Play – Page 6

Games to Develop Listening Skills – Part 3

August 2, 2018lucyteachchildrenLeave a comment

Musical Bottles

These games are designed to help a child learn about the different levels of sound, pitch, tone and volume.

Music Fun

Skittle Band – Use or make a drum stick (wooden spoons are good for this) and explore with your child the different sounds the drum stick makes against different objects made of different materials, such as steel saucepan, another wooden spoon, plastic bottles etc. Choose items that are safe and you are happy for them to play with. You could photograph the object and record the sounds they make or video (on your phone), to play back and talk about later on. Try moving the activity outside for a different sound quality experience.
Orchestral Conductor – Once your child is happy and enjoys playing and making sounds, with different objects and instruments, try the conductor game. You can use your hands or a baton to point and encourage them to play certain sounds just like an orchestral conductor does, but make sure you have a clear stop gesture which your child will understand (you may need to say stop at the same time as the gesture to begin with, but they will soon get the idea). Then swap places and you become the musician and they the conductor; it may not be a classic you create but it is great fun. As your child develops their skills you can add new elements and hand gestures to make the sound louder or softer.
Musical Bottles – Use plastic bottles with different amounts of water/sand in them and different things as a beater. Talk about how:
- Low/deep or high pitched a sound is compared with another.
- Using different beaters can change the quality of the sound when used on the same bottle.
- Using different amounts of pressure to hit the bottle makes the sound louder (harsher) or quieter (softer).

Try organizing the bottles in order of pitch to create a musical instrument and using this as part of the Orchestral Conductor game. You could number each bottle or use a different picture on the bottle as a way of encouraging your child to play the bottles in different orders (making music).

Enjoy!

Games to Develop Listening Skills – Part 2

July 26, 2018lucyteachchildrenLeave a comment

Listening Games Scanning

These games are designed to help a child learn how to block out ambient noises so that they focus and concentrate on one particular sound.

Sound Scanning Games

The idea is to identify and talk about different sounds in different locations; in the park or at home in different rooms. Ask the child to listen for a moment (timed activity 30 seconds to start with then increase) and to pick out different sounds they can hear. Some will be close and easier to identify, other sounds may be further away and require more focused concentration to work out what they may be.

Sound Scanning Questions to help:

- - What can you hear that is far away?
  - What can you hear that is close by?
  - What can you hear that is loud?
  - What can you hear that is quiet?
  - What can you hear that makes a high pitched sound?
  - What can you hear that makes a low pitched sound?
  - What can you hear that sounds big?
  - What can you hear that sounds small?

Listening Walk Activities- You could record some of the sounds heard and talked about on the walk. Try changing the ‘What can you …?’ questions to ‘What did you…?’ Depending on your child’s age they may be able to draw a sound scape picture showing all the things they heard on the walk.
Where is the Sound? – The aim of the game is find out where the sound is coming from. Start by using something that makes a good clear sound. Ask your child to cover their eyes (can use a blindfold) and have them sit or stand in the middle of the room. Move around the room, starting not too far away from them and make the sound. Pause between each sound to give your child time to settle and focus on it before you make the next sound. Try to keep an even, slow pace. The aim is for your child to point in the direction they believe the sound is coming from. Gradually move further away, maintaining the same sound level. Swap places with your child, so you have to guess where the sound is coming from.

To make it more challenging:

Change the volume of the noise.
Change the object that is making the noise.
Change the speed (rhythm), as well as the location, at which the sounds are made.

Have Fun!

Games to Develop Listening Skills – Part 1

July 19, 2018lucyteachchildrenLeave a comment

Listening Games

Last week we explained the three things required for good listening skills:

To pay attention – being able to focus on a particular voice or sound by filtering out other voices and ambient noises.
To concentrate on the voice or sounds to take in the information, building the stamina needed to listen for extended periods of time.
To interpret that information to gain meaning – comprehension.

Here are some games to help build these skills.

These games are designed to help a child learn how to block out ambient noises so that they focus and concentrate on one particular sound.

Sound Screen Games

Create a barrier between you and your child so they cannot see the object you are going to use to make noises with and see if they can guess the object. Try to use objects that make sounds that occur around them a lot of the time, for example keys rattling together or wooden blocks being knocked together. There are many variations of the game that can be played but you need to make sure your child has the opportunity to experience the sounds with the relevant object beforehand, if they are not to be frustrated by the game.

Mrs Blog has a box… To the tune of Old Macdonald changing the name as best fits the situation. Place a box, on its side with a number of objects inside that make a noise (choose items your child is familiar with the sound of) between you and your child so they can’t see what is in the box. Start singing “My mummy has a box ee, i, ee, i, o and in that box she has…” Stop and gesture to encourage your child to listen (maybe a cupped hand to your ear) then pick one of the objects and make a sound; your child then tries to guess what it is. Continue to sing but imitating the sound of the object you played, which your child can now see. If it was a bunch of keys for example; “with a jingle, jangle here and a jingle jangle there, my mummy has a box ee, i, ee, i, o.” Swap places so your child can choose an object in the box, change the song so you are using their name, for example “My James has a box…”
Same or Different? Place a barrier between you and your child so they cannot see which object you will use to make a sound and that you duck behind so they cannot see your face when you make vocal sounds. This can be played at different levels. At the basic level using animal noises such as baa , moo, woof etc. A more complex level would be to use shakers with different size things inside to make different shaking sounds. Plastic containers or bags of the same size and type can be used to make the shakers with different small items in such as dried pea, rice, sand or small coins, pebbles or small lego bricks. Make the noise once and then repeat either with the same noise or a different one. The child then says if they a were the same or different.
Copy Cat! Place a barrier between you and your child so they cannot see which object you will use to make a sound and that you duck behind so they cannot see your face when you make vocal sounds. You will need two set of the same objects, a set for you and one for your child. The aim of the game is for you to make a noise with either an object or your voice and for your child to copy that sound choosing the correct object in front of them or using their voice as you did. The game can become more complicated as you mix a number of sounds using objects and your voice. Swap roles so that your child becomes the leader of the game and you have to copy them.

Have Fun!

N.B. Be careful of small objects escaping from shakers etc. as these can be a choke hazard.

The Sun is out!

June 28, 2018lucyteachchildrenLeave a comment

It’s June, the weather is perfect, so why not set up water squirting games in the garden. The kids are waterproof and everything else will dry out, eventually!

This week on our Teach Handwriting Blog we have encouraged water fights and games for developing a child’s hand strength, co-ordination and eye tracking skills (all handwriting skills). However these games are also fantastic for developing sound and word awareness skills.

Try mimicking the sounds that the water makes as it drips on to the floor or hits the targets; use directional language to support your child’s aiming skills; describe how the objects move when hit: bouncing, rolling or flying and talk through the emotions evoked through playing the games.

As well as supporting your child in developing a whole range of physical and language skills you will also increase your cool adult status.

Some fun water games:

Try setting up a target wall, using chalk to draw the targets.
- How many of the targets can you hit with water squirted from a water pistol or squeeze bottle in a set time.
- How many targets can be washed off.
Set up a skittles range.
- Each skittle hit with water can be worth a certain number of points, or the distance of the skittles may affect their value.
- A time trial game to hit all the skittles. If you are using plastic bottles as skittles try making some of them a little heavier by putting sand or dirt in them to make it a bit harder to knock them over.
Move the object race games.
- A light toy/ball has to be moved by squirts of water over a distance.
- A range of objects moved in to target areas to gain points.

The only limitation is you and your child’s imagination and trust me kids never tire of finding new ways to play with water (but then again neither do many adults)!

Have FUN!

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:

Through Play:

Use takeaway menus or create your own as part of role playtime, they could have their own café serving up all sorts of interesting dishes for you. A blackboard can be very useful for this, allowing you or your child to write up their own menu for the day.
Travel brochures or leaflets from your local tourist information office are great for roleplay encouraging new language as well as a different way to explore print as they often have maps and timetables.
Use sticky labels or post it notes to label items or furniture as part of a ‘can you see or find’ game.

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).
For slightly older children making simple invitations and thank you cards can be fun. Ttry not to make the messages too long or to write too many as they will get bored and see it as a chore not as fun.
Making and drawing their own story book.

Through Songs/Nursery Rhymes:

Showing the printed words to songs and rhymes

Through Talk:

Point out signs, logos and labels when out and about as well as at home.
A lot of print awareness skills is developed through the sharing of books and appropriate on-line material.

Through Book Sharing:

What Books to choose?

Books that have writing as part of the story
Books that have writing as part of the picture
Story books; all types
Factual (non-fiction) books; all types
Comics
Children’s magazines and newspapers

Book Sharing Tips

Remember babies will chew and bash the pages of the book as you read. This is normal and part of their learning experience so go with it.
Encourage and let your child turn the pages.
Point to the words of the title as you say them
Explain what the author and illustrator do as you say their names.
Point to words or repeated phrases as you say them and or as your child says them. This will also help your to develop the skill of reading from left to right and from the top of the page down (English).
Point to words of interest and explain how words have spaces between them and why.
To help your child understand how to handle a book use the word ‘front’ and ‘back’ of the book. If you are handed a book upside down or with the ‘back’ cover facing you explain that you have to turn it around or over so that you can read it.
Explain that page numbers help you to find things in the book as well as to help make sure you do not miss any part of the story.
Explain that content pages in story books show the chapters and in factual (non-fiction) they show different subject areas, as well as giving the page numbers on which to find them.
Explain how the index page in non-fiction books work
Explain what a glossary is in a book.

Developing and Supporting Your Child’s Reading Journey – Week 2

April 19, 2018lucyteachchildrenLeave a comment

Phonological Awareness Games and Book Sharing Ideas

Phonological awareness relates to our sensitivity and understanding of the sound structures of our oral language. It enables us to progress from our awareness of large sound units (words in sentences) to smaller sound units (phonemes in words).

Our phonological awareness develops over time and the depth of that awareness is based on the range of experiences we have. Research suggests that our phonological awareness begins in the womb at about 24 weeks and is continually built upon throughout our lives. We tend to think of children going through ten distinct phonological stages; the later stages being related to phonics.

Children are taught to read in schools through phonics; the association between sounds (phonemes) to written alphabet letters (graphemes).

Phonics reading is the process of firstly segmenting the written word into letters, or letter combinations, then associating known sounds to those letters and finally blending the sounds together to form words (decoding). If a child is weak in any of the phonological awareness stages before those relating to phonics then they will struggle with learning to read.

Because of the nature of how we develop our phonological awareness games and activities cannot easily be split into categories. Playing, drawing, writing, singing and book sharing all require you to talk with your child highlighting sounds, words and rhythms of language.

Here are some games and activities to help you:

Singing and sharing nursery rhymes is a great way to help children hear sounds in words because the words are drawn out and the sounds highlighted or exaggerated.
Clapping, bouncing or tapping to songs and rhymes helps to highlight the syllables of the words. A syllable is the largest phonological unit (one or a group of sounds) of a word and is like the rhythmic beat of the word.
Point out the sounds you hear such as animal or environmental noises and explain what is making that noise.
Play games or sing songs where you and your child can make noises such as animal sounds (Old MacDonald had a farm) or vehicle noises (The Wheels on the Bus).
Draw animal or other every day objects that have a distinct sound, name them and make the sound they produce.

Book Sharing

What books should you choose?

Books with sounds of animals and other things
Nursery Rhymes
Book formatted from songs
Books with rhyme and alliteration
Poetry books
Any book really, remember your local library can help you to chose a good range of books to share with your child if you are not sure.

Book Sharing Tips

Don’t be shy, make animal and object noises. If you are self-conscious about it your child will pick up on this. No one thinks twice about an adult making what may appear to be strange noise if they are sharing them with a child (its when you forget they are not with you and you do it that they tend to look at a you a bit funny).
Talk about whether a book rhymes or not. Point out the rhyming words, make up other rhyming words for any of the words in the book. Remember they do not have to be real words they can be silly funny words that pick up the rhyming sounds in the original word.
It is important to remember for some children saying a word that rhymes with one you have given can be very difficult if not impossible. So, don’t stress them out with this, it is often easier for them to recognise a rhyme than to make one. You could ask them to tell you if two words you give rhyme or not. If they find this easy try giving them three words with only two that rhyme and ask them to identify the rhyming words.
After sharing the book pick out words that you can clap out the syllables for. You could make this into a jumping or hopping game instead. With older children ask then to tell you how many syllables the word has and then to check their answer by counting the number of claps or jumps they make.
Play an ‘I Spy’ game using the pictures in the book looking for rhyming words for instance by giving clues such as; “It is red and rhymes with the word sock.” The answer is clock.

Developing and Supporting Your Child’s Reading Journey – Week 1

April 12, 2018lucyteachchildrenLeave a comment

How to Develop a Child’s Interest in Books and Reading

Research suggests that children who enjoy books are more likely to want to learn to read and will keep trying even when they find it hard. Therefore, it is important to keep their interaction around books a positive one.

Through Play

Books come in all shapes and sizes and are made from various materials.

Have a few bath books, even if most of the time your baby or toddler just chews on them they will be handling a book, possibly turning the pages. Giving you the opportunity to talk about the pictures with them.
Try to have a range of cloth, hard books and suitable picture books around the house and in your child’s play area so they can pick them up at any time. This way they can explore them for themselves (even if it is to give them a quick chew on) not always as an adult sharing activity.

Through Drawing & Writing

Drawing and making your own simple story book can be a great way of getting your child interested in books and reading. Children love to hear stories about them. Simple homemade books about them can be a great way of introducing children to books and reading. This can be a very effective approach to encourage reluctant readers.

Draw simple pictures with, or for your child, and talk through what you are drawing for example; a picture of house with matchstick people. The pictures could be telling the events of the day for example going to the park or walking the dog.
If drawing is not your thing (like me) use fuzzy felt instead to make a picture to share the story of their day.

Through Songs and Nursery Rhymes

Children’s songs and nursery rhymes cover a wide range of concepts from going through every day sequences such as in 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. Some introduce concept such as size, numbers, colours and shapes. While others tell stories for example ‘Baa Baa Black Sheep’ or ‘We’re going on a Bear Hunt’ by Michael Rosen & Helen Oxenbury.

Sharing books that enable you and your child to sing along (retell) their favourite songs and nursery rhymes means that the child knows what to expect and that they are going to have fun and enjoy the experience. Over time you will then be able to introduce books with new songs and nursery rhymes, building on your child’s positive experience of other book sharing sessions with you. Remember you may have to revert back to the old favourite time and time again but stick with it.

Through Book Sharing

What books should you choose?

Pick children’s books you enjoy
Pick books your child enjoys
Give your child time to choose and look at books (your local library is a great place for this).
Follow your child’s interests
Use ‘true’ books and stories (not those specifically written for developing phonics knowledge or rigidly structured reading scheme books for teaching and learning to read, these will come from school and serve a different purpose).

Book Sharing Tips

Remember that a child’s age personality, mood and stage of development will affect how they interact with the book.
Keep the interaction around the book positive and fun, if you are not enjoying it your child will pick up on this.
Keep your child involved, remember you do not have to read the book word for word, it is the positive sharing experience that is important.
If your child does not seem interested in reading or sharing books, start slowly by sharing /reading one or two pages at a time. Keep the interaction positive and over time their interest will grow.
If your child is showing no interest then try again another time.
When reading a book with your child that you really like then tell them that you like the book or story. Your child may not agree with you and insist on their favourite book which after reading for the 500^th time you may be bored with but keep with it, there will be another favourite book!
Try to share books throughout the day not just at nap and bed times. I found having a couple of books in my bag really useful as I could then share a book with one of my girl’s while the other was swimming or with them both while waiting for the bus or sharing tea and cake in a café.
Read with your child every day. There are some days where this just seems impossible to manage. Remember one minute is better than no minutes and it does not have to be a book you are reading, there are lots of environment reading matter you could use such as painting/pictures, posters, advertisement, road signs and maps.

Bring the Fun Back into Reading with your Child

April 6, 2018lucyteachchildrenLeave a comment

Kids Playing

The importance of reading to, and with, your child can’t be overemphasized. The more your child gets exposed to words and enjoys the reading experience the quicker they will learn to read for themselves.

From next week, we will be starting a six-week series on ‘Developing and Supporting Your Child’s Reading Journey’. Each week we will look at a different reading skill element, giving example games and activities you can use to support and develop your child through:

Play
Drawing/Writing
Book Sharing
Talk & Song

‘Developing and Supporting Your Child’s Reading Journey’ Series:

Week 1. How to develop a child’s interest in books and reading.
Week 2. Phonological awareness skills required for reading.
Week 3. Vocabulary development for comprehension.
Week 4. Print awareness to develop understanding of reading conventions.
Week 5. Narrative skills to support the understanding of different writing styles.
Week 6. Letter knowledge