Literacy in the Home:
A guide for parents
Kinsale Community School, Kinsale, Co Cork
Email:
[email protected]
Tel:
021 4773174
Web:
www.kinsalecomunityschool.ie
Fax:
021 4773184
Literacy in Ireland
There has been considerable national concern at the recent poor performance of
Irish students in the Programme for International Student Assessment 2009
(PISA). The results achieved by the students of Kinsale Community School in the
PISA tests were significantly above the average both nationally and across the
OECD. While we are proud of our achievements to date, we are constantly
reviewing and implementing strategies that aim to continuously promote the skills
of literacy and numeracy in the school environment. We believe that with the right
encouragement and in the correct environments your child has the capacity to
constantly sharpen their skills in literacy and numeracy, skills that are so vital in
today’s competitive jobs market. The results of the PISA report found that
students who read for pleasure for an hour or more per day scored an average of
100 points higher in their literacy test than those who did not.
The PISA report showed that an alarming 42% of Irish 15 year olds
‘never read for enjoyment’. We are happy to report that the figure in Kinsale
Community School is approximately half the national average; however, this
percentage is still too high. We at Kinsale Community School aim to work in
partnership with parents to help to encourage and empower your child to read and
write for pleasure more often, and to benefit from the experience.
The recent document produced by the Department of Education and
Skills (DES), ‘Literacy and Numeracy and learning for Life’ (The national strategy
to improve literacy and numeracy among children and young people 2011-2020)
recognises the crucial role that parents have in creating a culture of literacy and
numeracy, both in partnership with the school and in the environment created in
the home.
Electronic Entertainment Technology & Literacy
In what follows, the term “electronic entertainment technology” refers to gaming
consoles, internet gaming and social networking, television and mobile phones/
smartphones. Anecdotal evidence, from discussing with students and parents the
relatively recent upsurge in the use of electronic entertainment technology in the
home, suggests that young people are spending a very high proportion of time
using such technology to the detriment of more creative activities, such as reading
and writing for pleasure. The culture of many modern homes has, in recent years,
developed into one that is dominated by electronic entertainment media, rather
than a domestic culture that promotes opportunities for development of literacy.
This is borne out by evidence gathered by the Department of Education and Skills,
where they state that:
“The outcomes of the National Assessments of
Mathematics and English Reading in 2009 show that
there is a strong link between the home environment and
student achievement. For example, high achievement
was associated with the amount of books and
educational resources in the home, while low
achievement was associated with practices such as
locating a television in a child’s bedroom and spending
excessive time on the internet or gaming.”
Chapter 3, ‘Enabling Parents and Communities to Support Children’s
Literacy and Numeracy Development’, pp. 19 – 25, at p.19).
Entertainment Technology & Literacy
To reduce the negative impact of such entertainment technology on your child’s
literacy levels, it is suggested that you might:
•
Moderate your child’s access to entertainment technology, gaming and social
networking.
•
Do not allow them to have unlimited access to television, gaming consoles or
the internet in their bedrooms. Situate these devices in public areas of the
home where use can be monitored.
•
Familiarise yourself with the capabilities of your child’s smartphone. If it is
capable of internet access, then you should be aware of this and the content
that your child is accessing.
•
Try to encourage more creative pursuits such as reading, writing, music, art,
sport and conversation.
•
Electronic media should be encouraged as primarily a work and research tool,
rather than an endless source of time wasting ‘entertainment’.
•
Perhaps the use of ‘Kindle’ e-readers could be used as a substitute for other
forms of electronic entertainment. These are electronic devices that can store
hundreds of books and can help to boost your child’s enjoyment of reading.
Literacy at home
While we at Kinsale Community School will endeavour to constantly develop and
implement strategies to improve the literacy of our students, it would be of great benefit to
the child if parents developed and implemented some of their own
strategies to help to nurture the literacy skills of their young people. While many parents
already
encourage
their
children
to
read
and
write
for
pleasure, some parents may benefit from guidance as to how an interest in reading could
be stimulated in their child in the home.
To promote literacy in the home it is suggested that you might:
•
Provide a ‘text-rich’ environment at home. Display books in the home and
promote newspaper and magazine reading. Leave interesting books in various
rooms around the house. Provide bookcases in childrens’ bedrooms so they can
store and display their own books. Perhaps you may consider purchasing
broadsheet newspapers rather than tabloid papers because broadsheet newspapers
have more in-depth analysis of news and current affairs and are generally written in
a more formal style of language.
•
When out and about with your child, visit bookshops and browse the different
sections. Tell your child to find an age appropriate book of interest to them and
purchase that book if it is affordable. Follow up on this purchase by discussing the
book as your child is reading it. This parental interest helps to positively
reinforce literacy for your child.
•
When giving your child presents for birthdays and Christmas, you might
include book tokens as part (or all) of the gift. You might follow up by bringing them
to a bookshop to purchase books with the tokens, and then positively
reinforce by discussing the book with your child as they read.
•
Enquire as to your child’s interests and hobbies and provide stimulating
literature on their area of interest. Most people will read about topics that they have
an active involvement in.
•
Encourage your child to join a good library, and become a member yourself. For
instance, the Cork City Library on Grand Parade, the new Bishopstown Library in
Wilton, or Kinsale Library.
Literacy at home
•
Encourage your child to read material other than their homework at least once a
day. Many young people like to read for an hour in bed before they go to sleep.
Helping your child to develop such a ritual would make a significant
difference to their literacy in later life.
•
Try to take an interest in reading yourself. You are an educational role model for
your children so if they see you reading, they may well develop an interest
themselves. If you have friends or extended family who read, ask them to take an
interest in your child’s reading by swapping and discussing books with them.
•
Involve your child in literacy activities such as crosswords and word searches in the
newspapers. Play word games with them such as Scrabble.
•
Encourage your child to write for pleasure and to enter into competitions for
creative writing (see appendix). Encourage them to write letters to newspapers to
express their views publicly, or to send their writings into magazines and
literary publications.
•
Give your child the opportunity to see an age appropriate play performed live by
professional actors. This will help the child to become more familiar with the
process of the writing, staging and performance of plays which are an
essential part of the Junior and Leaving Certificate English courses. It should also
reinforce the idea that literature is to be enjoyed in many different
contexts and is not just school-based.
•
Discuss films and media with your child in terms of type/genre, plot, acting,
characters, structure, function etc. This helps to develop your child’s faculty of critical
thinking, which is also examined as part of Junior and Leaving
Certificate examinations.
•
Have a dictionary and thesaurus in the home and encourage your child to use them
to find the meaning and spellings of words that come up in books and
conversation. The Oxford English Dictionary and the Oxford English Thesaurus are
considered the most comprehensive and are available in all good bookshops. This
practice will help to develop your child’s vocabulary and spelling.
Suggested Reading … a place to start
What follows is simply a small taste of what’s available in
literature for young people. It is meant to give some guidance
to parents who wish to encourage their child to read for
personal enjoyment.
If you wish to read reviews for a variety of books, including
many of the titles listed below, visit the following websites:
www.lovereading4kids.co.uk
and
www.childrensbooksireland.ie
These websites also provide useful information and activities that promote a love of
reading for young people. For your convenience, books have been categorised
according to suggested reading age and genre.
Suggested Reading: Age 10-12
Fantasy/ Adventure
War Horse
Shadow
Private Peaceful
Born To Run
Young Samurai – The Way Of The Warrior
Young Sherlock Holmes: Fire Storm
Raven's Gate (Power of Five) Graphic Novel
The Demonata 1: Lord Loss
Eragon
Percy Jackson and the Last Olympian
The Last Book in the Universe
Wolf Brother:
Book 1 Chronicles of Ancient Darkness
The Graveyard Book
Michael Morpurgo
Michael Morpurgo
Michael Morpurgo
Michael Morpurgo
Chris Bradford
Andrew Lane
Anthony Horowitz
Darren Shan
Christopher Paolini
Rick Riordan
Rodman Philbrick
Michelle Paver
Neil Gaiman
Family / Growing Up
Gangsta Granny
Diary of a Wimpy Kid The Ugly Truth
The Boy in the Dress
The Chocolate Box Girls
A Greyhound of a Girl
David Walliams
Jeff Kinney
David Walliams, Quentin Blake
Cathy Cassidy
Roddy Doyle
Girls
Friends Forever Series
Judi Curtin
Suggested Reading … a place to start
Suggested Reading: Age 12-14
Fantasy Fiction
The Avatar Chronicles
A Monster Calls
Flip
The Faerie Wars Series
Department 19
The Butterfly Heart
Skulduggery Pleasant Series
Wicked Lovely Series
The Demon’s Lexicon Trilogy
Divergent
The Skinjacker Trilogy
Inheritance Cycle Inheritance
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
Cherub: The Recruit
Henderson's Boys: The Escape
TimeRiders Series
The Hunger Games
The Dark is Rising
The Blue Girl
Conor Kostick
Patrick Ness
Martyn Bedford
Herbie Brennan
Will Hill
Paula Leyden
Derek Landy
Melissa Marr
Sarah Rees Brennan
Veronica Roth
Neal Shusterman
Christopher Paolini
J K Rowling
Robert Muchamore
Robert Muchamore
Alex Scarrow
Suzanne Collins
Susan Cooper
Charles de Lint
Action / Adventure
Gone Series
The Medusa Project
Fever Crumb Series
Blood Red Road
Young Samurai – The Way Of The Warrior
Bog Child
The Outsiders
Journey to the River Sea
Michael Grant
Sophie McKenzie
Philip Reeve
Moira Young
Chris Bradford
Siobhan Dowd
S.E. Hinton
Eva Ibbotson
Threads: Sequins, Stars and Spotlights
The Bad Karma Diaries
Ask Amy Green
Being Her Sister
Dear Diary
Sophia Bennett
Bridget Hourican
Sarah Webb
Claire Hennessy
Claire Hennessy
Girls
Boys
Being Billy
Keeper
The Penalty
Phil Earle
Mal Peet
Mal Peet
Suggested Reading … a place to start
Suggested Reading: Age 12-14 (continued)
Family/ Growing Up
We Can Be Heroes
The Real Rebecca
Being Billy
Thin Ice
A Beautiful Lie
Snobs, Dogs and Scobies
My Dad Is Ten Years Old
Words In The Dust
The Chocolate Box Girls
Prim Improper
Flour Babies
Catherine Bruton
Anna Carey
Phil Earle
Mikael Engström
Irfan Master
Elizabeth O’Hara
Mark O’Sullivan
Trent Reedy
Cathy Cassidy
Deirdre Sullivan
Anne Fine
Suspense/ Thriller/ Horror
Sketion 20
Into The Grey
Mister Creecher
The Saga of Larten Crepsley
The Dead of Winter
Skellig
Wolf
Paul Dowswell
Celine Kiernan
Chris Priestly
Darren Shan
Chris Priestley
David Almond
Gillian Cross
Historical Novel
The Horse Girl
Matilda Bone
Private Peaceful
Blitz
Carrie’s War
Shadow of the Wall
Beyond the Wall
Mary Finn
Karen Cushman
Michael Morpugo
Robert Westall
Nina Bawden
Christa Laird
Christa Laird
Titles for Reluctant Readers
The Fall ( Barrington Stoke)
Young Bond Series
Gangsta Rap
A Series of Unfortunate Events
The Big Football Collection
Alex Rider Series
The Princess Diaries Series
Anthony McGowan
Charlie Higson
Benjamin Zephaniah
Lemony Snicket
Rob Childs
Anthony Horowitz
Meg Cabot
Sport / Boys
Streford Enders: Stretford Away
The Big Football Collection
Riverside Series
Terence Blacker
Rob Childs
Peter Regan
Suggested Reading … a place to start
Suggested Reading: Young Adult
Family / Growing up
Bruised
How To Be A Boy
Kill All Enemies
And For Your Information
Fallout
Flick
Life: An Exploded Diagram
Tamar: Espionage, Passion and Betrayal
Taking Flight
Shadows of Our Skin
Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress
Siobhan Parkinson
Tony Bradman
Melvin Burgess
Denise Deegan
Sandra Glover
Geraldine Meade
Mal Peet
Mal Peet
Sheena Wilkinson
Jennifer Johnston
Dai Sijie
The Carrie Diaries: Summer in the City
Candace Bushnell
Girls
Action / Fantasy
The True Tale of the Monster Billy Dean
In The Sea There Are Crocodiles:
The Story of Enaiatollah Akbari
Steampunk! An Anthology Of Fantastically
Rich and Strange Stories
Paradise
Midwinterblood
White Crow
Between Shades Of Gray
Inheritance Cycle Inheritance
Switched: Book One in the Trylle Trilogy
The Infernal Devices Bk. 1 - Clockwork Angel
Bog Child
The Hunger Games
American Gods
Anansi Boys
The Eight
David Almond
Fabio Geda
Kelly Link & Gavin Grant
Joanna Nadin
Marcus Sedgwick
Marcus Sedgwick
Ruta Sepety’s
Christopher Paolini
Amanda Hocking
Cassandra Clare
Siobhan Dowd
Suzanne Collins
Neil Gaiman
Neil Gaiman
Katherine Nevill
Mystery/ Thriller/ Horror
Wish You Were Dead
Angel Kiss
Buried Thunder
August
Hunting Lila
The Dead of Winter
Todd Strasser
Laura Jane Cassidy
Tim Bowler
Bernard Beckett
Sarah Anderson
Chris Priestley
Suggested Reading … a place to start
Suggested Reading: Young Adult (continued)
Graphic Novels
Brian Boru
Bayou
The Complete Maus
Crogan’s March
Fables
Damien Goodfellow
Jeremy Love
Art Spiegelman
Chris Schweizer
Bill Willingham
Historical
Troy
Fated Sky
The Diary of Anne Frank
The Book Thief
Catch 22
Adele Geras
Henrietta Bradford
Markus Zusak
Aldous Huxley
Science Fiction
Brave New World
Fahrenheit 451
The Invisible Man
Aldous Huxley
Ray Bradbury
H.G. Wells
Classics
The Red Pony
East of Eden
The Grapes of Wrath
Treasure Island
The Catcher in the Rye
The Great Gatsby
The Hound of the Baskervilles
Heart of Darkness
1984
The Call of the Wild
The Count of Monte Cristo
David Copperfield
Great Expectations
A Tale of Two Cities
Dracula
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
A Farewell to Arms
Frankenstein
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Little Women
Moby Dick
John Steinbeck
John Steinbeck
John Steinbeck
Robert Louis Stevenson
J.D. Salinger
F. Scott Fitzgerald
Arthur Conan Doyle
Joseph Conrad
George Orwell
Jack London
Alexandre Dumas
Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens
Bram Stoker
Robert Louis Stevenson
Ernest Hemingway
Mary Shelley
Victor Hugo
Louisa May Alcott
Herman Melville
Suggested Reading … a place to start
Suggested Reading: Reluctant Readers
Barrington Stoke Books
Bicycle Blues
I See You Baby
The Bone Room
The Goblin of Tara
Blade
Anthony Masters
Kevin Brooks
Anne Cassidy
Oisin McGann
Chris Powling
Non Fiction
Guinness Book of Records
Tupac Shakur : Legacy
Big Book of Top Gear
Titanic
Uncover Tarantula
Life in an Irish Castle
Wall and Piece
Any Manchester United / Liverpool /
Celtic book
Kingfisher Motorsports Encyclopedia
Where’s Wally
The Horrible Histories Series
Dim Wit
Robert Pattinson
Twilight Movie Companion
Ghosts – Caught on Film
Jamal Joseph
Martin Jenkins
David Gordon
Banksy
Terry Deary
Virginia Blackburn
Melvyn Willin
Literacy Tools … a place to start
Appendix I (a)
This is a practical suggestion on how to identify a
suitable book that is appropriate to your child’s reading
ability. It is called “The Five Finger Rule”.
1.
2.
3.
4.
Choose a book and read the first page or two.
Put one finger up for every word your
child doesn’t know.
If five of your fingers go up while reading, choose
another book.
If only two or three fingers go up, you’ve found a
“just right” book.
Appendix I (b)
For a more comprehensive estimate of the reading age of a book, you might try
the following method which is called the “SMOG Test”.
To check a text for readability,
1.
Select a text.
2.
Count 10 sentences together from that text to work on.
3.
Count the number of words in those sentences that have 3
or more syllables.
4.
Multiply this by 3.
5.
Circle the number below which is closest to your answer:
1
6.
4
9
16 25 36 49 64 81 100 121 144 169
Find the square root of the number you circled:
Number:
1
Square Root: 1
7.
3 x ___ = ___
4
2
9
3
16 25 36 49 64 81 100 121 144 169
4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
12 13
Add 8 to your answer to get the readability level
________ + 8 = _______
Literacy Tools … a place to start
Appendix II - Writing Competitions & Websites
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Fantasy Writing Competition for students of English in Secondary Schools
(www.brainfood.ie)
Listowel Writing Competition (www.writersweek.ie)
Poetry Ireland Poetry Competitions for Junior and Senior Cycles
(www.poetryireland.ie)
Teaching English Magazine National Poetry Competition (www.slss.ie)
UCC Faculty of Law Schools’ Essay Competition (www.ucc.ie)
Kinsale Arts Week (www.kinsaleartsweek.com)
West Cork Literary Festival Teen Poetry Competition
(www.westcorkliteraryfestival.ie)
Fish Poetry Prize