I remember how frustrating the first few weeks of Foundation/Prep were… FOR ME!!!

My kid was great but trying to get my head around how to help her with those first steps to reading caused more than a few deep breathing sessions and brain flitting on “WTF now?” mode!

Many of you may be entering this chapter THIS WEEK with your first child. Or second, third?

To say “learning to read is hard” is an understatement!

Our children are learning to decipher a whole new code, and this takes time and patience on everyone’s behalf.

See, when my child began learning to read, I felt quite anxious!

She was our first child and I had no idea what to expect.

I didn’t know what she was struggling with.

I didn’t know how to help her overcome the fear or what steps to follow.

I was fortunate enough to have a fantastic Foundation teacher (Thanks Mrs L) who understood that all the parents needed help too.

We were provided our own little learning session where she explained what reading LOOKS LIKE to children, how the program would be taught in class and offered tips on how we could read with our children at home.

A few little tips or you…

As much as repetition is needed and helps with some aspects of reading, it can be BOOORRRRIIINNGGGG!
Try these actions/games to add a little fun into your reading session

• Repeat the sound a few times as the beginning of different words that start with that letter (g.g.g.goat g.g.great   g.g.g.gabby     m.m.m.monkey   m.m.m.mum)
• Let them make the sounds and copy you
• Take it in turns pointing at the letters and words
• Ask questions about the picture provided
• Say other words that start with the same sound and ask what sound they all start with. Followed by, which letter makes that sound?
• Find the letter in other words. Using people or animals names the child knows makes it more personal and interesting
• Find the letter in words on daily items eg Cereal box, café menus, movie titles
• Link the sound to an action
• Celebrate little wins and have fun
• Change the game before they put up “the wall of resistance”

These are the first words children learn to read at school.

SIGHT WORDS

In the Australian education system, SIGHT WORDS have been identified as the top 100 words that are used in our language.

These are split into a colour coded system to help children learn them 10-15 at a time. You can often find them all listed in the first few pages of your child’s school diary.

Some simple games to help your child memorise these words include:

• Point at each, sound it out, let your child copy
• Print off a few extra copies:
  • Play a matching game. Requires 2 copies of the words cut out.
    Stick one set on the table (or wall). Give the child one word at a time from the second set to match.
  • Memory game. Start with 3-4 words at a time. Build up as they improve.
    I began by having only one set upside down and holding one set.
    I placed one word at a time for the child to try to find. Depending on the child, 2 chances per word could help.
  • Use Scrabble letters (or poker chips are great to write letters on or flat rocks, anything) to let your child create the words.
• Find the words in books your child loves you to read to them. They may even be able to read those words if you pause on it. It helps if you follow the sentence by pointing at each word.
• Ask them if they can find a particular Sightword on a page. If there are multiple, ask them to find them all.
• Ask them to find the word with “S. sssss” in it.

I hope that these give a little sparkle of joy to your reading efforts!

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We will do our best to give you a few extra tips from our experience with our children on our social media pages.

Feel free to ask questions. We are all here to help each other!

🥰📖📚💝