The two reading grids below, provide additional questions and activities which can be used when reading stories.
Reading Discussion Prompts
Reading Bingo
Research has found that reading storybooks to children is one of the most important activities for developing the knowledge required for eventual success in reading … In addition, reading to children also stimulates them to read books themselves and further develop their cognitive skills (Canoy et al., 2006).
We see this daily in school and research shows that the more children read, developing these cognitive skills, the better they perform in all aspects of their lives.
Reading involves two key skills
1 Reading words: Using the knowledge of sounds, words we know by sight, clues from pictures or text to tackle new words.
2 Understanding what we are reading: Pupils at this Early level are developing a deeper understanding of texts. Most can already relate to characters and setting and are now developing an understanding of plot, genre and answering more questions about what is happening in a story.
How do children learn to read?
Children learn to read by developing skills of decoding and then by understanding what they read.
Initially pupils will learn single phonemes c, a, t, etc. They then learn some letters can go together to create ‘sh’ for ship or ‘ee’ as in sheep– these are called joined phonemes.
Rhyme is important. Children should be able to hear rhyming words and by teaching them to recognise these they can they read words like ‘bin and pin’.
Common words are learned as sight vocabulary. Games and activities are used to reinforce the recognition of these. For example: I, to, is, are, you, play, etc.
Understanding comes from reading a variety of texts and talking about what the words mean and what the author wants us to know.
Reading together
Please encourage your child to place their finger under each word as they say it.
The following strategies and ideas are suggestions of how to support your child in developing their reading skills. It’s best to read little and often, so try to put aside some time for reading every day. When reading with your child encourage them to use the punctuation for clues; pause for a comma/full stop, show expression for speech/exclamation marks/question marks. It is important that you model this when reading to your child.
Reading Strategies
Within Early level children will start to develop skills such as Predicting, Connecting and Comparing. These are called Reading Strategies.
PREDICTING: What do you think is going to happen next?
CONNECTING: Have you been at a place like the one in the book? Have you read another story like this?
COMPARING: Can you find differences/ similarities between texts?
VISUALISING: What do you think a character looks like? Where is the story set?
SCANNING: Scan the text for common words, this week’s spelling words, this week’s phonemes or words they find tricky to read
SUMMARISING: Can you retell the story in your own words? Identify the beginning, middle and end of the book
Understanding a text
In class your child will be developing skills in reading a variety of texts. Understanding a text is not just knowing what happens in a story, it’s much more. Pupils will be practising skills in class to equip them for later life . Reading strategies enable a child to deepen their understanding of a text and become a “Thinking Reader”.
Questions to ask your child to help focus them as a reader
Before Reading: What is the story about? What can you tell from the front cover? Do you know anything about the story? Have you seen a character like this before? Talk about the illustrator and author.
During Reading: Read the story together, pointing at the words as you and your child read. If your child is, or as they become more confident, allow them to read on their own. Who/what are the main characters? Are there any words you don’t understand? What is happening in the pictures?
After Reading: What is this story about? Did you enjoy this book? Why? What happened in the story? Can you retell it? Draw a picture of the book character and surround it with words to describe them? How did the story make you feel?
As pupils become more confident readers, they will be taught skills like scanning. They can find words in the text with a certain rhyme or phonic pattern or an answer to a question. This is called ‘Find it!’
Tips to help an Early Level reader
1 Encourage your child to read as much as possible, offering a quiet, calm place to read and sit side by side.
2 Allow your child to read aloud for a short time (about 10-15 mins) daily.
3 Allow your child to choose books that capture their interest.
4 Discuss the book you have read with your child.
5 Visit the library to choose books together.
6 Give lots of praise and encouragement.
7 Allow your child to read a variety of texts, if they don’t like the book, change it.
8 Model good reading habits by being an active reader yourself.
9 Read a book together, point to the words as you read.
10 Play games and activities to help make learning sight vocabulary fun.
Reading Behaviours
Books are colour coded to indicate level. Throughout primary 1 most children will be working through lilac, pink, red, yellow, blue and green levels. The reading behaviours associated with each level are below for your information.
Lilac Reading Behaviours
Knows book term: book
Knows book term: cover
Knows book term: title
Knows book term: page
Knows book term: beginning
Knows book term: end
Can point to title and word in title
Can identify main character in fiction books
Grasp story structure: beginning, middle, end
Can retell simple story in own words
Pink Reading Behaviours
Can locate title
Can open front cover
Can turn pages appropriately
Understands that the left page comes before the right page
Understands that print is read from left to right
Can match spoken word to printed word (places finger under each word as they say it)
Can recognise common words
Uses decoding skills to read simple words
Can talk about the story drawing on own experiences and preferences
Red Reading Behaviours
Can locate and recall title
Has secure control of matching spoken word to printed word
Uses known words to check and confirm reading
Recognises common words
Is beginning to read more rhythmically in phrases
Repeats words, phrases or sentences to check, confirm or modify own reading
Uses decoding skills to attempt new words
Can identify a word and a letter
Can locate a capital letter and a full stop
Can read with expression
Can locate captions (non-fiction)
Confirms reading by checking illustrations and diagrams (non-fiction)
Yellow Reading Behaviours
Follows print with eyes only.
Finger-points only at points of difficulty.
Reads naturally, taking note of punctuation, grammar and oral language rhythms.
Cross-checks all sources of information more quickly when reading.
Analyses print to predict, confirm or attempt new words while reading.
Notices relationships between one text and another.
Uses decoding skills to tackle new and more complex words.
Predicts content in more detail.
Reads and uses simple captions, charts and instructions. (Non-Fiction)
Recognises layout of different types of text. (Non-Fiction)
Most importantly, remember, reading should be fun!
