Reading with children as a parent volunteer...advice needed!

[RosieMBanks]

DD has just started in nursery class and a note went out asking for parent volunteers to help in other years... I volunteered to help with spellings and readings. I am reading with a Year 1 and a Year 2 class for 40 minutes each per week. So far the teachers are nice, friendly and appreciative, but I have been given no advice about how to really help the children improve their reading skills. I am happy to just carry on listening and encouraging them with their reading, but just wanted to make the most of the time...the hours add up over a year!
Any advice from teachers and TAs very welcome!

hellooo!! Chances are as you say they're just grateful to have the help, but if you really do want to make more of your role, there are a few ways of doing this. It depends on the targets and priorities in the school or class, tbh.

There is a whole pile of guidance about giving the children ownership of their book, and being there as a support role to improve their confidence and expression, I'll go hunting for it in a mo.

You could ask them about letters and sounds work and find out where children are up to. This is basically a very structured programme where we teach children phonemes and so on, and how to blend, - moving up to the rules of spelling as they move through the phases. Phase 6 for example starts with the stuff about doubling the consonant and adding "s" or "es" iirc. That's the gist of it, anyway. They may already have a ton of this timetabled so may not want to give the children yet more of it, but an awareness of it would be good for your own info iyswim. There's a website for that too ....ohhh I'm off googling and I'll be back with some links!!

letters and sounds

there's a pile of stuff as I said about guided reading and so on, mainly from the QCA, but nearly all in Teacher-Speak, grrrr

As much as anything, parents are helping by actually listening to children. Many children do not read at home, their books stay in the their bags and these children dont get the opportunity to read to anyone. By reading to a teacher it can help motivate and encourage them that someone does care.

Listen to the fluidity of their reading, how they break their words up if they dont read it. Can they recognise key words. Ask questions about the story, what is happening to the character, what are they feeling, what will happen next. This helps with comprehension. Lots of kids can read but dont have a clue about what they have read, they are just words.
Look for similar spelt words, similar sounding words
Some of the above is for older children but you can adapt as necessary for the younger ones.

Many children who wont read at home will read to someone at school if they look like they are interested in them.

Good luck, you will enjoy it!