Home Reading Support

Reading at home

Reading with your child is the most useful, productive, powerful and enjoyable activity to do at home that will not only help them develop personally and achieve at school, but also strengthen your relationship.  That’s why we left weekly homework behind some years ago; we want to make sure EVERY child (and grown-up) at Coleham Primary School LOVES reading as much as their teachers do!

Reading with your child is a lot more than just hearing them read their school books – here are some ideas to help you and your child develop a love of reading:

• Find a time to read that suits your family, after school, after tea, in bed or even in the morning
• Help them with their phonics sounds as they read  (EYFS send home Phonics Cards to practice)
• Read to them; model how a story should be read with exciting pitch, tone, pause, punctuation and character voice
• Read a range of different types of text – NOT JUST THEIR SCHOOL BOOK! Picture books, comics, fact books, Joke books, recipes, menus, programmes…
• Discuss what they are reading: ask questions about what might happen next and about what has already happened
• Share your favourite books
• Visit the Shrewsbury Library – IT’S FREE!
• Make time for stories EVERY night: a routine is always good and story time can be a very special time for children and the parents/carers to share together.

Please don’t worry about what book band your child is on, every child’s reading journey is different and staff are regularly assessing your child in school.  We want children to be secure in their current book band before moving on so they are ready and comfortable.

Please see your child’s teacher if you would like to know more about supporting your child’s reading.

Nursery Rhymes, Poems and Limericks

Experts in literacy and child development discovered that if a child knows eight nursery rhymes by heart by the time they are four years old, they are usually among the best readers and spellers in their class by the time they are in Year 3. 

Learning and reciting rhymes by heart will help develop children’s communication and language skills too!   This is one of the best things you can do at home with your child to positively influence their reading.  In year 1 we send home Poetry Panda bags for this very reason.

Reading for Empathy

Read stories, build empathy in your child and create a better world.

Reading books is key for children’s relaxation and wellbeing, to obtain knowledge of different places and cultures and to develop empathy by identifying with characters and understanding different perspectives and points.  So children become skilled at putting themselves in others’ shoes, are able to articulate and share their feelings. Being wonderful listeners, kind souls and inspired to put empathy into action.

The Empathy Lab Uk promotes high quality literature in their mission to raise an empathy-educated generation.

Read their 2025 recommended reading lists for some great books for your child.

Book Recommendations

We know that our children love to read series books and sometime nothing but their favourite series!  That is okay, if your child is reading and enjoying them.  If you want to explore some similar books to expand their reading selection these ‘Branching Out Book Posters’ will help give recommendations.

 

100 Books To Read Before You Leave Coleham!

We LOVE reading at Coleham!  Below is a list of 100 books we think every child should have a read of before they leave Coleham Primary School.  The list is not exhaustive, nor exclusive – there are LOADS of excellent books that didn’t quite make it on to the list.  However, it is a good range of different types of books for all children (and parents!) to enjoy.

 

All traditional fairy tales, including:
1	The Magic Porridge Pot
2	The Gingerbread Man
3	Jack & The Beanstalk
4	Little Red Riding Hood
5	Three Little Pigs – Traditional
Well-Loved Classic Picture Books:
6	The Very Hungry Caterpillar – Eric Carle
7	Funnybones – Allan & Janet Ahlberg
8	Where The Wild Things Are – Maurice Sendak
9	The Tiger Who Came To Tea – Judith Kerr
10	Not Now, Bernard! – David McKee
11	Owl Babies – Martin Waddell & Patrick Benson
12	Peace at Last – Jill Murphy
13	Whatever Next! – Jill Murphy
14	On The Way Home – Jill Murphy
15	The Lighthouse Keeper’s Lunch – Ronda & David Armitage
16	The Jolly Postman – Allan & Janet Ahlberg
17	Dogger – Shirley Hughes
18	The Forest Child – Richard Edwards
19	Voices In The Park – Anthony Browne
20	Zoo – Anthony Browne
21	The Tunnel – Anthony Browne
22	The Gruffalo – Julia Donaldson
23	Room On The Broom – Julia Donaldson
24	Fungus The Bogeyman – Raymond Briggs
Contemporary Picture Books:
25	Emily Brown And The Thing – Cressida Cowell
26	The Selfish Crocodile – Faustin Charles
27	The Wolf’s Story – Toby Forward
28	Oi Frog! series – Kes Gray & Jim Field
29	The Crocodile Who Didn’t Like Water – Gemma Merino
30	Lost And Found – Oliver Jeffers
31	The Day The Crayons Quit – Oliver Jeffers
32	Open Very Carefully – Nick Bromley & Nicola O’Byrne
33	I want My Hat Back – Jon Klaasen
34	We Found A Hat – Jon Klassen
35	This Is Not My Hat – Jon Klaasen
36	Tuesday – David Wiesner
37	On Sudden Hill – Linda Sarah
38	Granddad’s Island – Benji Davies
39	Weasels – Elis Dolan
40	Rabbits – Shaun Tan
41	Window – Jeannie Baker (a book with no words)
Narratives for Younger Children (KS1 – Lower KS2)
42	Flat Stanley – Jeff Brown
43	Mango & Bambang – Polly Faber & Clara Vulliamy
44	Pugs Of The Frozen North – Philip Reeve & Sarah McIntyre
45	The Twits – Roald Dahl
46	Fantastic Mr Fox – Roald Dahl
47	George’s Marvellous Medicine – Roald Dahl
48	James And The Giant Peach – Roald Dahl
49	The BFG – Roald Dahl
50	The Last Polar Bears – Harry Horse
51	The Owl Who Was Afraid Of The Dark – Jill Tomlinson
52	The Little Prince – Antoine De Saint-Exupery & Irene Testot-Ferry
53	The Iron Man – Ted Hughes
54	How The Whale Became – Ted Hughes
55	Just-So Stories – Rudyard Kipling
56	Charlotte’s Web – E.B. White
57	The Wind In The Willows – Kenneth Grahame
58	The Firework Maker’s Daughter – Philip Pullman
59	The Jungle Book – Rudyard Kipling
60	The Odyssey – Homer
61	Mr Gum (series) – Andy Stanton
Narratives for Older Children (Lower KS2 – Upper KS2)
62	Robin Hood – Traditional
63	The Labours Of Hercules – Ancient Greek Myth
64	Tales From 1001 Nights – Traditional Arabian
65	Kensuki’s Kingdom – Michael Morpurgo
66	Odd And The Frost Giants – Neil Gaiman
67	The Graveyard Book – Neil Gaiman
68	The Animals Of Farthing Wood – Colin Dann
69	The Witches – Roald Dahl
70	The Hobbit – J.R.R. Tolkien
71	Goodnight Mr Tom – Michelle Magorian
72	Carrie’s War – Nina Bawden
73	Watership Down – Richard Adams
74	Wonder – R.J. Palacio
75	Treasure Island – Robert Louis Stevenson
76	The Hunger Games – Suzanne Collins
77	Harry Potter – J.K. Rowling
78	The Call Of The Wild – Jack London
79	Holes – Louis Sachar
80	Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea – Jules Verne
81	The Lion The Witch And The Wardrobe – C.S. Lewis
82	The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas – John Boyne
Poetry:
83	Michael Rosen’s A-Z Of Children’s Poetry – Michael Rosen
84	Please, Mrs Butler! – Allan Ahlberg
85	Gargling With Jelly – Brian Patten
86	The Highwayman – Alfred Noyes
87	The Rattlebag – Seamus Heaney
88	Revolting Rhymes – Roald Dahl
89	Dirty Beasts – Roald Dahl
Shakespeare:
90	The Tempest
91	Macbeth
92	Julius Caesar
93	Henry V
94	Romeo & Juliet
Biography:
95	The Diary Of Anne Frank – Anne Frnk
96	Star Stuff: Carl Sagan & The mysteries Of The Universe – Stephanie Roth Sisson
97	Boy – Roald Dahl
98	Little People, Big Dreams (series) – Various Authors
99	On A Beam Of Light: A Story Of Albert Einstein – Jennifer Berne
100	Who Says Women Can’t Be Doctors? The Story Of Elizabeth Blackwell – Tanya Lee Stone