Reading should be enjoyable for you and your grandchild.  If grandchild becomes distressed when reading at home, take a break and try again later.  All children love to read regardless of age.  Make a special time whenever possible to read to your grandchild away from interruptions.

 
How to help your grandchild in reading:

Show your grandchild that you value reading by reading whenever you can.

Encourage a positive attitude to books.

Provide a variety of texts for your grandchild to read, e.g. stories, comics, poems, plays, cartoons, reference books, magazines, children’s recipe books.

Encourage your grandchild to borrow books from the library.

Point out words on street signs, packets and labels.

Encourage your grandchild to predicate what a book is about from the cover and illustrations.

Talk about illustrations and diagrams in books and discuss how they add meaning to text.

Reread favourite books.

Talk about different purposes for reading a picture book, a novel, a television guide, a newspaper, a telephone directory, telephone book, and an encyclopaedia.

Point out the different size and shape of words.

Point out the first sound of a word and encourage your grandchild to think of other words that begin with the same sound.

Encourage your grandchild to read books for enjoyment as well as information.

Encourage your grandchild to talk about characters and events in texts.

Encourage your grandchild to make sound effects for the characters and events.

Ask your grandchild to think about possible beginnings and endings for stories read and heard.

“Sound out” difficult words and/or give clues to the meaning of difficult words.

Praise your grandchild when they are reading e.g. “well done.....that was a difficult word.”

Encourage your grandchild to have a go at reading words that are unfamiliar.

Ask your grandchild to read on past the unknown word to gain clues from the rest of the sentence.

Show your grandchild to find the meanings of unfamiliar words in dictionaries.

Encourage your grandchild to watch films and videos of books they have read.

Talk about the ways in which a film version of a book compares with the printed version
 
 
If your grandchild is having difficulty with reading, or not enjoying reading, ask your child’s teacher for help.