Reading - how you can help your child

Your child may bring home texts to practise their word reading skills. If your child is having difficulty decoding a word, model saying the sound represented by each letter and blending the sounds to read the word. For example: for the word ‘cat’, point to each letter and provide the sound it represents /c/ /a/ /t/, then blend the sounds to read ‘cat’.

Texts may also contain some high-frequency words that your child has been taught. High-frequency words are words that are common in English texts (for example: said, the, of, is). These words are included in texts to create meaningful sentences. They may contain some letter-sound correspondences that have not yet been taught.

• As your child reads, you may notice there are words they can read automatically, while other words will need to be ‘sounded out’. When your child comes to a word they do not automatically know, you can help them by saying: ‘Say the sounds as you point to the letters. Now, blend the sounds and read the word.’ For example: for the word ‘hen’, point to the letters and provide the sounds, /h/ /e/ /n/, then blend the sounds to read ‘hen’.
• Some words will be more complex where two letters can say one sound. It is the same process for example the word ‘beach’, point to the letters and provide the sounds, /b/ea/ch/, then blend the sounds to read ‘beach’.
• If your child still has difficulty reading the word, it’s okay to tell them what the word is. Remember, they are still learning about letters and sounds and may need more practise and support. What you don’t want to do is allow them to guess the word based on the first sound or use the picture cues to try and work out the word. We want children to rely on the sounds in the word only to decode and then read the word.
• When your child is learning new letter-sound correspondences, they may read slowly, and it may look laborious. This is typical of beginning readers and is no cause for concern.
• Remember, practise is key to becoming a skilled reader. Encourage your child to read their decodable texts often and to other family members.

Below is a link to view a parent information session about reading in our curriculum and how you can support your child to read.

Also, here is a link to a fridge poster to help guide your support of reading at home.

Dee Mathiesen

Head of Curriculum