Reading
Parents information leaflets
How can help?
One of the ways parents can help their children is by reading to them and with them. Just 10 minutes a day can make a massive different.
Julia Donaldson (the author of The Gruffalo) gives some top tips to parents h
elping their children improve their reading: watch the video here. 
Oxford Owl offers lots of helpful tips for helping children of different ages to improve their reading. See their top tips pages here.
BookTrust gives the following tips:
* Set aside some time
* Find somewhere quiet without any distractions — turn off the TV/radio/computer
* Ask your child to choose a book — sharing books they have chosen shows you care what they think and that their opinion matters and they are more likely to engage with the book
* Sit close together — encourage your child to hold the book themselves and/or turn the pages
* Point to the pictures if there are illustrations and relate them to something your child knows. Ask them to describe the characters or situation or what will happen next. Encourage them to tell you the story by looking at the pictures
* Encourage your child to talk about the book — talking about the characters and their dilemmas helps children understand relationships and is an excellent way for you to get to know each other or discuss difficult issues. Give your child plenty of time to respond. Ask them what will happen next, how a character might be feeling or how the book makes them feel
* Don’t be afraid to use funny voices — children love this
* And lastly and above all — make it fun! It doesn’t matter how you read with a child, as long as you both enjoy the time together.
Asking questions about the story
- Before reading
Is this book fiction or non-fiction? How do you know?
Talk about the parts of the book: Where is the title/author’s name/illustrator’s name/publisher’s logo/blurb?
What can you see on the cover?
If any of elements in the cover illustration are mentioned in the title (a rabbit, for example): Can you find the word “rabbit” in the title?
What does the title say?
What do you think might happen in this book?
Where’s the/is there a blurb? What does the blurb tell us?
- During reading
What is happening in the pictures?
Ask simple comprehension questions about things that happened in the story like, Where is Ken’s cap?
What has happened in the story so far?
What just happened on this page? Is that what you expected to happen?
What do you think will happen next?
How do you think the story will end?
What sort of character is…? Is s/he friendly/mean/kind?
- After reading
Ask simple comprehension questions about things that happened in the story like, Where is Ken’s cap?
What happened in the story? Can you retell the story to me?
What was your favourite part? Why?
Did you like the book? Why?
What sort of character was…?
Why did the character do … [give an event from the story]?
