Experimental Reading Phase

Experimental readers often ‘read’ by using pictures or memory of the storyline. They may identify some words in texts, but, they are more focused on getting across the meaning of a text rather than reading every word accurately.

Experimental readers will benefit from a range of experiences. Consider any of the following suggestions.

• Read to your child every day.
• Reading aloud helps children expand their vocabulary, appreciate the value of books and other texts, understand new ideas and concepts, and learn about the world around them.
• Expose your child to a wide variety of texts, e.g. books, magazines, electronic texts, brochures, newspapers, comics. These texts can be read many times so children become familiar with them. Familiarity helps build self-confidence.
• Encourage your child to ‘have a go’ at reading.
• Encourage and praise your child’s attempts to ‘read’.
• Ensure your child sees other members of the family reading and talking about their reading. This helps Experimental readers understand that there are different purposes for reading.
• Talk about the characters, people and events in texts.
• Encourage your child to express opinions about texts.
• Talk about letters, sounds, words, sentence patterns and interesting features in texts.