Reading Diaries

What is a home school reading diary?

At Swansfield, we provide a home school reading diary in which parents/carers are invited to write about how their child engages with each book that is sent home. This usually lives in/comes home in a child’s book bag.

The member of teaching staff who reads with your child will always write a comment observing how the child engaged with their reading material. For wordless books this may be how well your child was able to infer events from the pictures in the story, for phonic blending books this might explain the sounds your child seems to be struggling with, or it may be offering some ideas for further focus. When your child moves on to texts, there may be comments about how your child was able to predict what happened next in the story, or how they were able to retell the story. These comments are important for us but also important for you to see your child's progress on a weekly basis. 

Equally, your comments back are very important as they can often inform our approach when reading with your child going forward by highlighting any areas of weakness and strengths.

What should parents/carers write in a home school reading diary?

It can be difficult for parents/carers to know exactly what to write and sometimes the only thing that springs to mind is ‘Read this book well’ (or something similar). Unfortunately, this doesn’t tell the us exactly what it is your child did well when reading or what they found more challenging. It is useful for us to know these things in order to plan suitable next steps/select texts which best meet the needs of that child.

When writing a comment it would be useful if you focused on these areas:

  • Your child’s engagement with the text
  • You child’s reading of the words in the text
  • Your child’s fluency and expression
  • Your child’s understanding of what they have read

Examples:

Word skill comments

  1. Read all the words correctly
  2. Read familiar words independently 
  3. Found some words difficult. 
  4. Tried hard to work out new words.
  5. Worked out new words by sounding them out and blending.
  6. Needs to practice again to reinforce the words. •
  7. Was able to work out new words using the pictures to help.
  8. Used the picture cues and the first sound of a word to work out words
  9. Self-corrected own errors independently.
  10. Read the book fluently
Comprehension skills comments
  1. Understood the story well
  2. Good discussion about events in the story 
  3. Retold the story in detail 
  4. Able to predict what might happen next
  5. Could talk about the story confidently
  6. Could identify the characters in the book
  7. Answered questions about the content of the book 
  8. Needs to read again to improve understanding 
  9. Used the pictures to help with their understanding
  10. Needed lots of help to understand the main events
  11. Did not understand what they read
Attitude and interest
  1. Was excited and motivated to read
  2. Enjoyed the story because 
  3. Fantastic expression
  4. Would benefit from reading the book again to improve fluency
  5. Has learnt all about…………… and could explain in own words
  6. Struggled to concentrate
  7. Was reluctant to read tonight
  8. Found the book too hard to read

How can parents/carers best structure home reading sessions to ensure they cover all the aspects of reading they might need to comment on?

  • Let your child hold the text and take control of page turning (forwards and backwards as required) and pointing to words (if they are in the early stages of reading and need to do this). This will enable you to see whether your child is able to point accurately and knows what to do with the book to aid comprehension.
  • Choose the best time for children to practise their reading. This probably won’t be as soon as they get home from school! Avoid times when they are tired. Some parents find first thing in the morning works best for their child, whilst for other children this would not be a good time!
  • If a text is too long for a child to read in one sitting, you can always ask us if you can keep it for longer instead of exchanging for the next book. It is better to have 2 shorter, good quality reading sessions in which a child is engaged, than one long one which they struggle to complete.
  • Reading is a pleasure and should never be seen to be rushed or a chore as children will pick up on that and begin to see it in the same way - make it fun, snuggle up together and enjoy precious uninterrupted time!
We hope this helps - happy reading!