the words as the book is at the correct level. Please encourage them to share their enjoyment of the story with you and read it in their storyteller voice again and again.
This is becoming even more important by this stage as the children really need to increase their fluency to be able to continue to move forward. If you don’t feel that your child is reading most of the text with some fluency, please do talk to your child’s teacher as they may need some extra support to help them in moving forward confidently.
If they hesitate over a word, remind them to read the word using ‘Special Friends, Fred Talk, read the word’. Remind your child not to use Fred Talk to read Red words (tricky words) but instead to stop and think. Tell them the word if needed. When they have needed to Fred talk a word or had help, encourage them to re-read the whole sentence or page, trying to recall that word this time.
Before reading with your child have a look at the Story Green words, the Speedy Green Words and Red Words. These are within the book in a table. Your child looks at these words before reading in class to ensure they are confident with the key words so can read with confidence.
So, to recap, what can you do to help at home?
- Listen to your child read the same Read Write Inc. Storybook again and again.
- Encourage them to use ’Special Friends’, ‘Fred Talk’, ‘read the word’.
- Read through the Story Green words, Speedy Green words and Red words listed in the book.
- Discuss the story and encourage their storyteller voice.
Red Words
Red Words are also known as common exception or tricky words. They occur in stories regularly (said, what, where) but have unusual letter combinations (‘ai’ in the word ‘said’ makes the sound ‘e’). Remind your child not to use Fred Talk to read Red Words but instead to ‘stop and think’. Tell them the word if you need to.
Red words your child will need to know for Grey Books:
|
should |
come |
many |
mother |
above |
|
father |
here |
buy |
bought |
great |
|
someone |
another |
walk |
caught |
worse |
|
everyone |
talk |
thought |
love |
wear |
Red words from previous books (your child should be familiar with these):
|
I |
of |
my |
to |
the |
|
put |
for |
he |
no |
|
|
your |
said |
you |
he |
are |
|
baby |
go |
Me |
all |
I’ve |
|
some |
washing |
like |
want |
call |
|
we |
her |
there |
be |
she |
|
so |
they |
do |
old |
was |
|
what |
watch |
school |
watches |
small |
|
saw |
their |
were |
who |
tall |
|
where |
wall |
was |
by |
one |
|
brother |
I’m |
there |
fall |
any |
|
does |
other |
two |
could |
ball |
|
would |
water |
wash |
anyone |
over |
|
wasn’t |
through |
once |
son |
whole |
|
people |
why |
humans |
you’re |
|
Moving On
In order for your child to progress they should be able to read real and nonsense words using all Set 1, 2 and 3 sounds. The will be able to read multi-syllabic words containing all sounds. They should have a reading speed of 90+ words per minute and read with intonation that shows comprehension.