Reading and Core Books
At Bright Sparks Pre-School we are committed to instilling a love of books, rhymes and stories in all of our children. We know reading is essential for success in all areas of the curriculum and that children who develop good early reading skills are far more likely to become successful, fluent readers who will succeed in all areas of future learning. We aim to enrich and expand children’s vocabulary with a language rich environment not only through engagement in high quality books but by modelling language during shared interactions and encouraging children to develop their imaginative skills to retell and act out stories that are familiar to them.
We have a wide range of books available in all areas of the Pre-school for children to enjoy and each classroom has a book area, where children are able to sit with each other or an adult and share a story on a large comfortable sofa.
As a staff, we have chosen a ‘core book’ list, to further support the children in their reading development. Our core books have been chosen for their simple repetitive text and high-quality illustrations to capture the children’s attention, so that the experience of reading quickly becomes interactive and the children begin to learn the story as they share the book.
Core Book List for Toddler Room
That’s not my unicorn
Going on a bear hunt
Get out of my bath
Gingerbread man Mrs Honey
Core Book List for Pre-School Room
The Gruffalo
Room on the broom
Hands surprise
Goldilocks and the three bears
Hungry caterpillar
We have also selected a range of ‘core rhymes’ that we will be frequently sharing with children in the setting.
Toddler Core Rhyme List
Grandma’s glasses
Dingle dangle scarecrow
Finger song
Twinkle Twinkle little star
Five little ducks
Pre-School Core Rhymes List
Wheels on the bus
10 little speckle frogs
10 current buns
Head shoulders knees toes
Tiny Tim Turtle