The early years are a critical time for students to develop foundational literacy skills. Children in Kindergarten to Year 2 benefit from a range of activities that support their development of language and early reading skills. The resources below offer advice to parents and a range of engaging reading and writing activities.
Using language to think, read and write
Does your child need some additional support for reading, writing and spelling? Here are some resources to help you:
This resource provides engaging ways for you to encourage young children to use language at home to learn to think, read and write.
Activities to encourage and support reading and writing at home in Prep to Year 2
There are many ways to encourage children in Prep to Year 2 to read and write. These resources offer some reading and writing activities that can be used for a range of texts and topics of interest to your child.
Sound letter matching
Matching letters to sounds is an important part of learning to read. Children need to know the name of each letter and match it to the sound they hear and make when they speak. For some children, making this link between letters and sounds requires lots of practice. They may need to hear the sound, see how the sound is made, feel what their mouth is doing, and connect that to the letter that represents that sound.
This
video demonstrates how to see and hear the 44 sounds of English.
Sound-letter cards
Sound-letter cards can be used as a prompt to support your child’s learning of letters and sounds. Each card has the letter that usually represents that sound, in both upper case, or capital letter, and lower case in the top left corner.
The picture in the middle shows what your mouth looks like when you are making that sound.
Each picture are some very brief cues that describe how the sound is made. This might say for example for the sound /m/, lips together, air escapes through your nose. In the bottom right hand corner is a box with either a red circle or a green circle. A red circle tells us that this is a soft sound, like /p/. A green circle tells us that this is loud sound, like /b/.
Supporting your child’s understanding of phonics
Phonics is the term used to refer to the ability to identify the relationships between letters and sounds when we are reading and spelling. While learning at home, some children may benefit from some additional practice. The following set of resources assists parents and carers to engage with their children while they are learning their letters and sounds.
Supporting children with language difficulties through shared reading
Shared reading is the interaction that occurs between an adult and a child when reading or looking at a book. The following videos highlight how parents can help support their children who experience language difficulties with skills that are foundational to reading success. They are designed to assist parents challenge, extend, and support their children’s reading skills.
Supporting children with language difficulties
Retelling stories at home
Learning to tell a good story is an important step for young children. Being able to tell a good story means children can share their experiences, their ideas and their feelings. Understanding how stories work also helps children to understand the stories they read, and helps them to write good stories. This resource, Retelling stories at home, will help you to support your child to understand the elements of good storytelling.
Coach on the couch
Join the Reading Centre coaches for a chat on the couch. In this episode, the coaches discuss tips for getting your child started with reading and writing at home.
Partners in learning
Daily reading at home is one of the best ways to ensure your child continues to learn. The more reading your child does, the further he or she will develop as a reader and a learner. The following videos have been produced to assist parents and teachers to improve their skills in supporting students’ reading.