St. Andrews C/W Primary School

You are here:

Reading with your child

Don’t keep them guessing for a long time if they can ‘t say a new word - help them sound it out slowly then say it faster together.
Praise them when they work out a new word for themselves, or when they go back and put right a word they got wrong the first time.
Sing rhymes to help them hear how letters make the same pattern in different words.
Play ‘odd one out’ games. For example, which word is the odd one in a list like cat, mat, dog, sat? The answer is dog because it ends in ‘og’ not ‘at’.
‘I-spy’ is a great way of showing how every word begins with a sound.
Encourage your child to choose a book for you to read together. Decide why you liked it or did not like it. What were your favourite bits?.
Try and find a regular time to sit quietly with them and read a story and then talk about it together, asking them what happened, and who did what and what happened next.

Talk to them about the work they are doing in schools. Do they have a writing or reading target?.
Contact the schools and ask if they have a booster programme or homework you can support.
Talk about the ideas in books, stories, papers, on TV.
Encourage them to read everyday print like TV guides, catalogues and instructions. Talk about important points.
Encourage them to write in diaries, scrapbooks or on a computer.
Help them with spelling words. Make up games to check how well they remember.
When they are reading, give them your full attention. You don’t have to correct all their mistakes as long as they get the general idea of the story right.