Parent+Information

media type="custom" key="5908469"Helping Your Child with Writing Following are some questions or prompts you could use to help your child when writing: Ideas to help when revising to improve the message of a piece of writing... "That's a great idea! Does it make sense?" "Is there a sentence you could put in to make this idea easier to understand?" "How could you explain this idea in more detail?"

Ideas for editing to improve the spelling accuracy of a piece of writing: We get children to underline the part of the words in their writing that don't quite look right, this helps them to attend more closely to the part they have nearly got correct. Our system involves the child then finding the correct version of the word and writing this above the approximation.

Whenever a child has missed a spelling approximation, we will ask questions to draw their attention to it, but if the word is very different from the correct spelling, we may opt to give the word to the child. Children should be learning to self-correct words they get nearly correct. Below are some ideas to help you prompt your child to attend more closely to their spelling accuracy...

"Which word in that sentence is nearly correct?" "Which part of that word doesn't quite look right?" "What sounds can you hear when you say the word slowly out loud?"

As a parent it is sometimes easier to just "tell" your child how to spell an unknown word. It is important that children attempt words first. We really want children's writing to flow and sometimes pressure about how to spell words hinder the creativity of their writing. Try and get your child to identify words that don't look correct in their work and focus on those.

Simple Strategies for Creating Strong Readers Without doubt, reading with children spells success for early literacy. Putting a few simple strategies into action will make a significant difference in helping children dev​elop into good readers and writers.

Through reading aloud, providing a range of reading materials, and promoting positive attitudes about reading and writing, you can have a powerful impact on children's literacy and learning.

Invite your child to read with you every day.

When reading a book where the print is large, point word by word as you read. This will help the child learn that reading goes from left to right and understand that the word he or she says is the word he or she sees.

Read a child's favorite book over and over again.

Read many stories with rhyming words and lines that repeat. Invite the child to join in on these parts. Point, word by word, as he or she reads along with you.

Discuss new words. For example, "This big house is called a palace. Who do you think lives in a palace?"

Stop and ask about the pictures and about what is happening in the story.

Read from a variety of children's books, including fairy tales, song books, poems, and information books.

Reading well is at the heart of all learning. Children who can't read well, can't learn. Help make a difference for a child.

Some Reading Suggestions Make a special reading space in your home.

Books can be expensive, so get a library card.

Books with interesting physical designs can help to engage your child.

Look for books centered on favourite songs, sports or activites (like cooking).

Encourage your child to act out different parts of a story.

Ask librarians and other parents for book suggestions.

Get your child to make their own book.

Narratives To help your child with Narratives... At home choose classic fairytales or stories to share with your child. Ask them what Narrative features they can see in the story. Hint: Responses should include things like: An interesting character (Who) Setting (Where) Time (When) Narratives should also include a problem and a solution. Work with your child to try and identify these features.

Great Narratives (stories) will have fabulous descriptive words (adjectives) that "hook" the audience by giving a more detailed description. With your child see if you can identify some of them.

Most importantly enjoy the time with your child :)