Book Title: Chalk by Bill Thomson

Dear Parents,

A Take-Home Activity: Read fairy tales together with your child

The class is exploring an engaging wordless book, “Chalk”. Central to this

book is the theme of “Main Characters”, where we get the children to identify
the main characters and think critically about who the hero and villain might
be. This is also integrated with our Write a Rainbow™ programme with
“main characters” as an essential story element.

We invite you to reinforce your child’s understanding of “main characters”

in stories by reading fairy tales with your child. Identify the main characters
in the fairy tales together with your child. Engage him/ her in critical thinking
as you discuss who the hero and villain might be. You may wish to keep a
reading record such as the one attached to this letter.

We suggest a useful reading strategy – Dialogic Reading. This is an

engaging and beneficial method of reading which helps in the oral language
development of your child. Please refer to Appendix – Dialogic Reading for
more information.

Have fun reading and bonding with your child!

"Children are made readers on the laps of their parents." ~ Emilie Buchwald.

Warmest regards,
Teacher ___________________
Letchime
Appendix – Dialogic Reading

What is Dialogic Reading?

Dialogic Reading is a particular method of reading to a child that has been found to be the most
effective method to develop children’s oral language. In Dialogic Reading, the adult helps the child
to become the teller of the story. The adult becomes the listener, the questioner and the audience
for the child.

How do I engage in Dialogic Reading?

Dr Grover Whitehurst, an American developmental psychologist who originally created the dialogic
reading programme in the early 1990s, proposes a reading technique called the PEER sequence:
• Prompts the child to say something about the book
• Evaluates the child’s response
• Expands the child’s response by rephrasing and adding information to it
• Repeats the prompt to make sure the child has learned from the expansion.

An example of an interaction between an adult and a two-year-old child:

The parent points to a cat in the book and says, ‘What is this?’ (visual prompt). The child answers ‘A
cat’. The adult says, ‘That’s right, (the evaluation); a black cat (expansion). What is it again? It’s a
_____ ___ (repetition)’. The adult might go on to enquire, ‘Who do we know that has a cat?’ The
child might respond by talking about a relative or neighbour. This important strategy supports the
child in relating the story to their life experience.

What are the benefits of Dialogic Reading?

Research studies indicate that a dialogical approach to reading – when the child has an active part
in the reading experience, talks about the story and asks and answers questions about the story – is
more effective in developing oral language than when adults just read the book to the child with little
or no interaction. Dialogic Reading not only develops oral vocabulary but also more complex
language skills such as grammar, listening comprehension, the ability to form an argument and to
elaborate.

Source: http://www.nurseryworld.co.uk/digital_assets/367/All-about-dialogic.pdf
Colour the stars to indicate how much you like the book:

Our Reading Record (To be submitted by 31/8)

How Much We
Story Main Characters
Like it

Colour the stars to indicate how much you like the book:

= Excellent

= Good

= Fair