Supporting your Child at Home
Reading
Reading is one of the most important things you can do with your child and it will help them succeed throughout school. It is important to remember that we want our children to love reading so don't become too concerned with the word reading. It is important to make sure you share books you enjoy together too.
HERE ARE SOME WAYS YOU CAN HELP YOUR CHILD WITH READING AT HOME:
Be a reading role model
Let your child see you reading at home and share your excitement and enjoyment with them. It could be anything a book, magazine, newspaper - just show them you are having fun.
Read aloud and enjoy a book together
Reading at home should also involve you reading to your child. Make choosing a book together fun; you could visit a local library or choose a book that is already at home. Our closest library is Belmont. There is also one in the centre of Hereford. Letting your child choose a book out of school is is a good opportunity to allow them to read books that they can’t read themselves yet. A love of reading can be created by letting a child choose a book they desperately want to read, even if it is too hard for them.
Talk, talk, talk
Talk before you start, talk during and talk after you have finished reading a book. Ask questions about the setting and characters, make predictions or talk about your favourite part, the list is endless.
Praise, praise, praise
Like with talking, praise before, during and after reading to instil confidence in your child. Writing about what you have read in your child’s home-school log book, even if it isn't a school book, will allow your child’s teacher to talk to and praise your child for reading at home too.
Use phonic strategies
Ask your child to sound out an unknown word. Look at the letters or sounds in a difficult word and support your child in sounding out them word. Then see if they can blend the sounds together to read the word. Make sure you encourage your child to re-read the section they struggled with to develop fluency and to aid their comprehension of what they have read.
Learn common exception words
Help your child learn how to recognise the common exception, or tricky words that don’t follow a regular pattern. There are words that appear frequently in texts and help readers to understand what they are reading. Once they recognise these words they won’t spend time trying to sound out words that don’t follow a regular pattern and it will help them to become much more fluent readers. A copy of the common exception words for each year group can be found below.