Y3-Reader-help-sheet - Supporting your child with reading - Year 3

Sep 28, 2026

Uploaded by Rhys

Year 3 guidance explains how Berewood Primary School supports children in becoming confident readers through daily shared reading and focused practice. It outlines National Curriculum expectations for reading accuracy, appropriate speed, decoding new words, expanding vocabulary through varied text types, and developing independent, fluent, enthusiastic reading including silent reading. Parent advice covers choosing a range of books, modeling pronunciation, discussing meaning and punctuation, using expression during read-aloud, practicing chapter-based reading, and supporting comprehension through questions and evidence. It also provides strategies for reluctant readers, including matching difficulty, offering choice, reducing fear of mistakes, and giving clear reasons to read.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryHealthcare

FormatPDF

Pages3

Reading Time8 min

AccessFree to download

National Curriculum Expectations

What this means for parents

Reading at home

Helping children understand and engage

Questions to support summarising, predicting, and meaning-making

What might help if children don’t want to read

Supporting your child with reading—Year 3 At Berewood Primary School, we recognise that learning to read is one of the most important skills your child will learn. We also understand that learning to read is hard work. To ensure that reading doesn’t become a battle with your child, share a book every day for 5-10 minutes. This is more effective than spending 30 minutes once a week. If your child is getting tired, then work together to finish the book. You could take it in turns to read a page each or your child could read the first half and you read the second half. Remember to alternate this, so your child has the chance to read both the beginning and the ending of a book. National Curriculum Expectations By year 3, children should be able to read books written at an age-appropriate interest level. They should be able to read them accurately and at a speed that allows them to focus on understanding what they have read, rather than on decoding individual words. They should be able to decode most new words outside of their spoken vocabulary, making a good attempt at the word’s pronunciation. As their decoding skills become more secure, efforts should be made to introduce children to new words which will increase their vocabulary. This can be done through discussion and by introducing children to a wide range of texts, including stories, poems, plays and non-fiction pieces on a wide range of subjects. They should be able to read these texts independently, fluently and enthusiastically, and should be learning to read silently to themselves. What this means for parents: 􀁸 Allow your child to experience lots of books on many different topics. This goes beyond the home reading book your child is given by school. 􀁸 Encourage your child to attempt to pronounce new words they see on signs or within their environment and model the correct way. 􀁸 Broaden the vocabulary you use when speaking to your child and be prepared to clarify the meaning of a wider range of words. 􀁸 Encourage your child to read silently to themselves but discuss what they have read and check their understanding after doing so. 􀁸 Encourage children to use expression when reading aloud, especially voices for different characters. 􀁸 Discuss punctuation on the page, for example, exclamation marks. Ask what are these for? What should you do when you see an exclamation mark? 􀁸 You do not always have to read the entire book every night. Focus on a few pages or a chapter and talk about the characters, setting, and plot in a lot of detail. You might want to take it in turns to read so your child can hear how your expression and intonation. 􀁸 Read difficult texts to your child and allow them the chance to listen, ask questions and be introduced to new authors. | In school, the children are introduced to the joy of reading. Children listen to stories and are encouraged to talk about the stories they have read at home. In every class, they have specially selected class novels that the whole class share each afternoon to develop their enjoyment and to widen their knowledge of different authors and styles of writing.
Each classroom has an inviting book corner with a range of texts that they can choose from and the children are given regular opportunities to visit the school library. In addition, to these books, the children are also given a carefully matched book band book to support their current level of reading development. | | | --- | --- | | | During the school day, the children are often encouraged to share a book with a friend, read individually to an adult and take part in guided reading sessions to develop their fluency at reading and their understanding of the text. During these sessions the children are taught different strategies: | Questions to support summarising: 􀁸 What is the main message of the text? 􀁸 What happened after? 􀁸 What happened before? 􀁸 What’s the main point in this paragraph? 􀁸 Can you sum up what happens in

FAQs

How should parents support shared reading in Year 3?

Share a book every day for 5–10 minutes. If the child gets tired, finish together, taking turns to read pages or halves of the book, and alternate so they read both the beginning and the ending.

What reading skills are expected by the end of Year 3?

Children should read age-appropriate books accurately and at a speed that supports understanding. They should decode most new words using pronunciation attempts, expand vocabulary through discussion and varied texts, and read independently, fluently, enthusiastically, and silently.

What should parents do if their child does not want to read?

Check that the book is not too hard or too easy, offer choice in what to read, and ask whether the child is interested or worried about getting it wrong. Give a clear purpose for reading such as help reading lists, instructions, manuals, and nonfiction texts.

Sep 28, 2026

Uploaded by Rhys