May Language and Literacy Tips

May Tips for Language and Literacy Skills

Courtesy of the GECDSB Speech and Language Department

Oral Language

Work on telling and retelling stories together:

Storytelling and retelling skills are important oral language skills related to reading and writing. Here are some tips for working on these skills:

Work on telling stories: Ask your child how their day went, how a trip was, how their visit to a friend’s house was etc. Encourage them to tell a story of their own about events. For example: Encourage a story grammar format like First… Then... Last...     Then model the format for them afterwards by recapping their story/retelling it to them.

Also work on retelling stories: Read stories together. At the end ask your child what happened in the story. Have them imagine they are telling the story to someone who did not hear it so they remember to add all the details. Encourage using a story grammar format like First… Next… Last… Then model the format for them afterwards by recapping their story/retelling it to them. 

Reading

Helping your child read at home:

Have them look at the picture for clues

Have them look for chunks in the words like ‘it’ in ‘sit’, or ‘all’ in ‘small’

Have them get their mouth ready to say the word by sounding out the sounds in the word

Have them look for words that look like words they know like ‘could’ looks like ‘should’

Have them go on and read the rest of the sentence if they get stuck on a word, reading the context around the word sometimes helps us fill in the blanks like “I water the (garden)”

If your child says the word wrong while reading ask questions like: “Does it make sense?” “Does it sound right” “Does it look right?”

Aim to read for 20 minutes a night and have fun doing it!

Writing

Have fun writing down answers to silly questions related to the month of May

Sample Questions:

What is your favourite animal? Write down all the information you know about it, then ask others for new ideas!

What are your favourite foods? Write a list and then make up a new recipe!

Mother’s Day is in May. Think of a wonderful time you have had with your mother/grandmother/aunt and write them a letter

Think of your favourite things to do in the spring and write down a bucket list to finish before summer starts

Camping season starts in May. Write about your favourite camping memory.