Reading with your 5-8 year old (Linked to key stage 1 goals)

·  Encourage your children ask questions about the book themselves and to offer their own solutions to problems that characters may be facing.

·  Relate the book’s content to their own lives and experiences. 

·  Talk about emotions that are present and why; why might the character feel this way? Why could they have done differently?

·  Discuss key plot details or information before during and after reading. 

·  Encourage your child to explain the meaning of words and offer definitions or synonyms. Or, offer ‘silly’ examples or humorous substitutions.

·  In rhyming books or poems, explore rhyming patterns by guessing what the rhyming word may be or suggesting other words that might fit. 

·  Where relevant, using language related to time, such as ‘before’ or ‘after’, or language related to place such as ‘behind’ or ‘next to’, can help strengthen your child’s understanding of mathematical concepts. 

·  Recall the key points from the book in order once finished.

·  Encourage your children to talk about their own family lives in relation to what they have read, and to recognise similarities and differences between their own lives and those of others.

·  Before reading, talk about the title and cover page with your child; make predictions of what this book may be about.