Reading

Reading Introduction

Kia Ora!

On this page you will find links to lots of different reading activities- mostly audio books and follow up tasks.

Some other ways that you can support your child with reading is by:

reading lots of stories to your child and getting them to follow the words as you read
get your child to practice reading and writing sight words for the level that they are reading at (use the sight word videos link below to help)
ensure that children know all of the letter names and sounds of the alphabet (use the phonics song link below to help)
encourage lots of imaginative play - this helps build up your child's oral language skills which in turn broadens their vocabulary
ask lots of questions about stories that you (or your children) read e.g.
- - What was your favourite part? Why?
  - Who were the characters in the story?
  - Why do you think ________?
  - What happened when ________?

Sight Words and Phonics

Big Book Readings

The following Big Book Stories are intended to be used across multiple sessions (at least 2).

Encourage children to watch the story multiple times and join in with reading the stories when they can (some children may even want to mute the audio and read the stories themselves).

Complete as many of the activities as you would like - and of course if you or your child thinks of anything else that they might like to do in relation to the story then go for it!

Crumpet the cat

Activities

Think about the word wink. It ends with the sound 'ink'. How many other words can you write that end in 'ink'.
Draw a picture of a cat and brainstorm ideas about what cats can do. E.g Cats can scratch.
Draw a picture of your favourite animal and think of some ideas about what they might do if you were to go out for the day.
Answer these questions about the story:
- - Why did Lilly always think Crumpet was a good cat?
  - Why do you think Crumpet went 'wink, wink, wink?'
  - Do you think the cats will come back to Lilly's house? Why/Why not?

Billy McBrown

Activities

Draw Billy McBrown with other things on him that might make people laugh.
Draw a picture of something that makes you laugh.
Frown starts with the sound 'fr'. How many words can you think of that also start with the sound 'fr'?
Answer these questions about the story:
- - Why do you think people in the town were frowning?
  - Why do you think that Billy McBrown wanted to make people laugh?
  - What else do you think Billy McBrown could have done to make people laugh?

Hullabaloo at the Zoo!

Activities:

Draw a picture and write a list of all the animals that you can see in the book.
Make a mask of one of the animals in the story. Pretend to be the animal as you listen to the story.
Write a fax to somebody in your family about what noises you hear in your house.
Think of all of the words that rhyme with zoo
Pretend you're Mr Zebedee, write a story about what you think you would do if you lived next to a zoo.

Elephant is Stuck!

Activities:

Draw a picture of Elephant in a hole and think of some other ways that you might get him out.
Count how many exclamation marks (!) are in the story.
Think about the word get how many words can you think of that rhyme with the word get.
Make up some actions to go along with the the story as you read it.
How many times are these words in the story:
- - jiggle
  - wiggle
  - thump

Greedy Cat is Hungry

Activities

Make a list of foods that you think Greedy Cat might like to eat.
Draw a picture of Greedy Cat.
Think of as many words as you can that rhyme with the word cat.
Write all of the words that are written on the fridge or mat in the pictures.

Jack and the Beanstalk

Activities

Pretend to be either Jack or the Giant from the story - act out their parts of the story.
Retell the story in your own words from the beginning to the end.
Count how many full stops are in the story.
Make up a different ending for the story (you could act this out, write about it, draw a picture or record yourself)
Draw 3 pictures to show the beginning, middle and end of the story.
Write down all of the WOW words (adjectives) in the story.

Mr McDoodle and His Scooter

Activities:

Have a go on your scooter if you have one (make sure you stay in your bubble) and pretend that you don't know how to scooter (if you do not have a scooter you can run instead).
Design a new scooter for Mr McDoodle to use - make it as cool and creative as you can
Teach somebody in your home how to ride a scooter.
Find all of the WOW words (adjectives) in the story.
Set up an obstacle course in your garden - have a go on the obstacle course yourself (with or without a scooter)
Find all of the capital letters in the story.

Ready to Read Audio Links (please access these via a desktop/laptop for best results)

Ready to Read audio book links (no animations) - these stories are books which are used in our daily reading programme.

Click on the picture of a book and it will take you to a link which will play the book - encourage children to listen to the story multiple times.

Magenta - Level 1 and 2

Red - Level 3, 4 and 5

Copy of Magenta- Audio File Links.pptx

Copy of Red- Audio File Links.pptx

Yellow - Level 6, 7 and 8

Blue - Level 9, 10 and 11

Copy of Yellow- Audio File Links.pptx

Copy of Blue- Audio File Links.pptx

Green - Level 12, 13 and 14

Orange - Level 15 and 16

Copy of Green- Audio File Links.pptx

Copy of Orange- Audio File Links.pptx

Turquoise - Level 17 and 18

Purple - Level 19 and 20

Copy of Turquoise- Audio File Links.pptx

Copy of Purple- Audio File Links.pptx

Gold - Level 21 and 22

Copy of Gold- Audio File Links.pptx

Reading Strategies

When reading with your child encourage them to use these strategies to help them with their reading.

Listen to reading

Click on the links below to listen to some audio books - some of these stories have animations and some are just audible.

For the stories which have are in a normal book format ('Unite' for Literacy and 'I Can Read') encourage children to first listen to the story, next try and read with the story, and finally, once they have mastered this then encourage them to read the words independently without the audio.