Parents can do so much to support their children’s literacy development. Here are some suggestions for:

• parents of children under 5
• babies
• preschoolers
• preschool activity classes
• preparing for school

• parents of children 5 and over
• phonics schemes to use at home
• what to do when your child is stuck when:
• reading a word
• spelling a word

Parents of children under 5

Parents have a vital role as ‘first teachers’. What you do in the years spent with your child before they start school has a huge impact on their school success. Children who start school with phonological awareness are at a great advantage.

Here are some suggestions for supporting your child’s phonological awareness:

Babies  (from birth to 2)

• tell nursery rhymes everyday (at nappy changes, in the car, etc)
• sing to your child (songs, rhymes, chants)
• turn off the radio and television so that your child can hear other noises, and appreciate silence
• talk about the sounds you can hear (a dog barking, a car revving, rain on the window)
• listen to nursery rhymes or children's music CDs
• read to your baby (try reading lying down on the bed with the book held above your faces) choose ‘real’ stories (such as Hairy McClary, Dr Seuss) rather than baby board books
• talk about the stories, point to the pictures, make the noises of the animal characters
• use silly voices and vary your tone and pitch when speaking/singing/reading
• include a cuddle and smiles with all these activities

Remember that at this age your baby is listening to everything you say and learning an incredible amount from the experiences you provide. Just because your baby cannot talk to you or seems to be oblivious to these activities, do not assume such activities are a waste of time. These activities shared everyday will have a powerful impact on their developing brain.

Preschoolers

as above and:

• encourage your child to rhyme/sing with you and/or the CD
• ask your child to tell you what sounds she can hear (the fridge humming, the tap dripping)
• ask questions about the story for your child to answer (this skill will take a while to develop so you can help with the answers while they are learning)
• clap simple patterns and get your child to try to copy them
• play with instruments
• attend 'story time' at the library
• choose library books for sharing at home
• draw pictures

By now your child will be responding and participating more actively in these activities. Even when they choose not to respond, don’t assume they are not listening or learning. They are!

Preschool activity classes

The following classes are helpful for phonic development:

• Gymbaroo: contains almost all of the elements for early literacy development (rhyme, rhythm, listening, making sounds, fine/gross motor skills, vocabulary development, singing, music)
• music classes
• drama/movement classes
  

Preparing for school

Continue with all of the activities above. By now your child should be able to:

• say many rhymes
• sing a range of songs/chants
• give rhyming words
• copy a simple clapping pattern (or make one up for you to copy)
• talk about what happened in a story and answer questions about it
• use their voices to make sound effects
• tell you what sounds they can hear around them
• use instruments to create a rhythm
• close their eyes and distinguish - by voice alone - who is speaking

Other school preparation:

• read and write their first name
• know some letters and their sounds
• write some letters (lower case only please, except when they write the first letter of their name)
• hold a pencil correctly
• draw a picture and talk about it
• know their colours
• count up and down from one to ten (or higher)

Parents of children 5 and over

Continue with all of the activities above. In particular, remember to:

• keep reading to your child everyday, even if they can read already
• encourage your child’s music development, either by singing or playing with instruments at home or by attending lessons
• encourage your child to write: to a pen pal, the shopping list, thank you letters, wish lists, emails
• encourage your child to read: school reading books, library books, comics, newspaper kids pages, signs, instructions, packets
• keep TV/computer work/electronic gaming to a minimum
• ensure some silent times every day in your child’s environment where there is no TV or radio playing
• keep up with rhythm and rhyme activities if your child is not confident with them as are vital for literacy success.
  

Phonics schemes to use at home

There are many phonic schemes available for parents to use at home with their children. Superphonics by Ruth Miskin is recommended as it focuses on hearing the sound before learning to read and write it and it is aimed at parents.

Phonics for Parents seminars are held in Christchurch each year as part of Parenting Week. Check your Parenting Week programme for details. Phonics training is aimed at teachers, but it is not uncommon for interested parents or home educators to attend. Schools often have parents' nights with a speaker. Contact us for more information if you would like a phonics presentation at a future event.

What to do when your child is stuck when:

Reading a word:

• ask them to get their mouth ready for the first sound and check the picture to make a good guess
• blend the sounds together to make the word,
• but first check that the word can be:
• sounded out easily, ie, ‘dog’ and ‘cat’ are easy to sound out; ‘said’ or ‘there’ are not. Just tell them these words
• not worked out more easily by thinking about what fits the meaning or by looking at the picture
• encourage them to check that the word that they have sounded out makes sense in the story
• if the unknown word is a high frequency word (common words such as ‘the’, ‘is’, ‘my’ etc.) just tell them the word. Such words are best learnt by memorising rather than phonics.
• if your child is challenged by more than one word in every ten, the book is too hard. Either you read the story to them, or take turns reading each page or unknown word.
  

Spelling a word

• first check that your child wants to spell a word that can be sounded out easily
• words such as ‘saw’ and ‘here’ are best spelt for beginning spellers and then learnt by memorising
• tell her to say the word slowly. Ask your child to tell you the first sound she can hear in the word. After she gives you the sound, then tell her to write it down.
• now, ask the child for the last sound she can hear. Help her to say the word slowly to help her hear it. Leave a gap after the first sound written down and write the last sound.
• finally, ask your child if she can hear any middle sounds. Write these sounds in the gap between the first and last sounds.
• praise her for her good work
• if your child needs to sound out more than one word in each sentence, just give her the other spellings so that writing does not become a struggle focused entirely on spelling
• after she has written each sentence, encourage her to reread it to check that what she has written sounds right and makes sense.