Reading with your child

 

Remember that people read in different ways and that there are many ways that we use to get information from print. Never insist on one method of reading and don't get annoyed at guesswork; it often helps us all to understand the story more easily.

• Make sure that your child receives only praise for reading.
• Avoid times when they (or you!) are tired or in a hurry to get somewhere/ to do something else.
• Do not criticise your child's reading.
• Never compare one child with another, we all have a different pattern of reading and develop at a different pace.
• Find somewhere comfortable to sit together.
• When your child reads to you, encourage them to use all the cues there are:

 

Graphic/Word cues

Attempts show knowledge of word shape, letter patterns and word structure.

A child may:

• Substitute a word with similar "shape" (hen for fan or has for his)
• Recognise part of a word
• Identify their mistake when the word is a different length from that on the page.

 

Prompts :

"Try the first part of this word - you know it. (When reading Sun -day or car -pet)

"Lots of words end like this'. (i.e. swing, thing. sting)

Some words will be known as a whole (remember, if they haven't come across

the word before, it will not be recognised by magic, they will need other cues).

 

Picture cues

If the pictures are any good they will help children guess a new word. It usually helps to have a good look at the pictures and to discuss them before reading.

In this way the child can predict what is coming.

 

Prompts:

"Look at the picture and you will see where she is / what she is doing".

 

Grammatical cues

Attempts show awareness of how words go together in sentences.

 

Prompts:

"Does that word fit there?" i.e.: the child reads: ‘ the went out' instead of ‘ they went out'

Ask, "What kind of word could it be?

 

Phonic cues

Sometimes a word can be guessed by listening to the first sound it makes (like "bl for blue). Only ask your child what sound a word starts with, or to build a word up if that will actually help . Attempts show knowledge of the relationships between letters and sounds.

 

Prompts:

‘How does this word begin?' ‘Does that sound like / look like __a__?'

‘Nearly right but look at the middle / last letter' ‘Yes, c usually makes that sound, but not in this word.'

 

Contextual cues

The best guesses are those that try to make sense of the story. Often you only need to ask, " What might it be?"

 

After Reading

Discuss the ideas in the story.

(What was the story about? What happened first? Next? Before the story happened? After the story finished?)

 

Re-read any parts of the book that you or your child especially liked.

("I really liked this part" "What does this part make you think of?")

 

Re-read old favourites e.g. well liked poems, charts, songs or a book you shared the previous week.

 

A few suggestions for making reading fun

 

1. Reading to your child is essential; read stories poems and jokes with your child. Sometimes use a puppet and pretend it is doing the reading.

 

2. Read a simple story; as you read leave out words that would be easy to "fill in". Wait (but not too long) for the child to fill in the missing word.

 

Help with those that they miss.

 

3. Decide on one thing to listen for - rhyming words, words that begin with a certain sound, animal words, things around the house, toys, etc. When the child hears what they are listening for, they clap.

 

4. Show the child a simple picture and ask them to look at it carefully. Take away the picture and ask them to tell you all the things they remember in the picture. Talk about the things they miss. Use the same picture another time to see what they remember.

 

5. Show several small familiar items, have the child cover their eyes and then remove one item. The child has to say which object was removed.

 

6. Print the words of a familiar song on a sheet of paper. DO NOT USE BLOCK CAPITALS. Let the child run his/her finger along the line as they sing them. You will have to help to begin with - make sure you emphasize left to right and top to bottom.

 

7. Scrambled names - make separate cards for each letter of the child's name (Make sure the first letter is a capital and the rest small letters; see handwriting sheet for the correct way to form their name). Make sure they are arranged from left to right. Other names of the family can also be used.

 

8) Ask your child to call out the names of all the objects they can see in two minutes. Write some of the simple name words and let them draw a matching picture.

 

9. Give the child an object they can hold. Tell them to follow your directions and put it where you ask. For example, tell them to:

 

• Put the book on the table
• Put the book over your head
• Put the book under the table
• Put the book inside the cabinet
• Put the book below the chair

Continue with these: in, out, up, down, around, through, outside, into, across, about behind, without, above after, toward, etc.

10. Ask, "What is in the zoo that begins with the sound ‘e'?" The child has to name as many different animals as he/she can. Then name another sound. Vary the game by using other themes - Safeway, Tesco's, sweetshop, bedroom, school, etc.

 

11. Have a "sound a day". Write a sound on a card or piece of paper and put it

somewhere where the child can easily see it. Call attention to words

on tins, in shops, road signs, cereal boxes, books and magazines that have

this sound in it. Try a new letter sound each day.

 

12. Make a sound scrapbook. Write a sound on a sheet of paper. Cut pictures

out of old magazines that begin with that letter and paste them on the paper. As each page is completed add it to the others to make a scrapbook of sound pictures.

 

 

Make reading fun !