LITERACY TEACHING TIPS:

Imagine the Possibilities!

Here are activities you can do with your child to strengthen the home-school partnership. Literacy learning is all about having a go and being exposed to a text-rich environment.

• Support experimentation

Gather collections of pictures from magazines, newspapers and other sources. Give students the opportunity to reinterpret the events of an existing image or illustrate one of their own.

• Foster imagination

Have your child draw a fantasy character and then swap with a partner who has to write the character’s history. Swap and compare ideas.

• Value talk

Engage children in conversation – about books, their day, things you notice when out and about. Another option is to choose a section of a book and rewrite it, to be performed as a play – perhaps with a different character or setting involved.

• Play with words

Look at words that have double meanings. Illustrate both versions of the word. Ask others for their favourite puns and share the meanings.

• Get involved with current issues

Read the news headlines and talk to children about what is happening in the community. Look for real-world solutions and think of actions they could take to help support others. Consider writing a letter to the editor with them.

• Refresh old stories

Visit the library or find neglected books at home. Students can redesign covers using cartoon/manga images and create illustrations to reflect the content. Comic strips can even be produced to re-tell the stories.

• Bring the library to you

Create a nice space at home with bookshelves, a variety of texts, cushions and chairs. Dedicate the environment as a reading space and encourage your child to foster a love of reading.