English - Ways to Help at Home

In a previous blog provided some great ideas about what you can do at home to support Mathematics. Here are some terrific ways you can support English.

• Talk to your children​ - Talking regularly with your children is crucial in building a wide and varied vocabulary, and confidence with a range of sentence struc- tures. These are necessary to be successful in reading and writing. 
• Listen to your children - The skills your children are using while putting together ideas, constructing sentences and ordering their thoughts are skills that are also used in the reading process.

• Praise your children - This is very important. Reading can be hard work, and children need all the encouragement they can get. After all, they are doing the best they can.
• Buy books - Choose interesting books that will appeal to your individual chil- dren, buying them for birthdays, other special occasions, or for special treats. Take your children with you when you are browsing in the bookshop and let them choose with you.
• Read in front of your children - When your children see you enjoying books, newspapers and magazines, they follow your example.
• Visit your local library regularly - Enrol your children, and offer your help in se- lecting their books, but resist the temptation to impose your choices.
• Have a family reading time - Put aside half an hour every weekend when all the family enjoy their individual reading matter.
• Cook with your children - Read the recipe together. Reading, measurement/ quantity, time, and time for social discussion.
• Read the TV guide with your children - Discuss the options, and plan your viewing ahead - also helps when talking about concepts of time - before, after, tomorrow, yesterday etc...
• Go shopping with your children - Read the road signs together, notices of any specials in supermarkets, the labels on packets. Give your children a list of things to look for. 
• Encourage your children to write letters or send emails - Write thank you letters or party invitations together. Encourage them to write a letter to Gran and Grandad, a friend or to the local newspaper. Reading and writing go hand in hand.
• Play a board game with your children - Often such games have lots of fun things to read as well as including Mathematics and strategy e.g. Monopoly etc.
• Make something with your children - Figure out the instructions together.