For the month of October, we would like the girls to take out their favourite books and nursery rhymes and read them for 10 minutes every evening.
- Cover of the Story– Start with a conversation. What is this book going to be about? What does the title suggest? What do the pictures suggest? These questions help children to read with purpose.
- Discuss the pictures in the story. Who are the characters? Where are they? What are they doing?
- Prediction– Ask your child what she thinks will happen next in the story.
- Allow your child to sound out and blend some words in the text.
- Search for tricky words and rhyming words in the text.
- Finish the session with discussion and praise. Even if you have only succeeded in reading a few pages in your session, talk to your child about the meaning of what you have just read. This conversation extends vocabulary, aids comprehension and you both will then be excited for the next reading session!
Ways of Reading with your child
Paired reading is when a parent reads with a child to help model good reading and to support the child’s own efforts. There are several kinds of paired reading – try them all to see what works.
* Assisted reading
Read a part of the text and let the child take over at an agreed point. You read every second page, for example, or, if the going is very slow, every second paragraph. This can alleviate frustration.
* Chorus reading
Parent and child read together out loud. This way the child gets a sense of your tone and cadences, where you stop and pause and how you add expression.
* Echo reading
This is very effective for children experiencing significant difficulties with fluency. First you read the sentence. Then you and the child read the sentence together. Finally the child reads the sentence alone.
