Some questions to develop an understanding of what your child is reading.

· Can you predict what will happen next?

· What are the problems or conflicts in the story?

· What part of the story might you change. Explain why and how.

· What are the good points of the story?

Change the ending of the story.

When they read to you, use the Pause, Prompt, Praise strategy. When stopping at a difficult word, remind them to pause and give them about five seconds to think. If they can’t figure out the word on their own, prompt them by reminding them to use one of the strategies they know e.g. say try that again, or ask them a question about the meaning of the story, or ask them to think of a word that makes sense. If they don’t know the word after they have tried it twice, tell them what the word is. When they try hard, praise them, tell them something good you noticed. You might say:

· I like the way you tried to work that out.

· I’m glad you noticed that didn’t make sense/sound right/look right.

· I saw you checking the picture. Good idea.

· I like the way you skipped the word and then went back.