As the children have made such wonderful progress in reading recently I have decided to give you an updated list of reading tips. Please remember that reading should only ever be completed when your child is willing to do it.  Pictures should still never be covered- we want the children to learn to use the pictures to aid reading.  This is particularly relevant for when they become more confident reading non-fiction texts in the future.

Before Reading

• Continue to talk about the front cover.  What might it be about?  Is it fiction or non-fiction?  What does the title say?  If the title is a tricky title try getting your child to find some words or sounds that they know and encourage them to use the pictures as a clue.  You could tell them one word from the title and see if they can find that word – this can help to break down tricky titles into more manageable chunks. Relate the front cover to their own experience.
• On occasions you may wish to begin or end the reading session by reading the entire book to your child.  I often do this in class.  It allows children to hear an adult modelling expression, use of punctuation and reinforces key vocabulary.

During Reading

• Continue to try relating the pictures to the words.  For example, if the picture shows a wet dog ask your child to find the word ‘wet’ in the text.  This reinforces that the pictures can help us and develops important skills in scanning text and most importantly encourages confidence.
• Encourage your child to experiment more with expression.  We have been doing this in class and it always causes much hilarity! Talk about what the character might be feeling and how this could impact upon his voice.  We have been using speech marks to help us know which parts of a story should be said in a special voice and which should be said in a regular, talking voice.
• Try hunting for openers – these are words that are effective at the start of a sentence.  Openers we have been focussing on are: we, I, The, Once upon a time, first, then.
• Try hunting for connectives – these are words that are used to ‘connect’ sentences together.  We have been focussing on: and, then, next, so, because, when, but.
• If you are aware of a tricky word that your child regularly struggles with try guiding them to it before starting the reading on that page.  I often say, ‘I think the word ‘said’ is on this page, can you find it?’  This gives them ownership of their learning rather than simply pointing out the word.
• Encourage independence.  If your child is willing, he or she, could try reading the independent books without any adult help.

After Reading

• The most important thing to do after reading is to praise your child.  Even if they struggled, please try to find something that they did that was very positive.  Another very important question to ask is did they enjoy it?  Why/why not?
• You could chat about their favourite part or character or, if it is a non-fiction book, you could ask them what new facts they found out.
• Ask some questions about the book.  You could ask what happened first in the story, how it ended, what sad/happy/scary thing happened.  You could ask what the characters were like.
• Get your child to ask you questions.  They always enjoy doing this to check you have been listening.
• Word/punctuation hunt – we often finish with this at the end of a reading session because it reinforces key areas of learning and most importantly, is fun!  Ask your child to close his/her book.  Give him a word to find in his book as quickly as he can.  You could extend this by getting him/her to find a certain type of punctuation or a spelling rule e.g. magic ‘e’, ‘oo’ sound etc or an opener or a connective.