Reading together can be fun for your child, whilst improving their reading ability. Follow these suggestions to make the best out of reading together.

Make reading with your child a regular and enjoyable activity, relax and turn off the television.
Always give lots of praise and encouragement even if progress is slight.
Read a new story together to give confidence to the child to read it themselves.

Before you open The Book

1. Look at the front cover and talk about the picture; predict the characters and what may happen in the story
2. Read the book title
3. Turn the book over and read the blurb

When You Open The Book

1. Ask your child to find the place where they need to start reading
2. Look at the picture, talk about what is happening in the picture, giving your child some of the vocabulary that is used in the text
3. Attempt to read the text. Remember to clearly pause at full stops and commas.
4. When attempting difficult words, encourage your child to build up the word, eg. g-e-t: get,
   Blends,
    bl-a-ck: black,
   Long vowels,
    ai, sn-ai-l: snail,ay, pl-ay: play
5. Other clues can be given, such as pointing to parts in the picture or checking if what your child is saying makes sense
6. Re-read the sentence ensuring all text is said correctly

When you have done this for the first page, move onto the next page and go through these steps again on each page.

1. After every few pages, ask your child to recall what is happening in the story, to ensure they understand what is being read.

When You Have Finished The Book

1. At the end of the story, ask your child to retell the whole story

Ask questions about their experience of the story, such as

1. Did you enjoy the story?
2. What was your favourite part?
3. Which characters do you like?
4. What may happen next?
5. Go back through the book looking for specific words, for example, can you find…
   the word “going”
   a word beginning with “bl”
   a word ending with, “ck”

Reading Fluently

You can still help your child even when they can read well.

• Make sure they read books at home, at least 3 times a week
• Discuss the books they are reading with them
• Encourage reading to another member of the family, younger brother, cousin etc.
• Reading comics, magazines, journals, books of interest, also help progress

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