Helping your child with:
Reading
November 2011
The Simple View of Reading-
to become good readers children must develop both word recognition
and language comprehension skills:
“The dog sat on the mat.”
The goal of reading is comprehension –understanding what you are reading.
Learning to read gradually changes to reading to learn
The aim for the 3 books we send home each week–
Book 1 - a text they can read independently, easier than the
one we read together in class
Book 2 - a book at instructional level (read 90 - 94% of the
words correctly).
Book 3 - own choice from class library, any level of ability can be one they can read to you, or for you to read to them
These are the first 7 letters we teach, as they can be combined to make many
words:
s
a
t
p
i
n
c
What does ‘learning a letter’ consist of ?
Distinguishing the shape of the letter from other letter shapes
Recognise and say the sound (phoneme) associated with the letter shape
Recalling the shape of the letter (or selecting it from a display) when given its sound
Writing the shape of the letter with the correct movement, orientation and
relationship to other letters
Naming the letter
Being able to recall and recognise the shape of a letter from its name
ALL AT THE AGE OF 4!
Where do we start?
HANDOUT 1
It is really important to pronounce phonemes (sounds) very clearly and not add ‘uh’
at the end
e.g.
Long sounds - m mmm not muh, n ,
v
w
x
z
s,
f,
l,
j
r
Short sounds -
i
g
c
k
p
t,
b,
Don’t say suh - a - tuh for sat words difficult
d,
can make blending sounds to read words and spell
HiOP PD
Ideas at home for early readers:
Tuning into sounds:
It’s time to get your c –oa- t, coat! Touch your t-oe-s,toes!
Clapping sounds Think of words using the letters
s
a
t
p
i
n
And sound them out clapping each sound (or phoneme)
p
i
n,
p
a
t,
Then blend (or squeeze) the sounds to say the whole word (start of reading)
Then see if they can count how many phonemes they can hear using their fingers :
m
a
n
We start by teaching individual sounds e.g. S
Children are taught to link the sound to:
an image (a snake),
an action - weaving your hand like a snake;
a song
learn the shape of the letter - start like a ‘c’ and curl around
Fast recognition of letters is very important for reading and
recall for spelling so the Reception children are
regularly shown letter cards to call out the phoneme
Terms we use:
Phoneme - a sound in a word
Grapheme - a letter or sequence of letters that represents a phoneme
These words below each have 3 phonemes (separate sounds)
Each of these sounds is represented by a grapheme. A grapheme may consist of
one, two, three or four letters:
1
2
3 sounds
c
a
t
b
ir
d
f
i
sh
kn
igh
t
We convert graphemes to sounds when we are reading aloud.
sh
ou
t
shout ( not s h o u t)
In order to read an unfamiliar word, a child must recognise
each grapheme, not each letter e.g.
sounding out ship as
sh
s
i
h
p
not
i
p
then blend the sounds together to make a word
Have a go: HANDOUT 2
Sound buttons - draw a dot under each phoneme and a long oval for each phoneme
represented by a digraph (ea), trigraph (igh) or where 4 letters(eigh) represent
1 phoneme:
meat
home
could
shout
caught
these
lamb
school
pulled
chief
Which one?
Group of objects with names that have 3 sounds e.g. l -ea-f, sh -ee-p, f - i -sh
Can you find the s -o-ck : child blends the sounds and find the object
I spy
Selection of objects spread out
I spy with my little eye a z-i-p etc When they have found it ask them to segment
the word for you - show you the zip and say z - i – p (stretch the word)
Make it harder by having a group of objects all starting with the same phonemeCat, cap, cup, comb, kite - will really encourage blending right through the sound
and not just relying on the initial sound.
Segmenting - child asks you to pick up from a group of objects with 3 sounds
the c -u -p, d - u - ck so they have to segment the word into its sounds
Children who can hear sounds in words and sound them out accurately are
generally well placed to make a good start in reading.
Word Walls
HAND OUT 3
There are certain words which occur very frequently in children’s books.
They are known as high frequency words.
The children learn them in groups – the word wall we send home.
Many of these words children can sound out to read e.g. had, but etc
Other words they just have to learn as a whole word as you cannot sound
them out e.g. what, said
Play games with them to make them fun to learn– make 2 copies of a word
wall and play:
snap,
fish,
bingo,
make a silly sentence,
climb the ladder etc
Reading a new book –suggestions:
HAND OUT 4
(but you don’t need to do it every time or they will get bored with the routine).
Use the correct vocabulary from the start
•Look at front cover and title- what will it be about?
•Who is the author? e.g. This book was written by a lady called…………..
•Who is the illustrator? The illustrations were drawn by a lady called……..
do you think she is a good artist?
•Look at the blurb on the back cover
•Look through the illustrations -what is the story going to be about?
•Pick up on the characters’ names and use them as they are often difficult
to read
•Stop part way through and ask how he/she thinks it will end
•When reading a description of a character’s actions ask if he can work out
from this what kind of character this is - good, bad, sad, lucky?
Check this as the story develops.
Could you think of a different ending to the story?
If your child is stuck on a word or words.
Don’t tell them the words straight away or they will get used to looking to you for the
answer and not bother to apply strategies they know for reading – so:
•Pause - give them time to think about it
•Encourage them to sound out the phonemes (sounds).
•Break the word down into chunks - can they read part of it, see a smaller word
within the word e.g.broom, is it a compound word? e.g. bedroom, greenhouse
•Tell them to leave that word and read the rest of the sentence.
Now ask them what word they think would make the sentence make sense
• If they still can’t work out what the word says, then tell them what it is
•Reward their efforts with praise.
•Don’t make a fuss about mistakes - we all make them and its how we learn
Reading books at home together:
Research has shown that when parents read to their child for 8
- 10 minutes,
four times a week, their children have higher reading levels than those who
don’t have this experience.
•The main thing to remember when helping your child to read is to keep it fun.
All children will learn to read - the important thing is developing a love of reading so
that they will choose to read as an activity
• Be a good role model - Have books and magazines around the house and let
him/her see you reading.
Lack of reading stamina - When children first start to read they will enjoy showing
you their new-found skills but may not yet have a great deal of reading stamina.
So you could take turns to read.
Let your child start by reading a sentence, a paragraph or a page depending on
their reading ability then you take over and read the same amount.
•If your child makes a fuss when you ask him/her to get out their reading book
Take a break for a few days. If you give them a little breathing space they will
soon be coming back for more.
•What should you do if they lose interest in reading?
Try letting them choose a comic when you are in the shops - same words and way
to work them out is the same as for a book but the presentation of the story and
the supporting pictures may be the kind of help he/she needs most at this stage.
Read instructions together – make a model, follow a recipe, read what will be on
TV before switching on.
•Choose a regular time to read together - make it a routine
•Don’t abandon the bedtime story - children can understand books with stories
more complex than the ones they can read independently. Their interest level is
often beyond their ability to decode the printed page.
Bedtime reading shouldn’t be their school book.
Tips for parents of reluctant boys (or reluctant girls):
Read short stories - quick to read and easy to stick with.
Never try to force your child to read a book that he doesn’t want to.
Instead, try to find books that your son or daughter will be interested in.
Listen to stories on tape –learn the language of stories e.g. once upon a time…….
If you want your son to read, show him that you enjoy reading also.
He will be impressed if his Dad, older brother, grandfather, uncles, cousins or friends
read as well. He will see that it is okay for boys to read.
Dad’s often see their role as kicking a football around with their son, rough and tumble
games, but it is really important to also read with them.
Look out for good role models such as footballers and pop stars seen reading
All children will learn to read.
The important point is that we ensure they will want to read and enjoy
reading for pleasure, for information.
Make it fun
Don’t make it a chore
Enjoy reading together
If you have any questions,or there is anything you need explaining again,
the Reception staff will be more than happy to go through some of these ideas
again with you.
Continue to write questions you may have on the comments part of the weekly
teaching points sheet in your child’s reading folder