Reading at Home

“Children are made readers on the laps of their parents” Emile Buchwald.

Reading with your child

Children need a range of reading materials and the home-reading books your child brings home will have been self-selected from a range of banded books they have been assessed in – These books will be at a carefully assessed instructional level. They will help them to be relaxed about reading and become more confident. Don’t worry if your child choses the same book more than once, this actually enhances fluency and phrasing and really boosts their confidence.

Before you read

  • Try to find a quiet place away from distractions like television.
  • It might help to have a regular time to read: before breakfast? When she/he gets home from school?
  • A short time each day is better than half an hour each week.

Find time to Talk about the book

Start with the title, look at the cover and briefly chat about what you might find inside.

As you read, encourage your child to predict what might happen next.

Use a dictionary or thesaurus (already built in most e books) and use it to check the meanings of new words.

Making mistakes when reading

If your child misreads a word without changing the meaning, e.g. ‘Dad’ for ‘Father’, accept it. If they hesitate, repeat a word or leave one out, say nothing provided the meaning is not lost.

If they say a word which does change the meaning, or they are simply stuck, you can help them by;

  • Pointing to the picture if it is relevant
  • Asking a question to remind them of the context,e.g. ‘Where did they say they were going?’
  • Re-reading the sentence up to the unknown word to remind them of the context
  • Saying or pointing to the first letter of the word
  • Telling your child the word to avoid losing momentum and understanding
  • If the word can be read easily by sounding out the letters, encourage them or help them to do this.

PAUSE to help them work out the new words

PROMPT by using some of the techniques mentioned

PRAISE them for trying whether they are right or wrong

It is important to use as many clues as possible to help your child when they find something a bit difficult.

When you have finished reading

Encourage your child to retell the story you have just shared. This will give you an idea of how much they have understood. You can help them summarise and respond to the book by asking -What happened in the story? Does this remind them of anything in their lives or anything they have read before? Did they think the book was funny? Did they spot any interesting words and phrases? Did they enjoy the book? What might happen next? Would they recommend the book to a friend and why.

Reading for Pleasure

“A book is like a garden, carried in the pocket.” — Chinese Proverb.

Your child has the opportunity to bring home a self chosen library book should they want to every day. This is a lovely opportunity for you to share a book with them . Make the story come to life by using different voices and expression, this will encourage your child to read with expression which will really help their comprehension and to read more fluently. Some children also have the opportunity to take home a KOBO (with more than 60 books on ) for a term, if you would like your child to have this opportunity too, then please let your child’s class teacher know.

You may want to read the whole book with them or just talk about the book, using the same questions as with home readers, plus questions like:

Did you enjoy that book? Why? Why not?

Who was your favourite character? Why?

Which part did you like the best? Why?

Was there any part you didn’t like? Why?

Would you choose this book/story again?

Tell me, what did you think about……

It is really important to show your children that you enjoy reading too. Set a good example by sharing your reading. Let your children see that you value reading.

Another way to encourage reading for pleasure is to take your child to the library – it’s free to join! All libraries have children’s sections. Many also have regular storytelling sessions. If you didn’t manage to come along to our e book meeting in July with Liverpool Libraries please also see our link to the Liverpool on line lending service for ebooks, they have sessions similar to the one we hosted at Central library.

Read a bedtime story with your child every night. Encourage them to be read to and to read to grandparents, brothers and sisters and aunts and uncles.

What else can your child read?

Encourage your child to pick the kinds of books or texts which she/he enjoys; reading is for pleasure!

  • Comics
  • Magazines
  • Travel brochures
  • Instructions or recipes
  • What’s on television tonight
  • Information books
  • Manuals
  • Newspapers
  • Poems
  • Taped/CD/Recorded stories
  • Sports Reports
  • Shopping lists

“If you want your child to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want your child to be more intelligent, read them more fairy Tales “ Albert Einstein.

The Book Trust have published a helpful guide in different languages on reading with your child.

http://www.booktrust.org.uk/books/children/how-to-share-books/reading-with-your-child-booklets

If you have any worries at all about your child’s reading then please don’t hesitate to contact your child’s teacher.

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