The Reading Bug

How you can help your child catch it!

Although many children have well-developed pre-reading skills by the time they start school, the teaching of literacy skills begins in earnest from day one of Prep. Speaking and listening, reading and writing are all part of literacy and your child needs to develop all these skills so that he/she can learn, understand and communicate in an increasingly complex and challenging world.

While some children seemingly learn to read overnight, with very little help, most children need plenty of encouragement and guidance before they are flying solo as independent readers.

With a reader coming home in the school bag each day, many parents feel ill-equipped to help their child on the exciting journey to independent reading, but there are many ways you can help and encourage your child to become a reader.

Your child will want to read if:

• There is a choice of things to read. If everything you own has been read a million times and now seems a little young for your child, take a trip to the library or perhaps try swapping some much-loved books with a friend.
• You offer a variety of texts. Have them read a recipe to you as you cook or read the instructions for a board game you're going to play together. By doing this, your child will begin to understand that by reading, they can make a lot happen in their world.
• You're not too ambitious. Reading at home should be about building confidence in reading – your child has worked hard at school all day mastering new literacy concepts so your time together reading shouldn't be about challenging them further.
• You have regular reading times together. The end of the day is often a great time to read together, or a lazy Sunday morning in bed – you can either take turns reading aloud from the same book, or just lie side-by-side reading your own books quietly.

Make sure that you take some time to read for pleasure too. The best way to get your child enthused about reading is for you to model the behaviour you want to see in them.

At Pacific, all our learning spaces are a hub of reading and writing every day. Teachers put an enormous effort into planning exciting, creative and relevant activities which encourage all children to catch the reading bug!

Mrs Sue Zweck, Head of Learning K-5