Helping your child learn to read

Reading opens up a world, which can provide a depth and richness to your life but it is a huge skill for children to conquer and all will develop at different speeds. Children learn to read mainly through decoding the ‘phonics’ - that is, breaking down words using the sounds in words to blend them together to make words. Words start simple (c-a-t) and move to digraphs (double sounds) (l-o-ng, c-oa-t) and then to larger words (r-ai-n-b-ow).

However, they also learn to read through using other cues like support from:

the pictures

sentence flow

possible ideas based on the story and initial sound

using phonics but seeing words inside words to build up a word e.g. pretended may be ‘end’ -> tend -> tended -> pretended

Try using all these strategies when you support our child.