Helping your child succeed
This guide gives some practical suggestions for how you can help your child
succeed with their literacy skills. For more detailed advice or suggestions
about your child’s specific needs, please contact your child’s English teacher.
“The successful education of the whole child”
“Every child a Scientist”
Promoting Reading
To encourage your child to develop good reading habits:

Ask them about what they are reading.

Show an interest in the books they have read. ‘What happened in...?’ ‘What did you
like about...?’

Ask your child to tell you about the characters in the story and what they like and
dislike about them.

Encourage your child to speculate about what happens next in a story by discussing
it with them.

Take them to local libraries and bookshops and encourage them to select
books/eBooks they are interested in.

Encourage family members to consider book tokens or books/eBooks as suitable
gifts for birthdays and Christmas.

Make sure your child is interested in the book they are reading. Help them look at the
back jacket for story information. If the vocabulary in the book is too difficult they will
be unlikely to finish it. Alternatively if it is too easy, it may not be rewarding.

Encourage your child to read to you, on a little and often basis. Twenty minutes a
night is a good length.

Borrow story CDs from the school or local library for long car journeys. These may
get a child interested in a particular author.

Provide a quiet, comfortable, relaxing place for them to read.

Ask librarians, booksellers, your child’s teacher and friends for suggestions of good
books they might like to read.

Look out for TV and cinema releases that are linked to children’s books and
encourage your child to go on school theatre trips. For example, ‘A Series of
Unfortunate Events’, ‘Oliver Twist’, ‘The Hunger Games’ etc.

Read. It is helpful for children to see that you are also reading.
Remember developing good reading habits is a crucial life skill.
Ensure your child always has an appropriate reading book on the go.
Writing

Take an interest in your child’s work.

Ask to see their exercise books/folders regularly to see what they are working on at
the moment and ask them about it.

See what the teacher has suggested they are doing well and what strategies they
have suggested for them to improve.

Discuss with your child how they are acting on this advice.

It sometimes helps for a child to read their own work out loud, so they can check it
and ensure it makes sense. They can do this with your support. Help them check for
full stops, capital letters and paragraphs.

Buy a smart new pen and let your child choose. It can encourage them to take more
care in the presentation of their work.

Praise your child for work they have done particularly well or when they have shown
a good amount of effort.

Encourage your child to think of different word choices to enhance their vocabulary.
For example how many words can you think of for ‘good’ or ‘interesting’? Do this little
and often. It can be done on car journeys.

Buy a thesaurus and dictionary. You can also find versions online that are free to
use. Encourage your child to use them at home and at school.

If your child continues to make the same sort of mistakes, encourage them to ask the
teacher to explain how to correct their work.

Encourage your child to read books and texts from the world around them. It all helps
them develop as writers.
Remember there are lots of things you can do by taking an interest and discussing
your child’s written work with them.
Spelling

Many children and adults can get frustrated and sensitive about their spelling.

Spelling ability improves if it is tackled little and often. Reward efforts to learn
spellings with plenty of praise.

It is disheartening to try and tackle too many words at once. The best place to start is
to look at the words that are corrected in your child’s books. The corrections that the
teacher makes will indicate the type of words your child should be tackling.

Help your child by checking that they have got the correct spelling noted down
somewhere. It is best to keep these all in one place, such as a notebook or on a list
on the fridge.

Focus on helping your child learn a maximum of five words a week.

Write down the words and help them see that words can be broken up into parts
such as temper-at-ure.

Some children will want to write out a word several times, repeat it or trace it out with
their fingers. The more active they are the more likely they are to remember it.

From time to time, check to see if your child can remember the spelling and the
meaning of the word securely. If they get a cluster of four or five words correct, then
praise them or give them a small reward. Choose five different words for the next
week.

Admit your own spelling difficulties and show that you look up words in a dictionary.

Encourage your child to look up words in a dictionary and record their corrections.

Remember the ‘look, cover, write, check’ sequence.
Remember spelling can be challenging.
Frequent, short sessions are best and always remember to include plenty of praise.
C. Wallbank
Leading Practitioner
May 2014