Literacy Report 

Getting it right in English!

The importance of regular Read Aloud opportunities

Our home reading program encourages children to bring home Just Right Texts to read to an adult or older sibling, or independently. Children are encourage to practice the reading goal set in class and engage with a text that is slightly challenging but is able to be read independently and understood.

However, just as important is for children of all ages to experience being read to. Reading aloud allows children to access texts that they may not be able to access independently. It provides an opportunity for children to see and hear skilled reading behaviours, which they then begin to imitate and internalise.

Modelled reading (reading to or reading aloud) involves children listening to a text read aloud by an adult or more experienced reader (older sibling). The more experienced reader models skilled reading behaviour, enjoyment and interest in a range of different styles of writing and types of text. Reading to or reading aloud provides an opportunity for you to demonstrate your enjoyment in reading, and allows children to see a purpose in learning to read.

For older children with siblings, reading aloud to younger siblings is an opportunity for them to model their own enjoyment of texts and to practice and consolidate their own skills.

Children gain practice in constructing images of events, people and objects that are removed from themselves. Unfamiliar and unusual vocabulary and increasingly more complex text structures, features and genres can be introduced and explained.

Most importantly, reading aloud or being read to demonstrate interest and engagement in reading. A genuine engagement in reading by an experienced reader can nurture a passion for literature. *

Ways you can support children when reading aloud to them:

*Adapted from the DET Victorian Literacy Portal- Modelled Reading

Kind Regards,

Sarah Mills

Leading Teacher- Literacy