SUPPORTING CHILDREN’S READING

Evidence suggests that children who read every day not only perform better in reading tests than those who don’t, but also develop a broader vocabulary, increased general knowledge and a better understanding of other cultures. In fact, there’s evidence to suggest that reading for pleasure is more likely to determine whether a child does well at school than many other factors.

Below are some handy hints to support your child to be a reader. Further advice is available on our School Website.

• Make time to read: research shows that reading with your child for as little as 10 minutes a day can significantly boost how well they do at school. Set aside a regular time every day to read with your child, whether it’s for 10 minutes when they get in from school or reading a bedtime story together. Little and often works best.
• Let your child choose what to read: your child is more likely to enjoy reading if they get to choose what they read. Join your local library for free and help your child explore a wide variety of books from animals and sports to cooking and wizards.
• Explore different reading materials: as well as fiction there is a whole world of comics, magazines, ebooks, audio books and non-fiction for your child to discover.
• Get the whole family involved: encourage your child to read with other family members, such as grandparents, brothers and sisters, and aunts and uncles.
• Bring stories to life: when you read stories out loud with your child, give characters different voices and mannerisms. Try pausing the story and asking your child what happens next. You could also act out parts of the story together.

• Create fun reading challenges at home: on a rainy day you could organise a treasure hunt around the house by giving your child a list of things to find and seeing how quickly they can read the list and collect all the items.
• Be positive: praise your child for trying hard at their reading and let them know it’s alright to make mistakes.
• Be a reading role model: your child learns from you, so seeing you enjoying and valuing books can be a great inspiration!

How to support my child with their school reading book

Appleby Primary School will provide regular advice on how you can read with your child at home. Children may be provided with a school reading book from Reception as they reach a level of confidence to enable them to read at home.

We encourage children to read at home regularly and often (at least five times per week) and your child’s class teacher will provide a reading journal to keep a record of their reading at home. Parents should sign and date this regularly. Below are some helpful tips to support your child with their reading book at home:

When children are developing their skills of decoding and beginning to read books for understanding:

• Find somewhere quiet and comfortable away from distractions
• Start by “sharing” the book. Look together through the pictures. Ask your child to tell you what they think is happening in the story
• As the child reads the story, ask them to point to the words with the pointing finger on their dominant hand.
• Encourage children to segment and blend (sound out) words that are unfamiliar but then tell them the word if they remain unsure after several attempts.
• Allow time for children to self-correct if they make a mistake
• Children should read a book at a 90-95% accuracy rate without intervention – if your child is not maintaining this level of accuracy, speak to their class teacher to arrange to have their reading level assessed in school to support finding an appropriate book.
• As questions about the story and encourage predictions about what will happen.
• Above all else, provide lots of positive feedback and encouragement and show your child the pride and pleasure you take from hearing them read.

As children’s decoding skills and they are able to read independently.

• Strike a balance between listening to your child read and encouraging them to read silently and to themselves.
• Provide children with a quiet and comfortable place to read away from distractions.
• Talk to your child about what they are reading to encourage their comprehension skills.
• Include questions that require the child to make an inference about something from the story such as: “How do you think Harry was feeling when the snake appeared? Why do you think it says his palms were sweaty?”
• Encourage children to develop an understanding of the books and authors that they like and how discuss why they have enjoyed a book and make connections to other reading that they have done.