Reading with Children – Hints and Hacks
READING packs have been created to support parents in helping younger children acquire the phonics skills they need to be successful in school. While useful at any time, they are particularly beneficial during the coronavirus restrictions with most children unable to attend school or having their education disrupted.
The resources include four booklets, three of which support phonics and are sequential:
- Reading at Home with your Child: A booklet full of ideas for reading for pleasure at home with your child.
- Phase 1 Games to Play at Home: Pre-phonics games set at the easiest access level.
- Rhyme Pack for Parents: Full of rhyming games to enjoy together.
- Phonics at Home Booklet: Phonics games and strategies to try.
To help make reading enjoyable and fun:
- Make books part of your family life – Always have books around so that you and your children are ready to read whenever there’s a chance.
- Join your local library – Get your child a library card. You’ll find tons and tons of fantastic books. Allow them to pick their own books, encouraging their own interests.
- Match their interests – Help them find the right book - it doesn’t matter if it’s fiction, poetry, comic books or non-fiction.
- All reading is good – Don’t discount non-fiction, comics, graphic novels, magazines and leaflets. Reading is reading and it is all-good.
- Get comfortable! – Snuggle up somewhere warm and cosy with your child, either in bed, on a beanbag or on the sofa, or make sure they have somewhere comfy when reading alone.
- Ask questions – To keep them interested in the story, ask your child questions as you read such as, ‘What do you think will happen next?’ or ‘Where did we get to last night? Can you remember what had happened already?’
- Read whenever you get the chance – Bring along a book or magazine for any time your child has to wait, such as at a doctor’s surgery.
- Read again and again – Encourage your child to re-read favourite books and poems. Re-reading helps to build up fluency and confidence.
- Bedtime stories – Regularly read with your child or children at bedtime. It’s a great way to end the day and to spend valuable time with your child.
- Rhyme and repetition – Books and poems which include rhyme and repetition are great for encouraging your child or children to join in and remember the words.
