Read On Get On
Read On Get On
Introduction Read on get on is a campaign focused on getting all children reading well by the age of 11, by ‘reading well’ we mean get children confident enough to be able to read books such as Harry Potter or Treasure Island on their own. But we can’t do this without the help of you as parents/ carers at home we know that mothers and fathers reading with their children matters, but fathers can have a particular impact.
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“I’d much rather be in a cage of lions than reading time!”
Why Fathers? Fathers can play an important role in helping support their children’s reading. A father reading daily to a five year old means that child’s reading will be almost half a year more advanced than a child read to less than once a week by their father.
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“I really love books because it makes me feel like I could do anything, they help me smile, cheer me up and they just make my heart proud and fix it back together when I’m feeling glum.”
Evidence • Over a quarter of fathers read just once or twice a month, or even less frequently. In contrast, only around 10% of mothers read to their children this little. • Low income fathers are more than three times less likely to read less than once a week to a five-year-old than fathers from the richest families. • They were over 14 times as likely never to read to their children than better off fathers.
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• But fathers reading can have a bigger impact on children. • Where fathers read less than once a week to a Five-year-old child, by the age of seven they will be almost half a year behind their peers in reading, compared to those who had been read to daily. • Children who were not read to at all by their father at the age of seven were over a year – 13.1 months – behind those who were read to daily at the age of seven
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in Six children in th
he UK live in poverty
in Four children unable
leave Primary School to read
Just 10 Minutes a Day 10 minutes a day is recommended by a number of organisations such as Oxford University, it’s also supported by a number of studies looking at the impact of independent reading when combined with school based instruction. Significant results were seen with as little as 10 minutes of daily reading time, especially with *developmental readers.
*I.E young/less able/ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages)
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‘10 minutes a day’ is supported by evidence, and would provide a strong message, manageable by most parents. ‘A little every day’ is probably better than less frequent, more extended periods. Four books a month, ‘a book a week’? seems to be a tipping point Talking about books is as important as reading them, and stories are very important but any reading counts, particularly if it builds on the child’s personal interests.
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The Impact of reading Children who hear more complex constructions in a range of settings produce more complex constructions in their everyday speech. Children learn to recognise letters, understand that print represents the spoken word, and learn how to hold a book, turn the page and start at the beginning.
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When children do well at detecting and manipulating syllables, rhymes and phonemes, they tend to learn more quickly to read.
ALTERNATIVES TO BOOKS You don’t just have to read from a book, you can read from just about anything that has words. This will break down barriers and allow your child to explore new mediums within reading. It also means that you can read anywhere whether you’re stuck in traffic, on a bus or on an epic adventure.
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A childs future depends on their ability to read confidently when they leave Primary School.
ROAD SIGNS
You could play a game with your child where you read the road signs on a journey and tally up how many are repeated.
MUSEUMS
There’s always lots to learn at a museum, with plenty of reading it may encourage book choices.
Billboards
There can be lots of information on billboards as well as images so why not have a gander.
The idea is that you can read with your child anywhere and it doesn’t have to be a book, other examples include: a tablet or E-reader, and a Newspaper. Just Ten minutes a day can help maximise your child’s potential.
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“Now that I’m good at reading it makes me feel proud” 25
If we don’t act now we are on track to leave around 1.5 million children behind by 2025.
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