CHRISTINE WEBSTER
WAIKERIE Primary School (WPS) is providing parents and volunteers with valuable advice on supporting students learning to read.
A small group of parents took part in a Listening to Children Read workshop on May 26 and Waikerie Primary School early years’ support teacher, Leanne Jones, said the school had streamlined its reading support strategies for students from reception to year 3.
Ms Jones previously worked as a literacy consultant for the Department for Education in Adelaide and is providing input into reading lessons at the school.
Parents and volunteers are being encouraged to follow three stages when listening to a primary school child read.
The strategies are:
- providing a book orientation before reading
- providing support during reading
- giving feedback after the child has finished the book.
Ms Jones demonstrated during the workshop the importance of doing a book orientation with a student, before they start reading it.
A video was shown highlighting how an early years student’s reading skills improved after a book orientation was conducted.
“We orient the student to help build meaning prior to reading the text,” Ms Jones said,
“We discuss what is happening in the pictures, what language might be tricky and making connections to their own experiences.”
During the reading process, parents and helpers are advised to let the child be in control, by allowing them to hold the book themselves, turn the pages and point to the words.
“We make sure that when they make an error that we don’t just jump in,” Mr Jones said.
“We provide them with the opportunity to correct themselves.”
Ms Jones said it was a good idea to allow the child to read further and possibly then notice for themselves that they have made a mistake, and feedback was an important part of the learning-to-read process.
“We praise them for pointing to words, for having a go, for going back and re-reading and self-correcting and stopping if it doesn’t make sense,” she said.
WPS has introduced recognisable characters to assist reception to year 3 students develop reading skills.
These include a Pointing Pelican, to remind these students to point to their words when reading, a Practising Panda to encourage them to practise their reading at home, and Eagle Eye to ensure they look at the pictures.
Ms Jones said using these recognisable characters worked well with reception students last year.
“They are able to not just name the character, but also tell me what the skill or the strategy is and put it into practice,” she said.
Ms Jones said it was important for parents to make listening to reading part of their children’s daily routine.
WPS hopes to run further Listening to Children Read workshops in the future for interested parents and also provide information via online platforms.