Beginning Readers Strategies to Build Strong Foundations Important to note that we will be teaching these strategies and reading skills at school and that Home reading is to support and work alongside what is done at school. The books sent home will be at a level where children are comfortable and not difficult as we want to work on the reinforcing the concepts and strategies at home rather than pushing them to read!!

Before children begin to read they need… A knowledge of letters and their sounds To have had been read to by an adult regularly To be able to make meaning from the pictures and words and be able to answer questions regarding the text To have a bank of known sight words These foundations are so important and it is detrimental to push children ahead when they are not yet equipped with all these skills. There are a range of different abilities with the children and as their teacher it is important for me to provide resources at their level.

What Good Readers Do… Make Connections Visualise Infer Determine Importance Synthesize

How does making connections help me think as I read? Making connections helps me understand the story When I can think of a similar experience to the one in the story, I can better understand what is happening and what characters are feeling When I understand what is happening, I can remember the story and the story is more interesting to read

How does visualising help me think as I read? Enhances meaning with mental pictures Links past experience to the words and ideas in the text Enables me to place myself in the story Stimulates my imaginative thinking Keeps me engaged with the text Brings joy to my reading

How does inferring help me think as I read? He must be sad . How does inferring help me think as I read? Draw conclusions based on clues in the text Make predictions before and during reading Surface underlying themes Use implicit information from the text to create meaning during and after reading Use the pictures to help gain meaning

How does determining importance help me think as I read? It helps me to not have to memorise the whole text It helps me figure out what is important information and what is not important to remember It helps me to remember to stop and ask myself if what I am reading makes sense It helps me to look at features such as: bold words, italicized words, pictures, captions, headings, graphs and know that I should pay attention to these words

How does synthesising help me think as I read? Take in a lot of different facts, think about them, and learn something new Sift through a lot of information, take out the key ideas and put them together to get the overall sense of the reading material Weave together what I read and my own ideas into new, complete thoughts Use the prompts: I have learned that… This gives me an idea… Now I understand that…

What Good Readers Do… Make Connections – What do I know? Visualise – Can I see pictures in my mind? Infer – What is not being stated? Determine Importance –What is the main idea? Synthesise – What do I know now?

Helping children to be good readers. 1. Front Cover ‘Read’ What do you think the book is about? Who are the characters in the story? Where is the story set? How many words are in the title? How many syllables/letters are in the word ----? Author & Illustrator

2. Picture ‘Read’ Open the book to each page and do a picture read by only looking at the pictures and discussing what is happening. Talk about the pictures and ask questions: Who do you think is on this page? What is happening? Where are they? What do you think is going to happen?

3. Retell the Picture Read. Without looking at the pictures, encourage your child to retell as much as they can remember in the order of it happening. If they have trouble remembering, allow them to look at the pictures and close the book again.

4. Read the book together. Praise and encourage as you go. Focus on following each word on the page. (drive your finger car smoothly underneath.) Focus on the text making sense. Focus on strategies to work out words. (pictures/first letter/stretch out the sounds)

Reading Strategies Stuck On A New Word? Look at the Pictures -Look at the picture for clues Get Your Lips Ready -Say first sounds -Read & say it again Stretch it Out -Stretch word out -Put sounds together Chunk the Word -Look for word chunk -Look for a word part Skip It, Skip It -Skip the word -Read to the end -Hop back & read it Try it Again -Try to reread -Try a new word Ask for Help -Ask for help after you have tried the other strategies Never let the word win. Read on! This term we are working on reading behaviours. (What you do when you read.) When students have solid letter sound knowledge and a collection of sight words they will require more complex texts. This is when strategies are required to work out unfamiliar words and keep the reading fluent and meaningful.

5. Talk about the story. Ask questions: Who/what/when/where/why/how? Are the answers on the page? What did Sally plant? Is the answer inferred either in the pictures or in the text? Did all of the beans grow? Is the answer from your own knowledge or experience? How does Sally feel? (exclamation mark/ darker font/ shouted/ calling Mum)

6. Reflection Ask did you like the story? Why/why not? Encourage your child to give a reason. Did you learn anything new from this book? e.g. About the topic or the words (ing/ed) or about reading. (smooth/ !/?/ speech marks)

Happy Reading! READING HAS TO BE FUN!!! Acknowledgments to Reading Comprehension Strategies Jeanne Novak-Eegan web3.beverlyhg-h.schools.nsw.edu.au/../readcompstrategies.