The importance of reading...

At White Ash, our goal is to promote a love for reading in all of our children. 

We have the highest aspirations for our pupils in EYFS and make reading a priority. The most important starting point is to read to children. Reading to children is the best way of encouraging them to love books and reading. By reading stories aloud to our children everyday, we help to form a love of reading. Children thrive on repetition, so when we read books over and over again, we help to create lots of connections in their brains linking to communication, language and even writing. When children know a story well they will want to read it again and again, joining in with actions and sounds. 

Reading stories and poems and singing nursery rhymes and songs teaches our children to...

- Sustain attention 

- Learn lots of new words 

- Deepen their knowledge of words 

- Hear patterns in words and phrases 

- Link thoughts from one part of the story to another 

- Become familiar with longer sentences 

- Understand the emotions of others 

- Build pictures in their minds 

- Find out about new places, people and things 

- Understand humour 

- Understand suspense and predict what will happen next 

In EYFS, we have chosen twelve core books and rhymes which we want our children to know well by the time they leave reception. These books and songs can be revisited again and again, building on different levels of language development helping children to develop a love of reading. These core books and rhymes are fun and repetitive meaning the children can join in with actions and words, anticipating what will happen next. 

Our core books are...

Brown Bear, Brown Bear by Bill Martin, Jr

Where's Spot? by Eric Hill

Owl babies by Martin Waddell 

The Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson 

We're going on a bear hunt by Michael Rosen 

Dear zoo by Rod Campbell

The very hungry caterpillar by Eric Carle 

Jasper's Beanstalk by Nick Butterworth 

Elmer by David McKee

Come on, Daisy! by Jane Simmons 

Each Peach Pear Plum by Allan and Janet Ahlberg 

Handa's surprise by Eileen Browne 

Our core rhymes are...

Baa baa balck sheep

Old McDonald 

Twinkle, twinkle

Jingle bells 

Hey diddle, diddle 

Hickory, dickory, dock 

Incy, wincy, spider

Round and round the garden 

Wind the bobbin up 

The grand old Duke of York 

Humpty Dumpty 

I'm a little tea pot 

All areas of our curriculum are influenced by our key texts relating to our topics and interests. Children have continuous access to our cosy book corner where they can choose a new book to read and revisit their favourite stories. Children also love to choose a book from our outdoor library 'The Book Hutch'.