AF1 Early Emerging Readers
AF2/3 Early Developing Read
Try to relate the story to its social, historical or
cultural tradition.
Do you know any other stories like this? (good over evil,
wise over foolish)
Where is the story set?
AF4/5/6/7 Established, Confident Readers
How is the hero/heroine in this story similar to others you have
read about?
What does the story remind you of?
Does the story remind you of something that has happened to
you?
How would you have felt in that situation?
What might you have done instead?
What other stories have similar openings/endings to this one?
Many stories have messages, what is the message of this
story?
Are there any familiar patterns that you notice?
e.g. story structure, imagery.
What is the writers purpose and viewpoint of
writing the story?
Use a range of strategies including accurate
decoding of text, to read for meaning.
Can you think of another story that has a similar theme?
(good/evil/weak/strong)
Give the impression that it is the child who is going to do
most of the reading work.
Why does the author choose this setting?
Encourage your child to take control of the task.
Let your child handle the book, turn the pages.
What makes this an exciting story?
What effect do you think the story has on the reader?
Could the story be better? What would you suggest?
What impression does the author want to give of this
character? Why?
What is the purpose of this paragraph?
(e.g. time moves on)
What question would you like to ask the writer of the story?
Who is this advert trying to persuade?
Does the article ………………………………………?
If your child turns to look at you at every tricky bit before
having a go themselves, try not to look at them—possibly by
continuing to look at the print yourself. This will give the
impression that you think they will be able to work it out for
themselves.
Always praise your child when they work at a problem
independently. For example: “I like the way you used the first
sound to help you”. This will reinforce your child’s confidence
in their own ability.
Always encourage lots of discussion around books.
Before reading, look at the book and talk about the title, front
and back covers and the sequence of illustrations/pictures.
Introduce any unfamiliar vocabulary and any particular book
language of the text (e.g. repetitive text or rhyming words).
Reading
As your child becomes more confident in their reading,
encourage your child to read with their eyes only and not use a
finger match.
Give plenty of time for your child to work at a problem for
themselves, at least 10 seconds. It can be very tempting to
jump in with the word.
Explain and comment on the writers use of
language—including grammar features.
What does (word/phrase) mean?
If your child misreads a word let them read to the end of the
sentence. They may notice that something has gone wrong
and go back and put it right. This is excellent reading behaviour
and will not tend to happen if you jump in straight away with
support or point out an error for them too soon. If your child
doesn’t notice, then wait until they reach the end of the sentence
and then draw their attention to it. If necessary repeat what
your child has read so they can listen to their attempt.
Which sounds has the author used to make the writing sound
formal/informal?
If your child stops at a word and doesn’t seem to know how to
tackle it, although tempting don’t feed the word straight away.
Ask “what could you do to help yourself?” You may need to
prompt—for example “blend all the sounds” (be careful that the
word is suitable for this).
Think of another word you can use here. What different
effect would your word have?
Blending
Can you use similies/metaphors in the story?
When blending ensure your child blends from left to right across
the word.
Encourage your child to look for graphemes (th, sh, ch, ai etc)
within words.
Can your child look for words within words?
Encourage your child to look carefully for endings—
s, es, ed, ing.
Always encourage your child to go back to the beginning
of the sentence to confirm if their attempt at an unknown word
Why has the author used …. (italics, bold, exclamation marks,
headings, bullet points, captions, etc)?
What words has the author used in the text to make this
character funny/sad/angry?
As a reader, how do you feel about the character?
What makes you feel that way?
Find some adjectives that help you picture the scene/character
in your mind
Find a sentence that encourages you to read more of the
story.
Why has the author set out the text like this?
Punctuation
Think about the structure and organisation of the
text—what it looks like?
What kind of text is this? How do you know?
How do headings help when you scan the text?
How does the layout help the reader?
How does the title of the story encourage you to read more?
Some of the text is printed in a different way, why do you think
the writer does this?
Why has the author repeated phrases and words ?
What is the purpose of the pictures?
What are the sub-headings for?
Why does the author choose to change paragraphs here?
Why has the author made these words stand out?
What is the purpose of the chapter titles?
Which words tell you what order to follow?
What is the purpose of this?
Why is the word ….. In bold print?
Explain how this section ….. Is different from the others?
Encourage your child to notice the punctuation and read
appropriately to the punctuation—full stops, question marks,
speech marks, exclamation marks and bold print.
Pausing at full stops is very important from the very early
stages of reading, as it enables your child to maintain sense of
what they are reading.
Reading to exclamation marks will add expression to your
child’s reading. Your child may need to make their voice louder
or quieter. Exclamation marks are often used to show how
surprised or cross someone is. Don’t be afraid to ‘model’ what
you want the child to do here.
I can understand, describe, select or retrieve
information events or ideas from texts using
quotations.
Some good questions to ask:
Where does the story take place?
When did the story take place?
What did he/she look like?
Where do the characters live?
Who are the main characters?
What happens in the story?
What kinds of people are in the story?
What happens after ……?
I can deduce, infer and understand
information from the text that I am reading.
Some good things to consider:
What does the word ….. imply/make you think of?
If you were going to interview/ask a character a question—who
would you ask and what would your question be?
What does this tell us about how ….. is feeling /thinking?
What do you think will happen because of …..?
Through whose eyes is the story told?
Why do you think ….. feel …..?
If this was you, what would you do next?
How have the characters changed during the story?
Can you tell me why …..?
Predict what you think is going to happen next.
What makes you think this?
Describe what happens at / when?
How do you know that …..? (deduce/infer)
Where did you find the information about …..?
What does the main character feel at this point in the story?
How do you know this—can you pick out a sentence?
How did ….. feel?
What words give you that impression? Why?