Parent’s Reading Workshop

“ All children are ready to learn something, but some start their learning from a different place ” Marie Clay, 2002, p.9 “ We can provide appropriate opportunities fro children to learn…. To expand outwards from the various competencies that the child already has ” M. Clay,2002, p.10

Wave 1: for most children - Quality First Teaching Wave 2: for those children just below age expectations - Early Literacy Support, Better Reading Partnership Wave 3: children struggling- Fischer Family Trust Wave 3: Lowest attaining children – Reading Recovery

What is reading? A problem solving, message getting activity All readers need to find and use different kinds of information in print They need to combine this information with what they already know from their past experiences with language

Rg rh hfmmb glwzb yfg glnliild rg droo izrm. Clues! r= i, g=t o=l

What kinds of information must be used? Knowledge of how the world works The possible meanings of the text The sentence structures of language Rules about the order of ideas, words, and letters The alphabet Special features of sounds, shapes and layout Punctuation rules Special knowledge about books and book language Wide ranging literacy experiences

What does a good/poor reader look like? Discuss a few ideas!

A Good Reader Appears to focus on the meaning of the text Anticipates and checks rapidly searching with eyes Picks up on visual information Picks up on letter-sound correspondence Picks up on clusters of letters or words already known Shifts to slower analysis using words/letters/clusters if not able to quickly decode meaning Uses knowledge of words to get to new words using words in his speaking vocabulary Shows flexibility across different levels of language

A low progress reader Operates slowly Uses mainly one kind of information Poor 1:1 correspondence Insecure directionality Guesses from 1 st letter Forgets the message/meaning Does not notice discrepancies between print and their response

What can we do? Systematic observation to show misconceptions/strengths (benchmarking) Analysis of benchmarking results Individual programme to allow low progress readers to function like high progress readers Use easy material to practice skills and instructional material to teach new skills

Concepts about print Read the story with continuity so the child can gains meaning Let your child turn the pages Point under each word as you read for a section of the text Check your child knows where to start reading/go next Ask ‘does it make sense?’ to encourage cross checking for meaning Ask lots of questions to explore inferential as well as literal meaning

Letter identification Develop knowledge of upper and lower case letters Use the prompts: What sound does it make? Do you know it ‘ s name? Follow the RWInc pronunciation guides Encourage some decoding in early reading, ask ‘does it look right?’ to develop cross checking

Writing Vocabulary a child ’ s writing vocabulary is a good indicator of which features of print they are attending to Look at how they write too; for example, where do they start, which direction do they go in, are they aware of the spaces between words? Develop written knowledge of the appropriate level high frequency words Spelling and grammar are important too!

Develop expression when reading; encourage your child to pause at a comma or full stop, use a different voice for speech marks etc Fluency is key to developing expression, a child needs to know the book really well so they concentrate on ‘making it sound good’