The Role of ‘Early Reading Skills’ in Academic Success – How this can help a child to learn to READ.

You can help your child to learn to read:

Preparing a child to read can be fun and achieved in everyday interactions.

Let me share some everyday ideas:

How to implement early reading skills for academic success:

• Sing nursery rhymes in the car or in the bath

• Talk about what you see at the shops eg. Show them the labels on products

• Play games like I-SPY using colours, shapes and beginning sounds.

• Most importantly don’t forget to READ, READ, READ to your child every day. Books are no.1 but you can also read magazines, comics, recipes and even adverts and flyers.

Learning can be so much FUN, especially when it is done informally, positively and in a relaxed environment.

Early LITERACY practices that prepare a child for reading:

·       TALKING – Talking with children is one of the best ways to help them learn new words .

·       SINGING – Signing and rhyming are fun ways for children to learn about language and how to listen.

·       READING – Reading together is the most important way to help children get ready to read. Children who grow to love stories and books are more likely to want to learn to read themselves.

·       WRITING – Writing and reading go together. Scribbling and writing help children to learn that written words stand for spoken language.

·       PLAYING – Playing helps children learn about the world, express themselves and put ideas into words. Playing also helps children understand that spoken and written words stand for real things and emotions.

Phonological awareness is an important early reading skill:

Phonological awareness is an important pre reading skill. It is the ability to recognise that words are made up of different sounds.

Teaching phonological awareness at an early age can help eliminate reading problems that children might face in the future. Phonological skills develop over time and are a crucial early reading skill for them to successfully read and write.

To develop phonological awareness children need to:

1.      Practise regularly

2.      Focus on rhyming

3.      Practise connecting sounds (verbally)

4.      Segmenting – breaking words apart

Once a child begins to read it is important to note that not all words can be sounded out:

These words, for example, come, here, the, cannot be sounded out. They are called sight words or ‘tricky’ words.

Learning SIGHT WORDS is critical in laying a strong foundation for literacy development, reading fluently and comprehension skills.

They make up 75% of the words used in young children’s printed material.

Learning sight words requires a lot of practise and repetition and is best achieved through playing games.

CLIMB INTO READING can help and support your child on this reading journey.

Visit: www.climbintoreading.com