Home Reading
At Beenyup Primary School we believe homework should be a meaningful and worthwhile experience for students. We acknowledge the need to achieve balance between work and play. Homework is primarily home reading (for pleasure and fluency) but may also include activities:
· Basic facts
· Research work- questioning/interviewing/investigating/creating/surveying tasks
Practice:
Reading aloud is very important for literacy development and regular home reading will positively impact on your child's reading development. We use the Pause, Prompt, Praise method when listening to our students read. When your child is a beginning reader and has difficulty with a word, the following has been proven to be the best way to help them.
Pause: for around 3-5 seconds. This is important because children can often self-correct if given the time. They read more slowly than we do and need the time to work it out. If we jump in too quickly, not only do we make them self-reliant on us to help them, but we undermine their self-confidence.
Prompt: if the child cannot self-correct, we can offer them a phonic prompt.
· The first prompt should be a phonic prompt. "What's the first sound in that word?"
· If they still can't get it, sound the word for them with a slight pause between each sound e.g. f - r - o - g. Encourage your child to sound out and then blend the word.
· You could also identify the first sound and encourage them to sound out the rest or break the word into syllables. It may be useful to cover the word and reveal it slowly, looking at the sounds or the sections of the word.
Praise: is an important part of reading and you should give specific praise when they have corrected an error or read the word correctly after a prompt. Praise should be specific e.g. "You figured that out by yourself" or "You sounded that out with only a little bit of help."