1. Supporting your child with literacy in Reception
Parent Workshop – February 2017

2. Aims of the Workshop
Find out about the skills involved in reading and writing
How you can support your child’s literacy development
Answer any questions you may have

3. What skills are involved in reading?
Read this sentence:
Mum is riding the ____________ .
What skills did you need to be able to read it?

4. What skills are involved in writing?
Write a sentence about this picture.
What skills did you need to write it?

5. What skills are involved in reading and writing?
Learning to read and write is complex and involves many different skills.
Young children can practise the component skills in many ways to prepare for learning to read and write. This practice may not always look like preparation for literacy!

6. Let your child read to you for five minutes each day.
Set up a regular time your child can read their short school book to you.
From the earliest reading, we encourage children to make their reading 'sound like talking' - with expression and intonation. It makes it easier to follow what the book is about if you do this and so makes reading easier.
When your child is trying to work out a word, encourage them to use their sounds and think what would make sense.
When your child notices they have made a mistake, give them a moment to try and sort it out and then tell them the word. It is important to keep the reading going and not to slow down too much to work out each word.
Talk about the book after the reading. Reading is primarily about getting meaning so understanding is at least as important as reading

7. Regularly read to your child
Set up a regular time when you usually read to your child - and stick to it!
Enjoy it - chat, laugh, cuddle up. Make reading something your child looks forward to - and that you do too!
Have natural conversations about what you read (rather than asking lots of questions to 'test' their understanding). Phrases like 'I wonder why (or if) ....'; 'That surprised me' (then explain what); 'I wonder what is going to happen! What do you think?'
Encourage your child to ask if s/he doesn't understand and to voice her or his opinion. Even if you know what happens and your child is 'wrong', don't correct them, let them find out as you read on in the story.
Read information books and poems as well as stories.

8. Developing vocabulary and sentence structure
Book language is often different from spoken language. Book language can extend children's range of expression and impact on both reading and writing.
To support your child to develop book language, you can:
Explain unusual vocabulary.
Discuss unusual phrases like 'He couldn't believe his eyes!'; or 'All day she was in a whirl'; or 'She was on top of the world'.
Sometimes point to each word as you read to model one-to-one matching.
Read information books as well as stories to learn extend your child's knowledge and vocabulary.
Get your child to join in with repetitive sentences in familiar, favourite books (The Gingerbread Man, The Bear Hunt, 3 Little Pigs).
Reread favourite books.
Learn/sing nursery rhymes, songs and poems.

9. Beginning to learn and use letter sounds for reading and writing
Before children can learn and use the letter sounds for reading and writing, it is important to develop their listening skills.
To support your child you can:
Play clapping games
Play guess the song
Go on a listening walk (outside or in different rooms in your house)
Play guess the word. You give a definition and your child has to guess the word – then swap roles
Play guess the animal
Play sounds I-Spy – “I spy with my little eye something that starts with the sound mmm”
Sound out words the child is interested in within a sentence
Would you like some s-w-ee-t-s?

11. Real life reading and writing
Children are inspired and motivated by real reasons to read and write:
In shops or cafes read the names of food or toys your child likes
Read and write birthday (and other) cards together
Read the names and logos of their favourite TV programmes
Write shopping lists together. Then read them together when you go to the shops
Write post-it name labels for table place settings
Write room names on post-it notes and let your child put them on the right doors
Write notes to your child and encourage them to write back
Label furniture with post-it notes and muddle them up – let your child put them on the correct items

12. Enjoy it!
Let your child see you enjoying reading and writing and using them for genuine purposes and they will want to do it.
Don’t rush to start your child reading and writing before s/he has the skills they need for it to be easy, purposeful and enjoyable.
Once children decide that reading and writing are too hard, it can be much more difficult to win them over.

13. Any questions?