Reading and comprehension are important skills for primary school students.
To help your child become a more effective reader try some of these strategies.
Learning to Read:
What are the key points I need to know as a parent supporting my child learning to read:
Phonemic Awareness is the starting point and the foundational skills of word decoding. Phonemic Awareness is the ability to identify, hear, and work with the smallest sounds of spoken language (phonemes). These small units of sound are then represented by graphemes (letter/s) on a page, and it is the ability to convert letters to sounds and then blend them together to read a word.
For example, the spoken word ‘tin’ has 3 phonemes /t/ /i/ /n/ and these three sounds blended go back to the spoken word. Another example is the spoken word ‘goat’, although it has 4 letters, it still only has 3 phonemes, /g/ /oa/ /t/.
What is phonics and how do I support my child?
Once your child has good Phonemic Awareness, it’s important that they then learn the letters that represent sounds (phonics), and that this is taught in a systematic way (from simple to complex).
At Lynwood Park PS we use Decodable Readers Australia resources. They provide a scope and sequence of letter/sound introductions across 8 levels.
Please click on the link for further information.
Decodable Readers Australia online parent letter
Speak to your child's teacher about the decoding strategies your child is learning in class.
Writing tips
All writing has a purpose. Make sure your child is thinking about who they are writing for and why. For example, there’s a difference between writing a letter to a family member when on a holiday compared to writing a tourism brochure or story set in the same location.
Read your child’s writing or get them to read it to you. Praise them for having a go at writing words that are new to them.
Encourage writing at home by:
- asking your child to keep a record of special events such as a diary or blog
- having your child label photos or pictures with captions
- spending time creating notes, letters and stories.
Helping with spelling
Spelling is closely linked to writing and reading. When children learn to spell, they use their knowledge of letter-sound connections, their knowledge of spelling patterns and grammar. Spelling is more than memorising words.
44 Phonemes (sounds) in the English language
There are 44 phonemes that we use to encode (spell) words. Children learn which representations (letters) to use in words to spell accurately.
Students will learn how to build words using combinations of the phonemes.
