Reading for Success

READING FOR SUCCESSPARENTAL READING HANDBOOK

The factsReading with your child is vital. Research shows that it is the single most important thing you can do to help your child’s education. So try to put aside some time for it every day; your child’s teacher will always be happy to advise what would be best for your child.

Children should be encouraged to develop a love of books and sounds.

Early Years - fun with sounds

Phonics - What it meansPhonological awareness means awareness of sounds in words. Words can be broken up into smaller parts called syllables or individual sounds.

Phonological awareness involves a range of skills, including:Syllable awareness – being able to break words up into smaller parts e.g. kan-ga-roo

Rhyme awareness e.g. hen, ten, pen

First sound – awareness of words that start with the same sound e.g. fork, farm, four, fi nger

Recognising that words are made up of separate sounds e.g. book (b-oo-k)


How you can helpSing lots of nursery rhymes with your child e.g. Humpty Dumpty, Baa Baa Black Sheep. When your child is familiar with these you can leave out the last word and see if they can fi ll it in e.g. Humpty Dumpty sat on a...

Teach your child that words have smaller parts by clapping words e.g. elephant: el-e-phant (3 claps).

Play more games with rhyme, for example: I hear with my little ear something that rhymes with (for example), frog

Ask your child to fi nd all the things in the house that start with the sound ‘s’ e.g. sock, salt, sofa, sink.

Use a magazine, for example an Argos catalogue, and ask your child to cut out all the things beginning with the sound ‘p’ e.g. pillow, puzzles, Postman Pat.

Play a stepping stones game: cut out some stone shapes from paper and place on the fl oor. Each time your child steps on a ‘stone’ you say a sound e.g. ‘c’ and your child tells you a word that starts with that sound.


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Reading

The backgroundChildren should have opportunities to listen to a range of interesting and exciting fi ction, non-fi ction, poetry and rhymes. They should have access to a variety of reading materials throughout each day, for example, catalogues, magazines, books and on-screen text.

How you can helpThink of ways to make reading fun - you want your child to learn how pleasurable books can be. If you are both enjoying talking about the content of a particular page, linger over it for as long as you like.

Books are not just about reading the words on the page, they can also present new ideas and topics for you and your child to discuss.

Involve your child in day to day reading opportunities e.g. reading the TV guide or helping with a recipe.

Talk to your child about what they are reading and use a variety of questioning techniques: literal, deductive, evaluative and inferential - and remember - schedule a time for reading when you get home from school or just before bed. Enjoy lots and lots of stories, rhymes and poems with your child! This time should be spent reading to and listening to your child read.

Look for books on topics that you know your child is interested in, for example, dragons, insects, cookery or a certain sport.


How you can helpMake sure that your child’s books are easily accessible in diff erent rooms around your house.

Visit the library as often as possible - borrow CDs and DVDs as well as books.

Encourage your child to pretend to ‘read’ a book before he or she can read words.

Buy dual-language books if English is not your family’s fi rst language - you can talk about books and stories, and develop a love of them in any language.


On-line reading listsLovereading4schools is a new website designed to help schools and parents encourage a love of reading among their children. The site is enthusiastically endorsed by Children’s Laureate, Jacqueline Wilson: ‘It’s a fantastic way to get as many children as possible to love reading!’

We think that having our lists on-line is incredibly convenient for parents who can view the books and buy them at any time from the comfort of their own homes.

This service is free for our parents and all the books featured on Lovereading4schools are available to buy with a 25% discount on the RRP.

But that’s not all. For every £100 spent by parents of our school we are given a £5 book voucher to help build our school library, benefi ting your child even further.

Find our reading lists, broken down by academic year, at the following address:

www.lovereading4schools.co.uk/viewschool/5034

You will be asked to register as a parent and create your own account. This enables us to be sent our free book vouchers for the school library. All you need is an email address and a password that you can remember.


Once you have registered you will need to LOGIN each time you visit the school reading lists.

After registration you will be sent to our book page where you just click on any of the book lists to see the books in that particular list.

The book lists for our school are password protected – when you are asked for a password please enter: theacademy

Finally, please remember to bookmark our school’s page to make it easier the next time you visit the site.


Suggested reading timings (per evening)

These timings are given as a guide only!

Prep 1: Out loud/independent: 5/10 minutes.Read to/read with: 20 minutes

Prep 2: Out loud/independent:10/15 minutes.Read to/read with: 20 minutes



Prep 5: Out Loud/independent: 25/30 minutes.Read to/read with: 15 minutes

Prep 6: Out Loud/Independent: 30/35 minutes.Read to/read with: 15 minutes

Primary 7: Out loud/independent: 35/40 minutes.Read to/read with: 15 minutes

Being read to at P6/P7 stage may sound strange; however, research suggests that, even at this age, being read to/read with each night helps foster crucial comprehension skills.


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Reading for Success