Welcome to the Year Three Workshop

Welcome to the Year Three Workshop

The Year 3 English Curriculum includes the teaching of: Reading Writing (including handwriting) SPAG (spelling, punctuation and grammar)

The main focus of our workshop this evening is on reading. We hope to answer your questions about: How you can help your child with their reading How you can support your child to develop their reading skills How reading enhances your child s writing

What do we want for our children as readers? To develop a positive attitude to reading To be able to read for a range of purposes To be able to ask and answer questions about texts which improve their understanding To be able to listen to and to talk about, a wide range of texts

Before children can learn to read and write they need to develop their understanding of the English language. For all of us this happens through talk. In Year 3 we encourage the children to talk in a variety of situations. Through talk we learn new vocabulary and gain further knowledge of how to structure sentences.

What can you do at home? Have regular discussions with your child about a variety of topics. Introduce new words and explain what the words mean.

Learning how to read What were your experiences of learning to read at home and at school? What reading scheme did your school use to help you learn to read?

Do any of these ring a bell? Roger Red Hat Rainbow books Janet and John Read it yourself Ladybird books SRA cards Keys words in tobacco tins Beano Jackie Shoot Match Dandy Roy and the Rovers Books with tapes Elves and the Shoemaker (classical songs) Letterland

In Year 3 we develop reading skills further by focusing on the language of texts. We look for hidden meanings and discuss the vocabulary choices.

Can you read this? baa baa b ack sheep Have you a y oo yes sir yes sir Three bags fu How did you decode the text?

For those children who are able to read fluently: We are no longer teaching them to read by decoding as most children know and can use their phonics. We are now teaching them to understand and discuss what they are reading and increase their reading stamina. We develop the children's abilities to read with expression by reading aloud and discussing how sentences should be read. We focus on comprehension skills to ensure the children can understand what they are reading.

The Great Fairy Tale Search by Chuck Whelon Skimming and Scanning the text for evidence

We teach the children to use evidence from the text rather than their memories/ experiences only Perhaps she kept them locked in a dark and dismal dungeon with green and slimy walls. Perhaps she fed them to her favourite pets: boa constrictors, alligators, and piranha fish. 1. What do you think about Mrs Cole s choice of pets? 2. What effect does using the repeated word perhaps have? 3. Dark and dismal dungeon is an alliterative phrase. Can you make up another one?

What questions should I ask? Fiction text: Questions about the character looks / personality / behaviour / thoughts Questions about the vocabulary used What might happen next? How do you know? Can you prove it (using the text)? I think because What did you enjoy / like the most about this story?

What questions should I ask? Non-fiction text: Questions about the way the text is set out Questions about the vocabulary (e.g. any unknown words?) What did you learn from reading the text? How do you know/ can you prove it using the text? What did you find most fascinating? What else might you find out about this topic?

Other hints for reading with your child at home: Maintain the flow: Help children to sound out some of the unknown words, but is not necessary to correct every single word. Making sense: If your child does not self-correct, you could ask, Did that make sense? Then discuss what and why it didn t make sense. Use picture clues: Encourage your child to use any pictures or other illustrations to help make sense of the text. Make reading interactive: Ask questions and discuss what is happening to help in developing comprehension skills

Be positive! Try not to say No that s wrong, but rather Let s read that together, and point to the words as you say them. Children will bring home a variety of books, try not to comment on how easy or hard you think the book is. Use praise: It helps to boost their confidence and recognises their achievement (including effort) Don t read for too long: Ten good minutes is far more helpful than 30 minutes of strife!

Quiz Time Can you identify these book characters?

Reading into writing: As children become immersed in lots of different texts, they begin to use these as ideas for their own writing. Writing has many demands - from what to write, how to write, how to spell, grammar and handwriting. The more ideas children have to draw from, the more confidence they have to begin writing. Having a range of vocabulary (including standard English story language) will enable them to write better quality texts.

Different types (genres) of writing the children learn at St. Cecilia s! Fiction Story writing Poetry Diary writing Play scripts Descriptions (Character, setting etc ) Non Fiction Newspaper Recounts Persuasive Information Explanation Balanced argument Instructions Informal and formal letters

How you can help: Take away their fear. Reassure and praise whenever possible. Let them see you writing shopping lists, emails, perhaps even write them a story! Let them see you make mistakes with your writing! [then correct it] They need to understand that adults are not perfect writers. We have frameworks and starting points to help us too. Show them how you check spellings (e.g. a dictionary/ spellchecker etc.) Let your children draw and write for fun on their own.

What activities can you do at home? Write messages on funky post it notes or emails to each other. Encourage them to keep a diary either for themselves or for their pet/ toy. Write funny stories and letters to each other. Regular writing to a relative or close family friend there is nothing more magical than receiving a letter through the post. Make it fun get different coloured paper, pens, chalk, let them use the computer. Get them to make scrap books on holiday, write postcards, get a pen pal, write to their favourite pop group.

What activities can you do at home? If they ve seen a film they loved, they could write a diary as one of its characters or write a play script of the story. Writing a match report on a match they played in on the weekend. Write a letter/ diary entry to their friend or teacher about what they have done over the weekend. Do not over focus on their spelling or handwriting. We love looking at their efforts too!

What can your children read at home? Story and information books (including electronic ones e.g. Kindle) Magazines, newspapers and comics Search and Find books (e.g. Where s Wally/the Meerkat) Quiz books Annuals Recipe Books Guinness Book of Records Poetry Children s Bible and prayer books Picture books for older children Why not come and read with your child in our Library after school?

Year Three recommended books: (There are many different lists this is one example) Humour Hundred Mile an Hour Dog series, Seriously Silly series -Allen Ahlberg Let s do the Pharoah, Krazy Cow, My Arabel s Raven - Joan Aiken Mum s Going to Explode - Jeremy Fudge Series - Judy Bloom Strong Jake Cake series -Michael Broad Pongwiffy series - Kaye Umansky Clarice Bean series -Lauren Child Jeremy James series - David Henry The Legend of Spud Murphy, Captain Wilson Crow s Feet - Eoin Colfer My Naughty Little Sister -Dorothy Edwards Rescuing Dad, How to Train Your Parents, My Friend s a Werewolf - Pete Johnson Vald the Drac series - Ann Jungman Mammoth Academy series - Neal Layton Captain Underpants series - Dav Pilkey Dirtie Bertie series - David Roberts Horrid Henry series - Francesca Simon Charlie Small series - Charlie Small Mr Gum series - Andy Stanton My Brother s Famous Bottom, One Humour/Adventure Eddie Dickens Trilogy, Fall of Fergal - Philip Ardagh Harry the Poisonous Centipede series - Lynn Reid Banks Vernon Bright series - SteveBarlow/Steve Skidmore Astrosaurs series -Steve Cole Spy Dog series - Andrew Cope Just William - Richmal Crompton Little Wolf - Ian Whybrow Adventure Secret Seven, Adventure stories - Enid Blyton Cows in Action - Steve Cole GRK series - Joshua Doder Emil and the Detectives - Erich Kastner Etc. etc.

Reading Record Books: These provide a record of the children s reading homework, their comments and some of the genres they have read. (It may also include books from the library as well as the banded books.) The records can also be used to pass on a quick message to us about reading homework. Children should be bringing their reading books and records everyday to school. Guidance on how to complete the records (Parents and children) was sent out at the beginning of term.