Parent and Carer Reading Tips

Miss O'Brien's top tips for parents & carers to support your student’s reading habits

 Parents/Carers can:

  • Listen to Year 7 read for 20minutes a night.
  • Read aloud to your child, this could be sharing a news article/blogpost, or a fiction or non-fiction book.
  • Give time & space for your child to read their book independently for 30mins per night.
  • Offer access to a wide variety of reading materials, from magazines to autobiographies to fiction books. These can also be sourced for free from a public library.
  • Access eBooks and audio books via Solihull public library service: https://www.solihull.gov.uk/libraries/eBooks-and-eAudiobooks
  • Turn subtitles on whilst watching television, streaming services or YouTube.
  • Model reading yourself as much as possible in the home, or take a book with you when out and about.

 

Students to:

  • Have a reading book with them at all times in school.
  • Read aloud for 20mins per day.
  • Read to yourself/ inwardly for 30mins per day.
  • Challenge yourselves with reading something different. A new genre, books across time periods, books with or without pictures, an author that is new to them, fiction and non-fiction books.
  • Explore a wide variety of reading styles – eBooks, audiobooks, podcasts, paperbacks, hardbacks, interactive choose-your-own-adventure books, video game texts, different font sizes, different colour pages, try the Word Runner function on Amazon Kindle, read aloud to someone (even a pet!), be read aloud to, read in your head, read in a car, read outside, read at home or in school or an after-school club, try reading in the morning versus reading at night. The more you vary your reading style, the easier you will find a style that works for YOU.
  • Turn subtitles on whilst watching television, streaming services or YouTube.
  • Participate in the Accelerated Reader programme in Years 7 and 8.
  • Consider joining in with the library’s co-curricular activities, such as National Reading Champions, the Children’s Book Award or Young Story Curators.