1. "The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more you learn, the more places you'll go." — Dr. Seuss "Children are made readers on the laps of their parents." — David Walliams "When I say to a parent, "read to a child", I don't want it to sound like medicine. I want it to sound like chocolate. " — Roald Dahl "Fill your house with stacks of books, in all the crannies and all the nooks." — Dr. Seuss “Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body.” – Richard Steele

2. Reading is the window to every subject, so it is crucial that children leave Primary School being able to read and have an understanding of what they have read. So.........

3. Top Tips Read with your child regularly (obvious but essential) Play games to make reading fun e.g. Can you find a word that rhymes with …..? Can you find a word that means the same as…..? Can you find three words on the page that …..? Read just about anything! From cereal boxes, newspapers, leaflets, recipes If your child is struggling/not wanting to read - read to them and help the book to come alive with voices and expressions. Discuss their books and ask different questions when listening to your child read (we have some question prompts for you to take away)

4. Where our spellings come from Letters and sounds New National Curriculum – phonics from year groups New National Curriculum – year group spelling lists

5. Ways to learn spellings Play games Look, cover, write and check Computer games Mnemonics – e.g. because Write on the computer Say it like it’s spelt

6. Full Circle Start with a word, change one letter each time to make a new word, come back to the word you started with, call out “Full Circle.”

7. Adding up my word Write out each of your spellings Station, celebration, attention, presentation, potion. Add up the value of each word according to the point score: 1. Consonants = 5 points Vowels = 5 points 2. Syllables = 10 points Which word scored the most or the least?

8. Write a story Write a story using all the spellings from your list E.g. Once upon a time there was a witch who made an amazing new potion. It came to her attention that there was going to be a celebration at the nearby station so she carefully planned the presentation of her new spell!

9. The new curriculum requires children to be familiar with grammatical terms. There are set terms for each year group starting at year one. Knowing the terminology can be hard but there are websites and resources available to help. Edufind.com provides a fantastic guide to English grammar. It explains terminology and gives plenty of examples.

11. Handwriting The new National Curriculum (NC) places increased emphasis on handwriting, with objectives for each year group. Children need to develop a fluent joined style for neat recording of work, note-taking and dictation. Handwriting is closely linked to spelling. The National Curriculum states that handwriting requires ‘frequent and discrete, direct teaching’. At Bengeo we teach regular whole class and small group sessions, sometimes called ‘Handwriting Club’. The NC states that children should start joining by Year 2 but at Bengeo we start earlier than this and children are introduced to the cursive script in Reception. We award ‘Pen Licences’ when children are joining fluently.

12. www.letter-join.co.uk This website is used in school. Parents can subscribe to a home version. The website uses animations to teach patterns and joins. You can print off worksheets to use at home.

13. www.teachhandwriting.co.uk This website is similar to Letter Join but is free to use. The continuous cursive is the closest to the style we use. To achieve neat joined cursive writing children need gross and fine motor skills. This website has a large section of games and activities you can do at home to develop your child’s pencil control. There is detailed advice on the development of handwriting skills.

14. Any Questions?