Help your child with Reading

READING AT HOME As you know, we are extremely proud of the standard of reading at The Deans.  A key factor in our success is the way we involve parents as partners in the teaching of Reading.  Together, we want to achieve the best we possibly can for all our children.  To this end we have been thinking of ways to improve the guidelines for hearing children read. The new, improved guidelines are as follows: 

During Reading

Help your child to read unknown words by:- 

Breaking the word into separate sounds e.g. b  ea  ch and then putting it back together. 

Breaking the work into separate parts e.g. cat   er   pill   ar  and revealing the word bit by bit. 

Draw your child’s attention to punctuation (commas, full-stops, exclamation marks and speech marks) and discuss how this affects the way the text should be read. 

Discuss the meaning of unfamiliar words.

 

 After Reading – Quick Checks for Understanding (Pick one or two)  

As well as simply reading the words it is very important that your child understands what s/he has read.  We have a range of quick checks for understanding which we use when we are hearing children read.  A child who has understood what s/he has read will be able to do the following:- 

Give a detailed summary of the text i.e. re-tell in their own words 

Actually draw a picture about what is happening in the text or describe in detail. Ask the children ‘Can you see the picture in your head?’ 

Explain why the book/chapter has been given that title 

Explain what is happening in an illustration, including character names etc. 

Explain what a character is like.  Is s/he a good/bad character?  Why? 

Explain what they think will happen next. 

Answer  Who?  Why?  What?  questions about what they have read. 

Make up 3 questions about the text to ask someone else   

NB:     This range of checks can be used equally well by : 

Parents who have read every word along with their child  

Parents of more fluent older readers, who no longer have to hear every word but still need to check whether their child has completed their Reading homework. 

 

In future, we will include this information in the Reading Homework book so you can refer to it when you need it. 

When the teacher sets your child’s reading homework s/he will sometimes refer you to the above points.