From the Learning Specialists 

Partnering in Literacy Education

You may have been reminded of the important role we all play in helping our children to succeed during our latest Parent/Teacher/Student conferences earlier this term. Research shows that what teachers do at school and what families do at home all makes a difference to our children’s success, particularly in literacy. To ensure that every child has the best chance to succeed all must play their part. It is our shared responsibility.

Below is a long list of things that you could do together at home to partner in literacy learning.

• Encourage your child to re-read favourite books and poems. Re-reading helps children read with greater confidence and more quickly and accurately.
   
• It's difficult for reading to compete with the TV and computer games. Encourage reading as a free-time activity and switch off technology when you read together.
   
• When your child is trying to sound out an unfamiliar word, give them time to do so. Remind them to look closely at all the letters in the word and notice if there are any sound patterns they recognise.
   
• Help your child pick books that are not too difficult. The aim is to give your child lots of successful reading experiences so they can appreciate the storyline. When the reading is always difficult, we suffer with comprehension fatigue and struggle to enjoy the experience.
   
• Play a sounding game and have your child sound out the word as you change it from mat to fat to sat; from sat to sag to sap; and from sap to sip. Change champ to chimp to chomp: from chomp to stomp; from stomp to stamp to stump.
   
• Many beginning readers will guess wildly at a word based on its first letter. When your child makes a mistake while reading, gently point out the letters they overlooked or read incorrectly and try again. Rereading for accuracy is a great habit to build. 
   
• Ask your child to keep a journal of special things that happen at home. Instead of writing in a book, think about writing journal entries on small pieces of coloured card and collect them in a jar. When writing, encourage your child to use the letter and sound patterns they are learning at school.
   
• Children love to hear stories about their family. Talk about a funny thing that happened when you were young. Hearing such stories can also help your child to think of inspirational story ideas at writing time.
   
• Fill a box with drawing and writing materials. Find opportunities for your child to write, such as the shopping list, thank you notes, or birthday cards.
   
• When your child has sounded out an unfamiliar word while reading, have them re-read that sentence. Often children are so busy figuring out a word they lose the meaning of what they've just read.
   
• Turn reading into something special. Take your child to the library, help them get their own library card, read with them, and buy them books as gifts. Have a favourite place for books in your home or, even better, put books in several places so they are always accessible.
   
• Find ways to encourage your child to pick up another book. Introduce them to a series or to a second book by a favourite author or ask the librarian for additional suggestions.
   
• Let your child see you use a dictionary. Say, "Hmm, I'm not sure what that word means or how to spell it... I think I'll look it up."
   
• Talk about everyday activities to build your child's background knowledge. Keep conversations flowing to allow for opportunities to learn new things.
   
• Encourage independence when your child writes at home, resist the urge to sound every unfamiliar word out for them. Remind them that writing involves several revisits to improve the piece. No one does it perfectly the first time.