The first thing to remember is that the main aim is for children to want to read – stress and anxiety or too much pressure can lead to children who know how to read but choose not to read because they associate reading with stress and failure.
Book orientation is a really important part of the reading process. It is a conversation you have with the child about the book even before they begin reading. Look at the title of the book, the illustrations and discuss what this book might be about as well as the characters in the text.
Every parent of a young child knows that they find a book they love and will ask you to read the same book over and over again. It is during these moments your child will begin to remember the story and begin to “read” it back to you from their memory and the illustrations. Celebrate this reading achievement. We want to foster them to be strong, independent reader and develop a love of books.
As children being to explore textas, pencils and crayons from a young age, they will pick the up and hold this in a grip that feels comfortable to them. As children progress and become older, we want to encourage them to hold their pencil in a way that allows their fingers and hands to move easily and freely. A good pencil grip is when the pencil is held comfortably between the thumb, index and middle fingers with the ring and little finger curled up under these.
Echo reading is a strategy used to develop expressive, fluent reading. It is a particularly helpful strategy with developing readers, enabling them to 'hear' how a text should be read before attempting to read the text themselves.
A support guide with key principles and advice to support your child's development in writing