Ready For School

More tips

• More tips for helping children with reading
• More tips for helping children with mathematics

More tips

More tips for helping children with reading

In the early stages

When looking at books with your child:

Do

• talk about the cover, the author and the illustrator

• talk about the pictures together

• show how we use a book, how it works -
  from front to back, from left to right, from top to bottom

• help your child to see that the written words tell you what to say

• see if your child can begin to recognise familiar words, particularly when there's repetition of a word or phrase, like
  ho! ho! little pig, may I come in?

• see if the child can see some words that begin with the same letter, or which start the same as their name

• start to teach the child the names of the letters of the alphabet, and the sounds they stand for.

[ back to top ]

When children begin to read

Do

• still read books to them and with them but encourage their growing independence

• before you begin to read, talk about the book and question:
  Why did you choose it? Have you read any of it yet?

• spend time looking at the pictures and discussing them - what clues do the pictures give about the story?

• spend time looking through the book and invite guesses about what's happening or what might happen next

• let the child hold the book and finger point to the words if that is comfortable

• if a child makes a mistake when reading encourage a rethink and another try. Give thinking time:
  This is what you read . . . does it make sense?

• if a child cannot read a word at all, suggest ways in which it might be tackled:
  
  - try sounding out the word
  
  - read to the end of the sentence and then return to the unknown word; sometimes you can guess the word
  
  - look at the picture if there is one, for a clue if all else fails, tell the child the word and then reread the sentence so that your child sees the new word in the context of the sentence

• sometimes, take turns in reading and show the child that we change our voice and style when reading aloud - as you read, miss out words you think might be known and allow the child to read them

• when the child finishes a book, chat about likes and dislikes - the enjoyable bits -
  Did the story remind you of any other book you've read?

• as the child becomes a more competent reader, point out punctuation, such as full stops and question marks

[ back to top ]

More tips for helping children with mathematics

Do

• play board games such as Snakes and Ladders to help children recognise numbers and help with "counting on" in sequence

• make a scrap book -
  stick in pictures of things that go together -
  cups and saucers, lorries and buses, knives and forks

• use your home and the immediate world about you - look for shapes and patterns, opportunities for counting and comparing
  the shapes of cereal boxes, patterns of floor tiles, have we got enough biscuits for everyone?

• make sure that when counting a child always matches the words with the real things that are being counted

• let children join in shopping so that they have real experiences of buying something and getting change

• use mathematical words
  - more than/less than, fewer, heavy/light etc.

• look out for number rhymes and songs,
  e.g. 10 green bottles, 5 fat sausages.

At school:

• find out how you can help at home

• find out the approaches the school uses and work in that way.

Don't

• show that you dislike or even fear maths

• hurry on to write little sums in books

• teach children to recite numbers without meaning

[ back to top ]