Parents Learn to Read and Write
September was a busy month in the Primary School for Parent Education workshops. Parents of 5K students were invited to afternoon and evening sessions where the process by which children learn to read was explored through “hands on” activities. The parents were put into the position of new learners, and learned how to use contextual, semantic, phonic and picture cues to decode a mystery text which had been translated into a previously unknown font. Time was also devoted to learning how to best support their child at home through recognizing some common reading behaviors, and tapping in to a range of strategies to encourage reading for comprehension and fluency.
The Workshop for Grade 1 parents reviewed how to support an emergent reader, the process by which a child progresses from invented to conventional spelling, and how to consolidate good spelling habits. They had the opportunity to participate in a “making words” activity, and to see a variety of writing samples which showed the expected range in this age group. Approximately 40 parents took advantage of the workshops, and reported finding them useful, although the competition in the group activities sometimes became a little fierce!
The workshops were formulated and delivered by Jenni Thompson, one of the Learning Specialists and Assistant Head of Primary School.