2015

Reading
Parent
Information Night
Presented by the Foundation,
Level 1 and Level 2 Teaching Staf

Welcome
and
Introductions

The format of the night will be as follows

For all parents -Keynote Speech

Oral Language and Literacy

Then
Foundation (Prep), Level 1 and Level 2
parents will break for their own meetings
Foundation addressed by Gail Moncrief and the
Foundation Teachers
Level 1 addressed by Julie Vickery and the Level 1
Teachers
Level 2 addressed by Robyn Beard and the Level 2
Teachers
Then followed by question time in each meeting

Our Aims
That the night is thought provoking
You will see the importance of oral language to
reading and writing
You gain further insight into some reading
strategies and behaviours that your child will be
learning and practising
You feel more empowered and confident to
assist your child to develop as a reader
And as parents, you realise how important you
are in helping to shape your childs literacy
progress

Oral
Language
and
Literacy

What is
oral language
and why is it so
important to literacy
development?

What is Oral Language?

Expressive
Language

Receptive
Language

SPEAKING
LISTENING
the use of words
to share meaning
understanding
with others
expressed

the process of

what is

Why is oral
language
important?

Resnick & Snow (2009, p.3)

make the point that until children

learn to read they
learn most of what they know
by hearing other people talk
and they further point out
engaging in stimulating talk is the
only way young children can expand
their own language skills -learning
words, putting sentences together,
and practicing the rules of talk

Speaking and listening are

academic, social, and life skills
that are valued in school and
the world... [and] children are
judged in part,
by what they say
and how they say it
(Resnick &Snow, 2009)

Oral language is the foundation

for
the development of literacy skills
and is considered to be a strong
indicator of later
reading and writing
achievement.
(Bradfield et al.,2013; Communication Trust, 2013; Gross,2013; Hill,2012;
Hougen &Smartt, 2012; Kirkland &Patterson, 2005; Resnick & Snow, 2009;
Winch et al.,2010)

What are the

links with
reading and
writing?

Pre-reading
Emergent Literacy
is what young children
come to understand
about reading and writing
often well before they can read and
write and one of the key influences
is their
oral language capabilities.

Learning to Read
Children draw on their
knowledge of oral
language
- meaning of words
- sentence structures
to help them understand
what they are reading.

Further On
As students progress through
school
they need to develop more

sophisticated speaking and

listening skills
so they can use
more complex thinking and
questioning
as they respond to
spoken, written, and visual texts.

Writing
There is a reciprocal
relationship with
writing.
If children do not speak
the words they will not
be writing them.

How can I
help my
child?

Read aloud to your child

frequently.

- Reading to young children helps them memorise books and

memorisation is an important part of the learning to read
process as it makes children familiar with books and reading.
-Listening to a more accomplished reader helps older children
hear new words, understand words, and the patterns in
language. Dont forget fact books and digital texts .
One of the greatest gifts we can give to our children is to read
to them and give the m the love of reading. The joy of sharing a
good story will remain with your for a long time.

Modelling correct sentence

structure
-Listen to your childs speech and help them pronounce words
correctly, use plurals and verbs correctly, e.g. I done and
correctly use sentences starters, e.g. when / time.
-Encourage the use of new words when visiting, e.g. the Zoo,
which become a part of their language.

 Encourage respectful and

purposeful listening
-

Encourage turn taking when speaking and listening

until a speaker has finished talking before answering
Practise listening to a story for at least 10 minutes
Help your child follow instructions and build their
capacity to follow multi step instructions

Make time to have conversations

-

Try holding conversations that relate to one topic and

have at least 6 / 7 exchanges

Speak to your childs teacher

with any concerns
-

especially notify your childs teacher of any past

problems
Seek professional help if you suspect hearing or
speech problems

 If you are interested in finding more

about reading aloud, there will be a
list of websites and publications in
Bulletin tomorrow. These will be a
good place to start.
Also Judy Garner our librarian is the
President of the local branch of ALEA
(Australian Literacy Educators
Association) and is a great source of
information.

QUESTIONS
Foundation Parents Library
Level 1 parents
Level 2 parents Room 1

Foundation
Literacy

s
ol.

What made this so difficult?

Lack of alphabet knowledge

No support

No context to help you

No illustrations to give you meaning
your prior knowledge of the world has
not been called upon
No conversation about the book

Lets try
it again!!!

Baby
Animals

s
s
.

s
.

s
ol.

What made this easier?

There was a context as we
had read the book title
We could use the pictures to
help us make sense of the
text
We could use our prior
knowledge

Beginning readers need lots of

support and lots of encouragement.
They must have a go and must
not worry if they have made an
error.
ERRORS are good. WHY???
Because errors help us to see how
we can help our children to become
better readers.
Errors are not mistakes.

Beginning readers need

to develop
Alphabet Knowledge
and

Reading Behaviours
and
Reading Strategies

The children must learn the alphabet

Recognise the upper case and lower
case letters randomly -not in alphabet
order
Name the letters upper case and lower
case randomly -not in alphabet order
Know the sounds of the ALL letters
randomly and pronounce them correctly
Recognise ALLthe letters when they are
within words
Hear the sounds of letters within words

The children need to develop reading

behaviours
Always browsing through the book to
look and speak about the pictures
Point to each word as you read
Listen to yourself as you read
Read words top to bottom and left to
right
Using a strategy to solve an unknown
word not appealing to an adult
Always being willing to have a go

The children need to learn how to

use reading strategies
Look at the pictures
Look at the first letter of the
word and get the lips ready to
pronounce it correctly
Later on

Rereading, trying diferent words,

reading on, scan the rest of the
letters in the word

Some Common Errors

Saying the alphabet name instead of the
sound
help your child practise the alphabet daily
Reading the letters instead of the words
model word to word pointing
Saying more words than are on the page
model word to word pointing
Making an alphabetical error
help your child practise the alphabet daily
Reading an incorrect word
Does the word look right? Does the word
look right? Does the word make sense?

What is sight
vocabulary?
The commonly found words in
books,
such as, the, is, are, went, me.

As the child approaches a new text the child is

entitled to an introduction so that when the child
reads, the gist of the... story can provide some guide
for a fluent reading.
Choice isn't just about picking a book. Choice is about
allowing readers to retain ownership of, and to take
responsibility for, the processes in which they are
engaged and the topics they care about. Putting choice
into their hands allows readers to feel the power and
control over reading that all good readers feel.
Sounding out words is not a routine response used by
an efficient reader.

Marie Clay

Questions?