May 2018

Eyesight Difficulties

May 24, 2018lucyteachchildrenLeave a comment

Optition

Children will often be unaware that what they see and experience may be different to what we or their friends are seeing. As parents it can be a real shock when your child says “isn’t that what you see?”, as unless the difference is extreme and has an obvious impact on them we can think everything is ok.

Visual difficulties not only affect a child’s ability to read but also their handwriting skills.

If you are not sure about your child’s vision then book an eyesight test, it could be your child is struggling because they need glasses, and they are now cool and don’t carry the stigma they used to.

Some children may not have a problem with their eyesight but find reading print difficult because it seems to move around on the page as they try to read.

When reading a book with your child it is worth talking to them about what they see. Try to be matter of fact, so that they do not feel you are looking for a particular answer. Using a book with a good print size and not too crammed with words (so a school reading book is a good idea) you are looking to find out:

Can they identify each row of text (try asking them to count how many lines on the page or to point to each line of print) or do they jump or miss out lines.
Can they identify words in the line of text or do they sometimes blur together.
Can they see each letter in words or do they sometimes swap them around so “was” becomes “saw” for instance (this does happen occasionally when a child is first learning to read but is more of a concern if it becomes a regular reading error for a number of words).
Does the print do funny things, such as move or wiggle about?

Book an eye test for your child if they are having some, or all, of these difficulties. Also try placing different coloured overlays (coloured plastic wallets are good) over the text to see if your child finds it easier to read or see the print. For many children, struggling with the issues above, coloured overlays or specially tinted glasses can make an amazing difference. We found the impact for our two dyslexic daughters quite dramatic, improving their skills, confidence and self-esteem. It does not work for all children but it is really worth trying.

Some opticians who have an Optometrist or Orthoptist can perform a coloured overlay test (http://www.eyecaretrust.org.uk/view.php?item_id=125) for your child to assess whether coloured lenses would be beneficial. The test can be difficult for children under the age of 8 as they may choose their preferred fashion colour rather than the one best suited for them.

Developing and Supporting Your Child’s Reading Journey – Week 6

May 17, 2018lucyteachchildren1 Comment

Letter Knowledge

Letter knowledge is understanding;

That the same letter can look different, for example, a lower case letter ‘b’ looks different from a capital letter ‘B’. Letters will also look different depending on which font type is being used or if it is handwritten, for example, an Arial font letter ‘g’ looks different from a Calibri font ‘g’.
That letters have names and the same name is used for that letter even when they look different, so the lower case letter ‘a’ and its capital letter form ‘A’ are both called ‘ay’.
That letters (graphemes) are used to represent sounds (phonemes) in words. Teaching the unique letter names of the alphabet is an important pre-phonics skill. A letter or combination of letters can represent more than one sound and so the only way of identifying alphabet letters when we talk about them is to use their unique names.

Developing Letter Knowledge:

Through Play:

Sorting and Matching Games – use plastic or wooden letters, alphabet letter flash cards; can they group all the lower case letters together, or all the capital letters or all the different letter ‘ay’s together.
Kim’s Games – use plastic or wooden letters, alphabet letter flash cards use a few letters at a time, place 5 to 10 on a tray and let your child look at them and talk through which letters are there. Cover with a tea towel and ask your child to look away, then remove 1 or 2 of the letters. Then ask your child to look back and remove the tea towel. Can they spot which letters are missing.
Detective Games – focus on identifying individual letters of the alphabet and naming them, this can be played at home or when out and about.
Leap Frog – use the letters of the alphabet on home-made paper lily pads. Use the letter names to identify the target lily pad for your child to either jump onto or to throw a bean bag/soft toy on to.
Skittles and Throwing Games – use letters of the alphabet on the targets and use the letter names as a way of identifying which of the targets your child is aiming for.

Through Drawing/Writing:

Making lists of things to do, or a shopping list. Their version of the list may be just squiggles and dots (so don’t rely on this for your shopping trip) but it is the beginning. I would keep the list and get them to tick off things done or items purchased as part of the experience so that it has a genuine purpose (children really like this).
Making and drawing their own story book.
Learning to writing letters correctly – see our Teach handwriting Website: http://bit.ly/1dqBYFm

Through Songs/Nursery Rhymes:

Singing Alphabet Song, try singing it to different tunes.
Make up Your Own Rap – point to the letters as the rap is said.

Through Talk:

Talk about letters as being shapes made up of straight, curves and diagonal lines.
Look at the letters in your child’s name, talk about the fact that the first letter in their name is always a capital letter and that normally the other letters are lower case letters.
Point out especially for slightly older children that lower case letters are about half the size of the capital letters.
Compare letters looking at what is the same and different about them.
When taking about letters use the letter name as well as the sound it is making in the word, remember a letter is often used to represent more than one sound. The letter ‘a’ can be used to represent different sounds in the following words: ant, apron, was, and any (just 4 of the eight sounds it is used to represent).

Through Book Sharing:

What Books to choose?

Books with shapes
Books where you have to find things (like I spy)
Alphabet books
Books which use different font styles in the pictures and text.

Book Sharing Tips:

Alphabet books do not need to be read from cover to cover. Let your child choose which letters they want to look at.
Trace the letters with your finger or let your child trace it (make sure you trace the letter using the correct formation orientation, encourage your child to do the same).
Talk about the pictures in alphabet books before focusing on the letter, its name and the sound it can make.
Show your child the first letter in their name and then look for that letter in the book.
Show and talk about how some letters are in their capital form and others in their lower case form. Can they find other examples of the letters?
Choose two letters to talk about: How do they look alike? How do they look different? What shapes/line styles are they made up of?

Developing and Supporting Your Child’s Reading Journey – Week 5

May 10, 2018lucyteachchildrenLeave a comment

Narrative Skills to Support the Understanding of Different Writing Styles

Narrative skills are based on understanding and using expressive language. This is the kind of language we use to describe things and feelings, to tell events in order and to recall and tell stories.

Children develop their narrative skills over time taking prior knowledge, what they already know, and building on this through:

Conceptual thinking; the development of concepts such as shape, colour, the passing of time; as well as developing and using strategies for problem solving and prediction (thinking skills).
Content knowledge; what they already know about the topic/situation; the ability to relate situations to their own experiences, the ability to sequence events in a logical order as well as to sequence processes such as getting dressed or making things.
Understanding that different genres are set out in different ways, story structure such as that used in fairy tales is different from that used for poetry or informational text (explaining things) or instructional text (how to do something) such as a recipe.

Developing Narrative Skills:

Through Play:

Role play different situations; doctor’s, school, office, shops etc.
Dramatic and imaginative play; acting out stories together using props and/or puppets and toys.
Matching and sorting games to develop understanding of concepts such as colour, shape and size.
Puzzles for developing problem solving skills.

Through Drawing/Writing:

Ask your child to draw pictures for a story and you write in the words
Ask your child to draw or write (make mind maps) of the things they already know about something.
Ask them to draw different shapes in different sizes and to use specific colours for them.
With older children make and draw charts and graphs for classifying objects.

Through Songs/Nursery Rhymes:

Children’s songs and nursery rhymes cover a wide range of concepts:

Everyday sequences such as in the nursery rhyme ‘Here we go Round the Mulberry Bush’ which uses the phrase ‘This is the way we…’ to order the event of getting up in the morning.
Introduce concepts such as size, colours, shapes and numbers such as “One, two, three, four, five once I caught a fish alive…”
Tell stories for example ‘Baa Baa Black Sheep’ or ‘We’re going on a Bear Hunt’ by Michael Rosen & Helen Oxenbury.

Through Talk:

As your child explores objects, describe them and their uses; compare and contrast objects.
Remember to give your child time to work things out, or to solve a problem. It can take a child several minutes sometimes to process what they have heard and to formulate a response.
Talk about concepts such as shape, colour, size, texture.
Explain and use language that explains where things are in relation to each other (spatial awareness) such as above, below, on top of, next to, first, etc.
Help your child to develop an awareness of time not just the here and now but what happened in the past and might happen in the future.
Put processes into sequence using things like recipes, making things or how plants grow, the passing of time, weeks, months, seasons etc.
Encourage your child to recount their day or to re-tell a story.
Encourage your child to tell you what they know about something as well as sharing what you know.
When sharing information explain how you learned about it; read it in a book or on the internet or heard it on the TV or radio.
Encourage your child to guess and predict what might happen.
Encourage your child to solve problems or resolve conflicts; if you do it for them explain what you did and why.
Embed conversation into everyday routines such as getting dressed, mealtimes and bedtime.

Through Book Sharing:

What books to choose?

Books that tell a cumulative tale
Books with a natural sequence
Books with a repeated phrase or repetition as part of the story
Poetry Books
Non-fiction Books

Book Sharing Tips

Read books on topics that interest your child.
Ask your child to tell you what they know about the book you are reading.
Encourage your child to join in while sharing a book, saying repeated phrases for example.
Read with expression.
Encourage your child to re-tell the story.
Re-read books so that your child can become familiar with the story, making it easier to re-tell the story.
Relate what is happening in the story to your own child’s experiences or ask then to tell you how it might relate to them.
Use props to tell the story to help your child remember the sequence of the story. They may find using props a great way to re-tell you the story.
Encourage your child to talk about the pictures. Take their lead and try to ask open-ended question (those that cannot be answered by yes or no).
Talk about the books you like and what you like about them.
If your child loses interest, try again another time.
Talk about the pictures in a book or sections of a story and let your child tell you their thought about what is happening and might happen next.

Developing and Supporting Your Child’s Reading Journey – Week 4

May 3, 2018May 2, 2018lucyteachchildrenLeave a comment

Print Awareness to Develop Understanding of Reading Conventions

Print Awareness is knowing that print (words) has meaning, including noticing print around them in the environment (posters & street signs) and understanding how to handle the conventions for reading a book. We can often assume that all young children or pre-readers (as not always young children) will develop print awareness naturally. However, research suggests that 95% of their visual attention is directed towards pictures, which in themselves hold a great deal of meaning and often tell the story very effectively.

Pictures/ illustrations in story books and pure picture books are powerful ways to engage children and adult with books, storytelling and reading. This is not to say that pictures are any easy way to interpret a storyline as they can hold a great deal of meaning, from simple obvious interpretation to more sophisticated symbolic representation.

Young children and pre-readers need opportunities to explore print and be helped to understand that the written word (print) has meaning. Once they start to see print they will begin to notice it everywhere not just in books but on posters, food packets, menus and street signs.

Again we can often assume that a child or pre-reader knows how to handle a book, however this is not always the case and can be due to a lack of experience with books or different cultural reading conventions. So it is important to check and teach these reading conventions for reading English:

Front cover opens to the left and we read it from the front to the back.
Print on a page is read left to right.
Usually print is read from the top of the page across and down (this may differ slightly in some children’s books)

Supporting Print Awareness: