Why is reading so important?

Learning to read is vital for young children as they expose themselves to the world around them, and it is a rewarding, fulfilling activity.

What are the benefits of reading?

Reading allows you to visit other places. The imagination and creativity of writing stories enable children to form a visual opinion about the book.
Reading helps to improve communication skills. Not only does reading help with their fluency and accuracy of their reading, but it also helps to formulate their speaking and listening skills. This will naturally drip feed into their writing when attempting to write their own stories.
Reading supports children’s thinking skills. Regular reading sharpens their logical thinking skills. Children’s speed increases in terms of their academic work.
Reading builds children’s vocabulary. When reading books, we are exposed to a wide variety of words, some of which are unfamiliar to us. This develops and improves our vocabulary and understanding of the text.
Reading teaches children to find answers through books. Children will be able to explore ideas through their adventures.
Reading improves their performance in reading tests. As children read more and more, they absorb more words and so, in turn, increase their vocabulary. Did you know that studies suggest children who read for pleasure tend to perform better than those who do not, regardless of their social or economic background?

I can help my child in so many different ways! You are the most helpful educator in your child’s life.

You can start by modelling to read yourself to encourage your child to read for pleasure, and they will soon develop their love of learning and reading for pleasure.
Ask your child what book they are currently reading. Develop a conversation about whether they like or dislike the book. It’s okay not to enjoy every book but encourage them to give a reason. This will help you and your child pick a book of a different genre next time.
Read aloud to your child. This strategy allows you to model how to pronounce words correctly. You can discuss words they might not know or have heard of before, share ideas and comment on the pictures if there are any.

As part of our bespoke lessons for every child, we read with children every lesson to assess their reading fluency, accuracy and speed.
We also provide books for children to take home to read. One of our tutors at TLC can guide these when selecting a book to ensure children are picking appropriate books at their age and level. These books are then swapped for another book when children have finished reading a book. We have a wide variety of books that maintains children’s engagement, for example, The Horrid Henry series, The Roald Dahl collection, The Brownstone collection by Joe-Todd Stanton and many more. We also have picture books for the younger ones! Why don’t you come and have a look at our library?
The home reading books are different to the books we read in lessons as TLC also offers to teach comprehension lessons. Each lesson includes a specific reading domain based on a particular book depending on the child’s age, interest and level of reading.