Reading in Year 2 (age 6–7)
Speedy reading and writing
Your child will be expected to read and spell many words automatically using phonics , especially when tackling unknown words. Your child will also now be able to recognize by sight, read and spell many of the common and tricky words.
Talking about text
At this age your child should be able to draw together ideas and information from across a whole book or piece of writing and discuss how particular words and phrases are used. Most children should be able to give reasons for why things are happening in stories and how characters change. You can help by talking about books at home. See our Reading section for more information.
Noticing features of text
Your child will be looking at texts of all kinds to notice special features such as chapters, labels, speech bubbles, diagrams, price lists, site menus and so on. It’s good to talk about these if you come across them when sharing books together.
Towards independence
Your child will be working more independently now, although there will still be whole class and group/guided reading opportunities in class to teach a particular reading/writing focus. There is less time for one-to-one reading in school so encourage your child to read on their own, sometimes silently, as well as with you.
Choosing books
Your child will be expected to make book choices now and be able to say what they liked about a book (and what they didn’t like!). Some children may bring home books that are not levelled or colour coded but may be from the library whilst others may still need the careful levelling of a reading scheme.
Extra support
If your child hasn’t quite taken off with reading then extra support is usually provided by the teacher or specialist teacher, in consultation with you. This support is usually small group work and may be in or out of the classroom. Your support and encouragement is hugely important, so make sure you read with or to your child every day if possible to encourage them.
Assessment
Assessment for young children is informal and is mainly used to inform the teacher’s planning so they can support each child in their class.
To support the teacher's assessment of how well your child has settled in and the progress they are making, there are a number of simple checks or tests:
- A teacher assessment at the end of Key Stage 1 in maths, reading and writing.
- A grammar, punctuation and spelling test .