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Helping your child learn to read
Your child is
learning from the day it is born and, as a parent, you can make a huge
difference in teaching your child good language skills that will help
them to make sense of their world.
SHARE LISTEN TEACH ENJOY
SHARE
Even very
young children can get a sense of enjoyment out of sharing the experience
of reading a book with their parents. Children learn to talk before they
learn to read, so reading a book together is a great way of talking to
your baby about lots of different things. Baby will find the experience
enjoyable and learn how books work at a very early age. Best of all, sharing
a book together is a fantastic way of being close to your child.
TIPS
for SHARING books with your child:
- Pick
a peaceful place to read the book so that you and your child don’t get
distracted.
- Let your
child hold the book and turn the pages with you – they will soon
understand that you read a book from the front to the back.
- Talk about
the pictures in the book and point out images that your child knows.
For example, if there is a picture of a car, ask your child questions
like “What colour car do we have?” and “Where do we like to drive in
the car?”
Children
learn to talk by listening to the people around them. By frequently reading
and talking to your child, you will encourage them to respond and join
in with their own opinions. Listening and offering praise to your child
is a great way of boosting their confidence in their reading skills.
TIPS
for LISTENING to your child read:
- Make
sure you give your child plenty of time to answer when you ask them
a question.
- Teaching
your child rhymes and poems is a great way for them to practise familiar
language sounds.
- Use books
to encourage your child to talk about their feelings and fears about
new situations and experiences.
- Let your
child make up stories about the characters in the book or ask them what
they think will happen next.
TEACH
Even though
your child will be taught to read at school, learning to read needs more
practice than they will be able to get during the school day. Parents
play an incredibly important role in helping their child improve their
vocabulary and reading skills, and it’s never too early to start. A recent
study showed that children who read to their parents improved their reading
more than those who were getting extra support from a teacher in school.
TIPS for TEACHING your child to read:
- Practise
the letter-sound relationships your child will learn at school.
- Sing the
alphabet while pointing to each letter on an alphabet chart.
- Encourage
your child to read all sorts of different reading material – newspapers,
magazines, the internet, as well as books.
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ENJOY
The most important
thing to remember is that reading should be fun! If your child sees reading
a book as a chore, they are unlikely to get much out of the exercise.
There are lots of games you can play to make reading with your child a
pleasurable experience that you will both enjoy.
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TIPS for
ENJOYING reading with your child:
- Sing
along to nursery rhymes and use funny voices and sounds. As your child
gets more familiar with the rhymes they will begin to join in.
- Novelty
books with pop-ups, flaps and textured finishes can be a great way to
get your child interested in books.
- Encourage
your child to act out their favourite stories and, as they get older,
write their own.
- Make
a collage of the alphabet by cutting up old papers or magazines. For
example, if your child loves animals, try making an animal alphabet
– a is for antelope, b is for bird, etc.
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Inspire
your child
The best
way to get your child reading
is to find a book that they’ll love.
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Try these
Little Tiger recommendations for KIDS WHO LOVE…
ADVENTURE
The Dark, Dark Night
Ted, Bo and Diz - The First Adventure
A Long Way From Home
MAKING
MISCHIEF
The Three Horrid Pigs and the Big Friendly Wolf
The Monkey with the Bright Blue Bottom (shortlisted for the Sheffield Children’s Book Award 2008)
Dirty
Bertie (winner of the Nottingham Children’s Book Award and the Gold Award of the Norfolk Libraries Children’s Book Award)
Pooh! Is That You, Bertie?
CHRISTMAS
One Magical Christmas
The Christmas Angels
A Christmas Wish
I’ve Seen Santa!
One Snowy Night
The Very Snowy Christmas
COUNTING
Ten Friendly Fish
Hopping Mad!
Ten Tiny Tadpoles (winner of Practical Pre-school
Gold Award)
Ten Wriggly Wiggly Caterpillars (winner of Practical Pre-school
Gold Award)
BATHTIME
Dirty Bertie (winner of the Nottingham
Children’s Book Award and the Gold Award of the Norfolk Libraries
Children’s Book Award)
I don’t want to have a bath! (winner of the Nottinghamshire
Children’s Book Award)
Little Bunny’s Bathtime!
SCHOOL
Laura’s
Star and the New Teacher
SHARING
Little Bear’s Big Jumper
The Wishing Star
The Very Greedy Bee
For the complete
list of award-winning Little Tiger books, click here.
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Drawing on her experience as a teacher, we asked Elizabeth Baguley
a few questions about her feelings on teaching children to read.
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Activity
Sheets
Fred the
little bear wants to hatch an egg. But bears don’t have eggs, do they?
Fred learns all about nurturing in this humorous introduction to the natural
world.
These downloadable activity sheets will give you some fantastic spring
planting ideas and will help you teach your children all about plants,
seeds and animals that come from eggs.
For other activity sheets go to our Kids’ Corner.
Picture
Books and CD Sets
These
classic Little Tiger picture books with audio CD are a great aid to
improving reading skills and encouraging learner readers to join in.
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A series of audio books with wonderful, witty narration by Jason Isaacs, Craig Kelly, Helen Lederer, Doon Mackichan, Leslie Sharp and Jamie
Theakston, plus original music and sound effects. Click the discs to find out more. |
Click
here to download and listen
to an edited soundclip (1.28MB) from one of the
CDs.
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Explore
this website
with your child
The
Little Tiger website is aimed at both adults and children. If you
and your child like to surf the Internet together, a good place
to start is Kids’ Corner.
There are games, puzzles and colouring pages, as well as computer
wallpaper and a screensaver to download.
If your child
wants to find out more about the people who created their favourite books,
visit our Authors & Illustrators section and read the interviews and biographies. And don’t forget
to visit our Competitions page where you can enter
our monthly competition. |
For
help in locating the perfect book visit If
you liked, you’ll love…
See
our Submission Guidelines and
Tips
for aspiring authors and illustrators.

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