As devices become a bigger part of our daily lives, the joy of reading good old fashioned paper books is becoming a less common experience for the children of today.

One of our strategic focus areas, (across the school) this year is oral language. We have noticed that this is changing for children, and wonder if one of the reasons for that change is that children are not reading books the same as they were. Today, children six and under watch over 28 hours of television a week, most of them have used a computer or device, and more than one in four has played a video game!! Watch out for our updates in the newsletter with ideas of things you can do, and ways you can help your children to develop their oral language and love of reading.

Some of the ways you can help your child, and encourage them to read at home are:

Reading and singing nursery rhymes - being able to rhyme is a very important component of reading and writing.

Read good old fashioned Dr Seuss - there are lots of rhyming and word families within these texts.

Go to the local library - Mosgiel Public Library is free to join and is open some nights and a Saturday morning. Alternatively - the Dunedin Public Library can also be joined by Mosgiel residents for free.

Talk about the books your child brings home from the East Taieri School library - every class goes 1x a week and will have at least 3 books.

Find a book that your child enjoys - read it together. Find another one by the same author - look for some that are in a series.

Model YOU reading to your children - show them you enjoy and love reading too!!

Talk about things you have found out when you have been reading something. Introduce new words and explain what they mean. Ask questions about what your child is reading - feed in at least 2-3 pieces of information for each question you ask.

Have a family challenge - how many books can you read in a week/ in a term etc?

HAVE FUN READING TOGETHER!!!!