Clapham Terrace Community Primary SchoolBedtime story event 2013

Why encourage your child to read? A reading child is, quite simply, a successful child.

The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has concluded that reading for pleasure is even more important than social class in determining academic success.

When children read often and with enthusiasm, usually just for the sheer fun of it, they lay foundations that last for life.

They learn to empathise.

They access information more easily.

Almost by osmosis they internalise the essential skills of spelling, grammar and vocabulary.

They learn to express themselves verbally and in writing.

Children who are read to every day at age three have a vocabulary at age five which is nearly two months more advanced than those who are not.

A child taken to the library on a monthly basis from ages three to five is two and a half months ahead of an equivalent child at age five who did not visit the library so regularly.

Adolescents entering the adult world in the 21st century will read and write more than at any other time in human history. They will need advanced levels of literacy to perform their jobs, run their households, act as citizens, and conduct their personal lives. They will need literacy to cope with the flood of information they will find everywhere they turn and to feed their imaginations so they can create the world of the future.

In a complex and sometimes even dangerous world, their ability to read can be crucial.

Why encourage your child to read?

Top tips for reading to children:

1. Do the voices

2. Keep them guessing Ask questions about what you think will happen next

3. Always leave them wanting more Stop reading at the end of the chapter or mid sentence to build suspense and act as a cliffhanger so they want to find out more!

4. Build it into your daily routine

Book talk As children learn to read, sometimes what they focus on

working out what the words say and forget about the story.

To make sure children learn the two skills together, ask open questions to get them thinking. In the story of The Gruffalo, you could ask, ‘How do you think the mouse is feeling when he meets the Gruffalo?’ or ‘How do you think the roasted fox is made?’

Other questions to encourage book talk could include:

Where do you think they are going? What might happen next? Which way would you go? Which character would you like to be? Why?

What is phonics and how can I help my child at home?

Phonics

Phonics termsPhoneme – the smallest unit of sound found in a

word e.g. aDigraph – two letters making one sound e.g. shSplit digraph – where a vowel makes a long

sound when not adjacent to the letter e e.g. make five stone even tube

Trigraph – three letters making one sound e.g. igh

Tricky words – words which we cannot sound out e.g. The

CVC words – three letter words with a consonant, vowel, consonant

Phonics termsBlending – putting the separate

sounds together to make a word e.g. c / a / t = cat

Segmenting – break down a whole word into individual sounds

e.g. ship = sh / i / p

Phonics stages and assessmentLetters and sounds phases: Phase 1 - Nursery – ongoing: awareness of rhyme and

alliteration Phase 2 – Reception for 6 weeks: cvc words and vowels Phase 3 – 12 weeks: all phonemes and some long and

short digraphs e.g. sh and oo Phase 4 – 6 weeks: blending words with adjacent

consonants e.g. w-e-n-t Phase 5 – Year 1: new graphemes and alternate

pronunciations e.g. ow in now and snow Phase 6 – Year 2: focus on spelling rules for word

endings e.g. adding ed or ing to a word.

Phonics stages and assessmentPhonics screening check: At the end of year 1 all pupils are tested using the

statutory Phonics Screening Check It allows us to assess pupils to find out if they have learned

phonics decoding skills to an age-appropriate standard. Children who have not reached this level by the end of

year 1 will receive addition phonics support in year 2 The check consists of 40 words containing a mixture of

real and pseudo-words (these pseudo words are accompanied by a picture of an alien to provide a context)

thuzz orb

How to help at homeSing songs and nursery rhymes and tap

out the beatPlay the robot game – d – o – gPlay I spy with a sound focus e.g. words

beginning with s or words with the oo sound

Online games on phonics play websitehttp://www.phonicsplay.co.uk/freeIndex.htmhttp://www.hairyphonics.comUse phonics terminology when reading with your child

Thank you