Encouraging reading at home

1. Encouraging reading at home Wednesday 26th September 2018

2. The national curriculum for English aims to ensure that all pupils: • read easily, fluently and with good understanding • develop the habit of reading widely and often, for both pleasure and information • acquire a wide vocabulary, an understanding of grammar and knowledge of linguistic conventions for reading, writing and spoken language • appreciate our rich and varied literary heritage

3. Reading • word reading • comprehension (both listening and reading)

4. Word Reading Skilled word reading involves both the speedy working out of the pronunciation of unfamiliar printed words (decoding) and the speedy recognition of familiar printed words. 

5. Comprehension (both listening and reading) Good comprehension draws from linguistic knowledge (in particular of vocabulary and grammar) and on knowledge of the world. Comprehension skills develop through pupils’ experience of high-quality discussion, as well as from reading and discussing a range of stories, poems and non-fiction. All pupils must be encouraged to read widely across both fiction and non-fiction to develop their knowledge of themselves and the world they live in, to establish an appreciation and love of reading, and to gain knowledge across the curriculum. Reading widely and often increases pupils’ vocabulary because they encounter words they would rarely hear or use in everyday speech. Reading also feeds pupils’ imagination and opens up a treasure house of wonder and joy for curious young minds.

6. “If children do not enjoy reading when they are young, then they are unlikely to do so when they get older.“ • Your child reading to you • You reading to your child • ‘Playing tennis’. Take it in turns to read a page of the book, or a paragraph each • Read in character by taking on a character each and read each of their lines of dialogue in your best expressive voice! • Model reading a sentence or paragraph, then asking your child to imitate how you read

7. Read a variety of texts "Introduce children to a wide variety of texts, mediums and genres – they may surprise themselves once they have faced preconceived ideas about what they consider enjoyable and embrace a diversity in what they read. Comics, ebooks, short stories, online articles and magazines shouldn't be ignored”

8. Question the children about their reading • Literal: The answer is right there in the text. • Deductive: The answers are found in different parts of the story and they might have to apply prior knowledge or personal experience to an answer. • Evaluative: The answer is not in the story, it is your child’s opinion and thoughts.

9. Complexity Grid