Literacy Tips for the Summer

Here are some literacy tips that can be used over the summer. I hope these help.

Literacy Tips Over the Summer Holidays.

  1. Encouraging reading over the summer is a good way of helping your child improve in literacy. It expands vocabulary and improves spelling also.
  2. For younger kids listening to reading and looking at the pictures can help expand their interest in reading and books.
  3. For independent readers, it doesn’t have to be big books that they can read but comics and magazines also.
  4. Trips to the library can be eventful and there is often story telling on during certain days in the week.

 

Developing oral language with your child.

Junior and Senior Infants.

  1. Listen to what your child is saying and respond to contributions.
  2. Explain the meaning of words.
  3. Involve your child in discussions/plans.
  4. Ask/answer questions.
  5. Develop your child’s receptive language by asking him/her to follow simple instructions.
  6. Play headbanz or the post it game using topical words such as zoo animals, colours, summer words etc.

 

1st and 2nd Class.

  1. Encourage your child to express opinions.
  2. Play language games such as scrabble, headbanz, charades, what am I.
  3. Ask your child about what happened in their favourite TV programmes or about what they did during the day.

 

Developing your child’s writing.

Junior and Senior Infants.

  1. Get your child writing their own shopping lists, letters, cards etc.
  2. Get your child writing sentences. They could be about the characters from their readers or just about their own day to day events.
  3. Provide your child with their own writing copy and special pencils to use when writing in their copy.
  4. Get your child writing you notes and write some back in return as a way of modelling writing.

 

1st and 2nd Class.

  1. Get your child writing stories, letters, cards, notes etc.
  2. Keeping a diary is a fun way of getting your child to write.
  3. Encourage your child to have a go at spelling difficult words.
  4. Using a dictionary when writing is a good way of reinforcing correct spelling.