Strategies
for Reading
Reading
is the quest for meaning.
The illustrations are very important.
Before reading, examine the cover, the illustrations and the
title. Discuss with your child what they
think the book will be about.
Look through the illustrations and attempt to predict the
text. Parents can scan the text and
direct discussion accordingly using the language in the book.
Talk through the story using the vocab of the book.
Unfamiliar words can be clarified whilst scanning the
illustration.
Reading individual words is not as important as understanding
the overall meaning of the text.
Read the text to your child and then let them have a go. It may be useful to keep each book for a few
days to re-read whilst also introducing a new book.
If your child is already reading the following are
some strategies for your child to try if he or she gets stuck on a word:
- Think about what word would make sense in the story
or sentence.
- Sound the word out.
- Think of a word that looks and sounds similar.
- Look for parts of the word that are familiar.
- Think about what word would sound right in the sentence.
- Check the pictures and the punctuation marks for clues.
- Go back and read again.
- Ask for help with the word.
Above all reading should be fun.
You can also share many daily reading activities
with your child. Here are some ideas:
- Read recipes, food labels, schedules, maps, instructions,
and brochures.
- Read traffic signs and signs in stores and restaurants.
- Look up information in cookbooks, manuals, phone books, atlases,
and dictionaries.
- Read greeting cards, letters, and e-mail messages to and from
relatives and friends.
Incidental
Maths
Maths is
all around us.
Take every opportunity to count with your child, eg while
shopping for fruit, counting clothes pegs etc.,
Cooking is a perfect opportunity for counting and measuring
ingredients.
Ask your child to help you solve everyday number problems. "We
need four tomatoes to make our sauce for dinner, and we have only two. How many
more do we need to buy?"
Play games using dice and cards. Rolling
dice and adding or multiplying numbers. Add up the totals. Play the game backwards to practise
subtraction.
Measure items found around the house. Have
your child find objects that are longer or shorter than a shoe or a string or a
ruler. Together, use a shoe to measure the length of a floor mat. Fill
different containers with sand in a sandbox or with water in the bath, and see
which containers hold more and which hold less.
Estimation. Estimate the number of steps
from your front door to the edge of your yard, then walk with your child to
find out how many there really are, counting steps as you go. Estimate how many
cartons of milk your family will need for the week. At the end of the week,
count up the number of cartons you actually used.
Compare and organize household items. Take
cereal boxes or cans of vegetables from the cupboard and have your child line
them up from tallest to shortest.
Identify shapes and sizes. When playing with your
child, identify things by their shape and size: "Pass me a sugar
cube." "Take the largest cereal box out of the cupboard."
Play "I spy", looking for different shapes. "I
spy something that is round." "I spy something that is
rectangular." "I spy something that looks like a cone."
Hunt for patterns around your house and your neighbourhood. Your
child will find patterns in clothing, in wallpaper, in tiles, on toys, and
among trees and flowers in the park. Encourage your child to describe the
patterns found. Try to identify the features of the pattern that
are repeated.
Prep Team
Jessica Birchall, Maddy Yardy and Sia Vadiakas
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