Reading with the kids
Learning to read at home can be fun and will make a real difference with how well your child progresses with their reading in school. It is really important to try and listen to your child read as often as possible.
* Please remember though, ten good minutes is better than a difficult half an hour.
Children develop their reading skills in different ways. Some may want to get every word exactly right while other children will race to the end of a story. Other children may read hesitantly. Try to respond to your child's needs and let them read at their own pace.
Even when they can read, you should still try to read to them as often as possible. Sharing stories with a grown-up will teach them new words and encourage them to become better readers.
If they get stuck, encourage them to use all the available information and everything they know to make a guess. They should look at the pictures and remember what has happened in the story. Their ability to predict and guess accurately will gradually improve.
You can also help by doing the following:
- Make the most of books your child brings home from school. Read them, or parts of them, yourself and talk about them with your child.
- Check your child is really following what they're reading by asking them to tell you the story in their own words who is it about? What happens?
- Allow your child to re-read favourite and familiar stories, or to hear you re-read them. Knowing a familiar book will help them notice more about the words on the page and they will start to recognise the patterns in new words and stories.
- Listen to stories learned by heart and encourage your child to re-tell them in their own words, or even act them out. Encourage this.
- Buy books as presents instead of toys.
- Set up a special place for books from the library or their own books.
Some more ideas to help your child to read when you haven't got a book.
- At breakfast time:Look at the words on cereal packets, milk and fruit juice cartons. Get them to see how many words they can make out of the letters.
- Going to the shops: Some shops still have a sign over the door that says what they sell. Can your child put the words together with what's in the window (hairdressers, shoes, and so on)?
- Look in the papers: If your child recognises a famous face (e.g. a footballer or a TV star) it will make them want to try to read the story.
- In the streets: You'll see advertising posters and place names.
- In the shops: Your child can help you find things in the supermarket by reading out what's in the aisles.
- DVDs and Videos: DVD and Video boxes usually tell you the story. Get your child to read what's on the box as well as just watching the film.
- Look at holiday brochures together: Help your child read about other places.
- Unpacking the hopping: Your child can read the words on your groceries while helping you put things away.
- Some CDs and tapes have song words printed on them: Your child will probably find it easier to follow words if they hear them at the same time.
You can help by doing the following:
- Whenever youre reading together, make sure your child feels OK and is comfortable.
- Use books with pictures, and later, with pictures and words. Picture books help children match the pictures to the words. Don't cover up the pictures to make your child 'read properly'.
- Write titles under pictures to show them that words belong to things. You can also stick labels on things at home or when they're older get them to do it themselves. Start with simple words.
SOME TIPS FOR LISTENING TO CHILDREN READ
What if the child is stuck on a word?
There are several things you could do. Depending on what the word is, how important it is to the meaning and how well the child is reading the text, you could:
- Wait for the child to think
- Encourage the child to use phonic skills to sound out the word
- Encourage the child to think about the blends in the word
- Compare it with a more familiar word which has similar elements
- Supply the word
What if the child reads the word incorrectly and carries on?
You could:
- Let the child proceed without correction – the word may make sense in the context or, given some time, the reader might self-correct
- Stop the child if the word is said wrongly and the sense of the piece is lost – then use one (or more) of the tactics listed in the previous section
What if the child is not reading very fluently?
You could:
- Make sure that finger pointing or the use of a guide card is not stopping the child reading ahead
- Give the reader time to practise a section of the text
- Act as a model by reading some of the text aloud and then asking the child to join in with you
- Discuss the text with the child in order to judge how much he/she is understanding
What if the child does not seem to understand the text during the reading?
You could:
- Stop the reader and discuss what has been read so far
- Re-read a short section and discuss it
- Use any available picture clues
- Ask the child to predict what might happen next and check the prediction
- Discuss with the child key characters/events/themes/ideas/vocabulary in the text
What if the child has read the text fluently and accurately but you want to check comprehension?
You could:
- Ask the child to tell you about key elements of the text – the characters, events, ideas
- Ask the child tolocate specific pieces of information
- Ask the child to sum up the mood of the book or how he/she feels about it; giving reasons if possible.
Enjoy your reading!
