Literacy | Brookfield Community Primary School

Lancashire Reading Units

Amazon have free audible stories to stream here https://stories.audible.com/start-listen

Mr Mc Phonics You Tube – Mr Mc Phonics for early years and KS1 – fun, engaging phonics lessons for children to watch.

Hairy Letters - assists with letter and sound recognition (free for Apple users)

Hairy words 1 – designed to support sight knowledge (free for Apple users)

Hairy Phonics 1 &2 – develops phonemic awareness and introduces 9 most common consonant digraphs (free for Apple and Android users).

Try not to get anxious about reading issues.
If a child gives a book a go and doesn't like it, don’t insist they finish it.
Remember children with poor recall may find multiple readings of the same text helpful.
Ask the child to cover all the words they can’t read on one page with a finger. Not enough fingers? The text is too difficult. Choose another book.
Reading aloud to children boosts memory, vocabulary and listening skills. There is no ‘right’ age to stop. Follow the text with your finger as you read, and let the child read a few words themselves.
To improve understanding, chat about how you picture the story, characters and setting, and discuss illustrations.
When the child reads to you, get them to pause when they are stuck on a word. After a second, read it out. If you make them puzzle it out, they’ll lose track of the story.

Why is Reading Important for Young Children?

Focusing on reading in young children from an early age is quite important since it has its advantages over the time.

Improved Writing By reading better, your child will be able to form sentences correctly and write them easier.
Improved Grammar The rules of grammar can be absorbed easily by exposing the child as early as possible to grammatically correct sentences.
Enhanced Imagination Reading stories and other articles can stoke their creativity and get their imagination flowing.
Future Success Children who can understand what they read can excel in studies quickly.
Real Life Safety The importance of reading safety signs or road rules in the world can be pretty much a lifesaver for your children in the long run.
Infuse Confidence A child who can figure out things on his own can build his confidence rapidly.
Improved speech sounds Reading from the book helps streamline thoughts and help us with the clarity of speech.
Better Vocabulary There’s simply no other way to improve your collection for words apart from reading as much as you can.

Play ‘I spy’ but use the letter sounds, not the letter names. E.g., ‘I spy with my little eye something beginning with c-c-c-c (cat) or sh-sh-sh’ (shop). Repeat this now using rhyming words. ‘I hear with my little ear a word that rhymes with can’ (pan). You can use nonsense words e.g., ‘han’.
Magnetic letters on a baking tray instantly makes a spelling board. Use these activities: ask your child to make words in rhyming strings e.g., rat, cat, mat. Ask them to make a nonsense word for you to sound out. Make words and break them into sounds or syllables. Make an easy word such as ‘dog’ and then ask them to change the first sound to make another word (hog) or to change the final sound (dot).
Arrange jumbled letters to spell the names of animals etc. correctly. Example: rezab (zebra).
Ask your child: ‘What’s the difference between the sounds in the words ‘band’ and ‘sand’?’
Use their favourite book and ask them to look for a chosen word or letter e.g., a word beginning with a particular letter, the sound ‘sh’, a word ending in ‘ed’ or an ‘s’ plural, words that look nearly the same but only one letter different. Get them to copy these words on to paper.