Macquarie Anglican Grammar School

Head of Junior School – Mrs Keera Job

Instilling a love of reading in your family.

“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go.” – Dr Seuss

Reading is simply magic! It opens up a whole new world of knowledge, creativity and exploration for our children. Reading is also a core skill for school and for life, and provides the foundation for all other types of learning, across all subject areas. 

Our Pre-Kindergarten to Stage 3 English curriculum provides our students with structured opportunities to learn relevant skills and strategies for reading. Our students learn the skills for reading decoding and comprehension at school, but often come to associate reading with work, rather than pleasure – this is particularly true for those who struggle with reading and often leads to pushback and a lack of desire to read. 

Our classroom teachers and Learning Support team are continually tracking our students' decoding, comprehension and reading fluency skills and will target interventions where needed. Intervention will help boost your child’s reading skills and confidence and, in turn, their love of reading and learning. It is important that these interventions are also in partnership with families, as it only helps your child to become the best reader they can be! 

Assist your child in developing their love of reading by:

• Modelling good reading behaviour yourself. Pick up a book or magazine and take enjoyment from reading yourself.
• Read together! Reading out loud helps bring the words to life.
• Help your child make connections and comprehend what is happening in the text. Ask questions like, “What do you think will happen next?"
• Visit the library. Sign up for a library card and borrow books and resources your child selects that interest them. Encourage both fiction and informational books.
• Swap music for an audiobook! Audiobooks count as reading and can help children read more fluently and with expression.
• Read the book, then watch the movie. Choose a book that has been adapted for the screen. Host a family movie night to watch the film version. This is a great way to motivate reluctant readers, and provides opportunities to discuss the similarities and differences between each version.
• Create a reading nook in their bedroom or your home.
• Read by torch-light or headlamps. One of my favourite activities with Kindergarten students was to turn out all the lights, hand out torches and do ‘Torch Reading’. This is a great way to remind our children that reading is fun!
• Take books with you! On holidays, long car rides or doctors’ waiting rooms. • Gifting books – when family ask you about birthday present ideas, suggest books! Have your children gift books to their friends also, with a fun message they can personalise and keep. 

Our students do learn to read at varying rates and with different levels of ease. Reading with your child at home is a great way to connect and help foster a love of reading, but will also help you identify their reading skill as well as a sense if something isn’t quite right. 

My strongest suggestion is for you to reach out and speak to your classroom teachers if you notice hesitation in your child, a lack of desire to read, or if it is a struggle for them when reading. As a parent we encourage you to speak to us about any concerns you have, and check in to see how your child is progressing at school. 

All reading is great reading no matter what our children are interested in. Anything goes here – fiction, non-fiction, biographies, kids’ magazines, comic books, or even a cookbook in the kitchen! I encourage you to put down your phone, turn off the TV and snuggle in close with your child and a book.