Helping Your Child With Reading

Although your child is heard to read regularly in school. there is not the time to hear them read daily or as frequently as they all need to read.

Across the school, but particularly in Class 1 and 2, there remain some pupils whose reading comprehension is a significant cause of concern for us. The best way to encourage better reading comprehension (understanding what is being read), is to encourage reading!

If your child is reluctant to read aloud, talking about books and stories can also help. Talk about the cover and title of the book. What do they think the story will be about?

Don’t correct children too quickly. Can they use clues from the story to make out unknown words?

If your child is struggling to read the words, take over and read it for them.

Talk about the story together at the end.

As your child progresses, talk about characters and plots of stories. Do they like certain characters? Do they think the character was right or wrong?

If your children find reading difficult, comprehension can be taught through pictures. What can they see? Why are these characters doing these things ? Etc.

If your child is a reluctant reader, use recent films to help reading. Encourage them to compare the film (Cat in the Hat, Harry Potter and a Series of Unfortunate Events) with the book. Which one did they prefer?

We hope you find these prompts helpful, remember teachers are here to help if you would like us to expand on any of these suggestions.