How to encourage more reading.
Last week we talked about the importance of reading for 11 plus success. This week we thought we could share a few tips on how to encourage reluctant readers.
Building a routine - Establish a daily habit of reading before school or at bedtime.
Reducing screen time - Removing distractions by turning off devices including your own will help make books more appealing.
Join your local library - In most boroughs children can borrow between 10 and 20 books at a time. This offers an opportunity to try out new authors and to graze through a pile of non-fiction books on a topic that interests them.
Digital devices - We have seen e-readers have a positive effect on some reluctant readers. Many Kindles have a built-in font called Open Dyslexic to improve readability. Children can easily access the dictionary to look up unfamiliar words.
Modelling reading - Let your children hear about your pleasure in reading. Research suggests that a father who reads has a powerful effect on encouraging reading especially for boys. So make sure there is a pile of books on your bedside table (even if you don’t have time to read them!)
Incentives - Some parents have found a reading chart with stickers or rewards can be a motivation .
Audiobooks - Listening to books in the car on long journeys is a great way to share a story. An audiobook can provide access to a more challenging text beyond their independent reading ability. Audiobooks are also popular amongst parents for whom English is not their first language.
The National Literacy Trust has lots of really interesting articles, resources and tips for supporting reading including research on one of their projects called The Future Of Literacy which investigates what it means to be literate in today’s rapidly changing world.
Dates for the Diary
Wetherby Pembridge - Open Day 19 May
Highgate Senior School - Open Day 3 October. We would advise registering on their website to be notified when bookings open later in the summer term. This is a popular tour that gets booked up quickly.
North London Collegiate School - School in action morning 1 June
The Latymer School - test registration closes 2 June
Watford Grammar Boys - Registration for the South West Herts Consortium Schools test will close on 5 June
Saturday 16 May
Year 4
English - We analysed If by Rudyard Kipling and answered comprehension questions about the poem.
Maths - Fractions and their decimal equivalents; how to convert one to the other.
Year 5
English - We revised collective nouns and studied the subjunctive verb form.
Maths - Calculating missing values from a set of data using the mean, median and mode.
Verbal Reasoning - Number sequences.
Non-verbal Reasoning - Nets of cubes, Similarities and Analogies.
Interview Practice - Who is your favourite author and why? Which of their books have you most enjoyed? Can you think of a question you would like to ask the author if you were to meet?
