During the first two years at school your child will be starting to learn to read and write. These are important skills because they are needed in all the other subjects throughout school.

The SATs at Key Stage 1, test your child's ability to read, write and spell at the age of seven but they are only a 'snapshot' of what he/ she is doing in class.

Frequent repetition and practice help children learn. Schools do this all the time with reading and writing, and you can do it at home too. It doesn't need to take up a lot of your time; 'a little help and often' really does make all the difference.

Key Points

1. Make learning at home interesting and fun. Everyone learns better when he or she is happy.
2. Listen to your child read every day, especially in the early years. Your child will probably have a class reading book from school that he brings home each day.
3. Help you child with spellings. In the first term, he/ she will probably bring home words to learn. Later on there will be weekly spellings. The best way to learn spellings is for your child to write them down a few times. Check that they are written properly. If he/ she is having problems, guide your child' finger and trace over the words to reinforce the patterns.
4. If your child is reading independently, encourage them to read every day and talk to them about what they have read. Make it part of your everyday conversation. Don't just stick to books either - talk about magazines, newspaper articles, advertisements etc., as well.
5. Read to your child regularly - even if they can read their own stories. Choose a book that you will both enjoy (but not their school reading book!). A good time to read to your child is at bedtime. You do the reading so that they can listen and enjoy the story.
6. Have a selection of books and magazines at home - stories, non-fiction books, dictionaries (picture dictionaries for younger children), reference books. Encourage them to use the books and show them how to use the different types.
7. Encourage your child to write. If your child is just learning to write, give him/ her simple patterns and shapes to copy so they develop good pencil control.
8. Let your children know that we write for different reasons - to send thank you letters, to make a shopping list, to write about what we have done (diary), etc.
9. Ask about the stories they have written at school
10. Join the local library together. Let you child complete their own application form if possible. Take them regularly to choose a new set of books.
11. Record some of the language education programmes shown on the TV during the day and watch these with your children in the evening or at weekends. The TV guide usually tells you which age group the programme is for.

The Exercises

Where there are written questions, they are graded for different age groups. Remember this Key Stage covers two school years so you should not expect your child to be able to tackle all the questions if they are still in Year 1

Print out the exercises to use away from the computer.

Go to the Exercises

The Answers

Print out the answers to use away from the computer.

Go to the Exercises

Resources

A Parents' Guide to Handwriting - Pub. NAPE

Choosing and Using Books with Children - Pub. NAPE

Children and Computers - Pub. NAPE

Helping Children at Home - Pub. NAPE

Listening for Clues (Thinking Skills) - Pub. NAPE

CD-ROMs

My First Incredible Amazing Dictionary - Dorling Kindersley

I love Spelling - Dorling Kindersley

My First Reading Adventure: I want to read - Dorling Kindersley

My First Reading Adventure: Now I'm reading - Dorling Kindersley

Jump Ahead Year 1 - Cendant Software

Publishers

NAPE
Queens Building, Barrack Road, Northampton, NN2 6AF
Tel: 01604 36326 Fax: 01604 36328

DORLING KINDERSLEY
1 Horsham Gates, North Street, Horsham RH13 5PJ, Tel. 01403 833200
Web site http://www.dk.com

Web Links

The BBC Learning Station
http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/schools/ This is a service for children, teachers and parents at school and at home.

Reading
http://www.ed.gov/pubs/parents/Reading/
Ideas for helping your child learn to read from the US Department of Education. Activities include 'Family Reading Time', 'Family Stories' and 'How Do I use this Book?'.

Writing
http://www.ed.gov/pubs/parents/Writing/
Ideas for help you child learn to write from the US Department of Education. Activities include 'Things to Know', 'Things to Do', 'Pointers for Parents'.

NAPE
http://www.nape.org.uk/
NAPE is an association that promotes a partnership between parents, teachers, school governors, inspectors, education officers and entire school communities. It produces a range of information books and advice for parents.

You will find other Web Links in Learning Exchange at BTHomeCampus

Go Back to the Exercises