A focus on early reading skills has been one of our priorities this year in Nursery. We would like to share a few suggestions to support anyone who feels they would like a little advice when reading to their children.
• Find a comfy place to look at a book together ideally with no other distractions.
• Encourage your child to choose their own book to look at with you. Young children love to hear a familiar story again and again. This helps them to process the story and join in with the storytelling.
• Show your child how much you enjoy reading through your voice and facial expression.
• Talk about who is in the story. Use the clues on the cover of the book to help predict this.
• Talk about what they think may happen next in the story, encouraging them to use the picture clues.
• Use the terms ‘author’, ‘title’ and illustrator’ when starting to read a book. These may seem like sophisticated words for a young child but we use them in Nursery when reading a story and your child may well surprise you by knowing what they mean.
• Talk about where the story is set – is it at the farm, in the woods … ?
• Discuss how the characters might feel.
• Can your child hold the book the right way up with the front facing him/her?
• Can he/she turn the pages one at a time?
• Can he/she identify a picture and text?
• Can he/she read from left to right and top to bottom?
• With support, can he/she retell a familiar story using the pictures in the book as a prompt?
• Create a new ending for your story.
• Act out the story with his/her family, toys or puppets.
As well as books you may have at home, there are a range of websites providing online stories. As a starting point you could try these sites.
https://www.topmarks.co.uk/Interactive.aspx?cat=39
https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/stories
Above all, have fun reading together. There are so many wonderful stories out there waiting for us all.
