Reading

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= How can I help my child to read? =  Talk to your child as much as you can at home about e.g. cooking, washing up, gardening, any thing you can do together. Talk when you are outside-in the park, shopping, on the bus or in the car. Talk about what is happening and why it might be happening

Read nursery rhymes and poems to your child. Repeat them and sing them often so that he/she knows them off by heart. Start singing together and then stop so that he/she carries on alone.

Read the language that surrounds you together e.g. labels, signs, t.v. adverts, notices

Let your child see you reading and when your child is looking at/reading a book read your own book/magazine.

Talk about books with your child and as a family. Visit the local library together. Encourage your child to treat books with respect. To make sure their hands are clean before they read them and never to draw on them.

= When my child brings a book home from school, what should I do? =  Read the book together. Some books will be easy for your child to read– he/she will be eager to read them to show you what he/she can read. Some books will have more difficult parts and your child will need help to read them. Some children may choose to have the same book a couple of times, this is not a problem.

Look carefully at the pictures in the book they give essential clues to the story.

If your child makes a mistake with a word but gets the meaning correct, then don’t stop them reading. We often change words when we read but don't realize we have done it. If what your child reads doesn’t make sense then s/he will probably stop reading and go back to correct the word.

= What if my child doesn’t know a word? =  In the early stages of reading development tell your child the word.

Encourage your child to look for clues to work out the word e.g from a picture, what the word begins with, any parts of the word he/she knows, from the rest of the story.


 * ALWAYS PRAISE AND ENCOURAGE YOUR CHILD. **
 * MAKE SURE YOU ARE BOTH CALM AND RELAXED. **

 For more information please contact the Language co-ordinator Mrs Workman, Mr K Rees or Mrs R Jenkins.