Depending on your child’s age and stage of development please turn over to find some suggestions to try at home Literacy Literacy is an essential part of our everyday lives. It helps us to understand our world through what we hear, see, say, write and read. Through play and daily activities children can develop the literacy skills that are so necessary for everyday living. Reading Why reading is so important What have you read so far today? As a busy parent you may not have had time to sit down and read a book, magazine or newspaper yet today. However it’s almost certain that you have needed to do some reading to get you through your day up to this point. Literacy: Reading Top Tips for Parents earlyyearsscotland.org You will probably have done most of these things already today and engaged in yet many more activities that involved reading. Take a minute and try to count how many times you have read today. Isn’t it amazing how we do this automatically throughout our day without really thinking about it or registering that we are actually reading? Reading is such an important life- skill and one that we use constantly throughout our day just to help us cope with everyday life. Children in school and students need reading skills to let them access information and instructions in all the subjects they are studying. Adults in the workplace read and write/ type constantly. So you can see how important it is that we encourage our children to become competent readers. We also want them to enjoy reading fiction for the sheer pleasure it brings and to know that they can read factual books and newspapers, or even Wikipedia, to get information. Perhaps you: • read the wash label on clothes as you put them in the washing machine? • read the directions for use on the back of a food packet? • read the nutritional information on products in the supermarket as you made your purchases? • read the microwaving instructions for a food item? • read a text from a friend or family? • read an email? • read any new posts on your Facebook account? • read a bus or train timetable? • read the destination plate on a bus or train? • read what came through your letterbox in the mail? • read the notices on the nursery noticeboard? • read the latest nursery newsletter? You may have read a message from a friend or family today
Transcript
Depending on your child’s age and stage of development please turn over to find some suggestions to try at home
Literacy
Literacy is an essential part of our everyday lives. It helps us to understand our world through what we hear, see, say, write and read.
Through play and daily activities children can develop the literacy skills that are so necessary for everyday living.
Reading
Why reading is so important
What have you read so far today? As a busy parent you may not have had time to sit down and read a book, magazine or newspaper yet today. However it’s almost certain that you have needed to do some reading to get you through your day up to this point.
Literacy: ReadingTop Tips for Parents
earlyyearsscotland.org
You will probably have done most of these things already today and engaged in yet many more activities that involved reading. Take a minute and try to count how many times you have read today. Isn’t it amazing how we do this automatically throughout our day without really thinking about it or registering that we are actually reading?
Reading is such an important life-skill and one that we use constantly throughout our day just to help us cope with everyday life. Children in school and students need reading skills to let them access information and instructions in all the subjects they are studying. Adults in the workplace read and write/type constantly. So you can see how important it is that we encourage our children to become competent readers.We also want them to enjoy reading fiction for the sheer pleasure it brings and to know that they can read factual books and newspapers, or even Wikipedia, to get information.
Perhaps you:
• read the wash label on clothes as you put them in the washing machine?
• read the directions for use on the back of a food packet?
• read the nutritional information on products in the supermarket as you made your purchases?
• read the microwaving instructions for a food item?
• read a text from a friend or family?
• read an email?• read any new posts on your
Facebook account?• read a bus or train timetable?• read the destination plate on a
bus or train?• read what came through your
letterbox in the mail?• read the notices on the nursery
noticeboard?• read the latest nursery
newsletter?
You may have read a message from a friend or family today
Some suggestions to encourage your child to enjoy reading and to help develop their reading skills
Hopefully these suggestions have sparked some ideas of your own. Have fun trying them with your child.
• Let your child see you enjoying reading regularly whether it's a newspaper, magazine or book.
• Write 'to do' lists, post-its or shopping lists in discussion with your child and let them see you read and use these.
• Let your child see you send an email or text and read the replies.
LET THEM FOLLOW YOUR EXAMPLE
Scottish Government's 'playtalkread' programme has lots of great ideas and activities to support your child's reading. Check to see if the 'playtalkread' bus is coming your way.
The Scottish Book Trust's Bookbug programme gives out Bookbug bags of books to children at certain points in their life through health visitors, nurseries and schools. They also run special events and provide useful tips.
HAVE FUN WITH BOOKS• Read daily to young children and babies.• Use picture, touchy-feely and pop up books to engage the youngest
children.• Rhymes and rhyming books help them recognise similar sounding
words and this helps early reading.• Repetitive stories help your child to read by seeing the same words
over and over. Think of stories such as 'We're all Going on a Bear Hunt' or 'The Gingerbread Boy'.
• Use puppets or dressing up items when reading stories to make them fun. You could turn an old pillow case into a story-sack to hold the props until you are ready for them.
• Help your child to make their own personal book using photos or their drawings. You could also do this using a computer and printer if you have them.
• Write name labels for common household objects and stick them onto these, for example, chair, bed, table etc. They will become familiar with these words and able to recognise them.
• Label tubs of toys such as Lego, dolls, cars etc. Seeing if your child can find the right tub helps build reading vocabulary and can make tidying-up fun!
• Play sound games such as 'I Spy' or 'Tidy Away Something Beginning With …..' Remember to use the sound of the letter and not the name of the letter.
• Say traditional nursery rhymes with your child. They help sound recognition which helps reading.
• Join the local library with your child and make visiting a regular event. It's free and they offer special storytelling events and lots of other advice and activities.
TIPS TO HELPREADING SKILLS
• Have fun while out an about together seeing what your child can read, for example, shop names, favourite brands of food/sweets, bus destinations, road signs etc. This is called environmental print and is often what children pick up first.
• Check the newspaper or on screen TV listings with your child to find their programmes. They'll soon learn to recognise the names of favourites.
If you have internet access you can check out further support on these sites:
