What with all the wet weather we've been having it has given us the perfect excuse to stay indoors and read some books; by ourselves and with our children! The wet weather has also meant that we can read about water and rain (and puddles) and then go and splash about in them!
We also have some more stars - Samantha, Alesha and Angela and some of their kids - feature this week in "The REaD Spot" - wow!
As always, you can see this article for yourselves in the Rouse Hill-Stanhope News both online and in the paper version. This weeks article contains some information about early literacy and how to instill this in your child without having to "teach".
There are also the words for the action song Open, Shut Them (you can listen and see the actions by clicking on the song title) which is great, especially for younger children.
It is also great to do the actions to babies to assist with their brain and language development - as you know after reading these posts, literacy begins at birth!
Here we are with week 2 of the Rouse Hill Families Connect REaD Spot in the Rouse Hill-Stanhope News newspaper and you can find a link on our facebook wall.
This week features the words to the song "Galumph Went The Little Green Frog" - an incredible catchy song that you will find yourself humming all day after just one rendition! There are also some storybook suggestions about frogs for different aged kids and reading levels.
This week features more Play In The Garden superstars: Kelly, Fiona and Karen along with some of their kids showing off books that we read in the secret garden.
Sometimes reading at home can be hard (especially when the kids are at school and have bought home a book that they don't like/it's late and you are tired/they are tired and can't be bothered. However, one piece of advice to help during those times is to try to ensure that your child's reading at home is at an independant level.
But what is your childs independant reading level?
This is the level at which the books are relatively easy for your child to read and ones that they can read with about 95% accuracy. Books at this level dont require the child to sound out lots of words. Most of the words are read quickly and easily.
When your child spends time reading at their independent level, they are getting a chance to practice word recognition and word analysis skills (the ones hopefully being taught at school). Repeated readings of the same book over and over again enable each reading to become smoother. Soon, the reading will begin to "sound like talking." These are all important steps in becoming a fluent reader.
One further piece of advice - when the book can be 'read' with eyes closed: time to get a new book!
Thanks to Reading Rockets for the helpful information on independant level reading.
Our focus for this year is the importance of early literacy, and how important it is to read to your child (for even just 20 minutes a day), and how much it can impact on their future learning and language skills.
As a part of this initative, we will be hosting a very special event during Book Week that will feature all sorts of exciting things - more details to come so check back often!
However, Rouse Hill Families Connect will be featured in the Rouse Hill Stanhope News each week in "The REaD SPOT" which will have literacy tips and stories, information about activities and photos of you all!
Our first feature was in last week and starred Deborah, Tammy and Melissa - check them out below:
These stars came to Play In The Garden which is held up at the Rouse Hill Town Centre, and upcoming weeks will feature more of our stars!
If you don't get Rouse Hill Stanhope News delivered then you can grab a copy for yourself each week from the information centre at Rouse Hill Town Centre, as well as local newsagencies - or you can check here to see the latest updates and infomation about REaD 2 ME in Rouse Hill!
