Everyone tells you that you absolutely must read to your kids, but no one tells you how or why. You’re in luck. The Fairy Godmother of education that is Clarendon is here to help.
Reading with your children is helpful all the way up to year 6 – although for most learners, it will be less essential at this stage.
Whilst your child is at nursery, you are familiarising them with letters and sounds.
There is a legitimate school of thought that children learn reading extremely effectively through this absorption and repetition model. Whereas, recent reports have seriously called into question the efficacy of phonics.
As your child advances into reception, years 1, 2 & 3, you must encourage them to read out loud. This has two main points: you get to see if there are words, letter strings or sounds that they are struggling with, and it also improves their confidence with reading, so that when they are reading in a comprehension, they are not just forming the words, but analysing the language.
From reception up to year 6, accompanied reading with careful questions that tease out their understanding of the passage and their analysis of the language the writer has chosen to use. Getting a child to think in terms of writer’s choices and getting them to think critically are crucially important skills.
To help with difficult questions that test a child’s understanding of inference, we recommend reading passages together and asking questions like:
- What impression do you have / what do you think of a character, and what words / phrases make you think this?
- What impression do you have / what do you think of a setting, and what words / phrases make you think this?
- What is a certain character’s reaction to something and what words / phrases tell us this?
- What is a character’s motivation for doing something, and how do we know?
Below is a passage from an 8+ (taken in year 3) KCS Wimbledon paper. You might read this passage together and ask your child how Boffy’s parents have reacted to effects of his invention / what mood his invention has put his parents in. We have highlighted the pertinent parts in red that your child will hopefully refer to. If they aren’t able to find those bits, you can point towards them by getting them to reread those sections. If they are still struggling, point them to those words directly and ask them what impression they get from them / what those words make us think.
Similarly, you might ask a question like ‘what impression do you get of Boffy / what do you think of Boffy / what type of inventor is Boffy?’. We have highlighted in blue parts of the passage that we think your child might reasonably use to justify their answer. Use the same method as above to tease out analysis of language.
Boffy was already in his little workshop behind the cabbage patch. He knew exactly what he was going to do because he was a genius. In no time at all he had made a large interesting looking machine. It had a horn at one end, and a plastic sack at the other, and it was held together by a great many rubber tubes.
‘What is it?’ asked Mrs Smith, as Boffy appeared in the kitchen doorway with the new invention.
‘It’s a Dust Extractor, of course.’
‘Well, I don’t need it.’ His mother was quite firm. ‘I’ve been doing my spring cleaning this way for a good many years now, and I don’t want to change.’
‘Yes, but look how long it takes you.’ Before Mrs Smith could stop him, he had switched on the Dust Extractor.
‘It works!’ cheered Boffy. I cannot describe the noise that followed – like a percussion band, but noisier!
Anyway, it drowned Mrs Smith’s screams of ‘Stop! Stop!’
Brooms and mops rattled up into the Dust Extractor. A jar of marmalade flew off the table, followed by cups and saucers and the tablecloth. Boffy was delighted. Not all his inventions worked. This one was doing fine. He moved it closer to the cooker, which looked extremely dusty. At once the pans came to life. Off flew the lids and out popped the potatoes and the runner beans. They slithered and bumped down the tubes of the Dust Extractor. They took the boiling water with them and carried on cooking merrily inside the plastic bag. Last of all the oven door swung open and out shot half a pig. Mrs Smith was completely DISTRAUGHT.
‘You are a DISGRACE!’ thundered Boffy’s father when he came home from lunch (which was only a buttered biscuit and a cup of tea). ‘You will go straight to your room, without lunch, without afternoon tea, and without supper, and you will stay there. And while you are there you will rid your head of all nonsensical ideas.’
‘I’m sorry, Father,’ apologised Boffy. And he polished his spectacles on his shirt. It was hard being so awfully clever.
We hope you find this helpful.