A helping hand

for Half Term

by
Foster a love of reading

Ask questions

Play games that encourage spoken

language

Word challenges

Write for a real purpose

 Foster a love of reading

Enjoy reading together. Make time in the day to

listen to your child read and to read to them.

Bedtime stories, poems, retellings, newspapers, fact

files – anything!

For those more reluctant readers, try other ways of

introducing stories:

•Audio books: There are now so many

children’s books recorded in downloadable
formats. Many authors have their own
YouTube channels too where you can watch
and listen to them reading their own stories
and poems. Check out Michael Rosen’s
channel!

•Spooky BOO!KS: There are lots of stories

perfect for the October Half Term. We
recommend: Pick a Pumpkin by Patricia
Toht, I Want To Be In A Scary Story by Sean
Taylor, Room on the Broom by Julia
Donaldson, Funny Bones by Janet and Allan
Ahlberg, and The Worst Witch by Jill
Murphy.

 Ask questions

When reading with your child, go

deeper than reading the words on
the page. Ask your child to predict,
infer, summarise, compare.

How would you feel

in that situation? What might happen next?

What happened yesterday?

What would you

do to solve this
What was problem?

How do you
your favourite
think the and least What do you think the
character is
feeling?
favourite part? character should have
done differently?

What would you What do you like or

dislike about that
do to solve this
character?
problem?
 Play games that encourage spoken
language
Playing games that don’t feel like learning are an excellent way to
help children’s spoken language.
The more confident they are with speaking and listening, the easier
words will flow when they write.
So, get the Christmas games out or make your own with a set of post-
it notes.

Just a minute: pick a

topic your child knows
lots about and give them
one minute to talk about
that topic. The rules are
no hesitation, no
repetition, no deviation
Articulate: write down some
from the topic.
Halloween themed words and
give them to your child. They must
then describe each word to you
without saying the word itself. E.g.
Who am I?: Choose a pumpkin: It's orange, round, and
person or character you give it a face!
from a Spooky Read You could also ban closely
that your child will related words to make the game
know and pretend you even harder!
are them. Your child

must ask you questions

to try to figure out who
you are.

 Word challenges
Remember those old puzzle books we had when we
were kids? Well, it turns out they were excellent for
helping us think about words and how they are
related.

If you have a long car journey coming up or are stuck

inside on a rainy day, have a go at these:

Words within Words: Choose a

long word with lots of different Magnetic letters: Put a set on
letters - e.g. differently. How your fridge and encourage
many words can you make with your child to experiment with
the letters in Halloween? Some forming new words and
examples might be hall, we, phonemes. Look for letters
allow, ewe, or now.
that often go together and
Challenge – Insist the letters are
discuss the sounds these
in the same order as the
make.
original word.
Your child may say ship, shop,
team, treat
e.g. th, ch, sh, ph, ea, igh,
Boggle, Scrabble, tough
wordsearches,

crosswords: Playing

games like these are a

great way to take some of

the formality and scariness
out of learning.
 Write for a real purpose

No child wants to do homework over

the half term break, so encourage
writing for a real purpose and pretend
it has nothing to do with school!

Are you going in costume for Halloween

Keep a diary of
this year? Why not write a letter to the what you get up
person you're dressing up as, explaining to over the half

your choice. term. Are you

going on any
adventures?

Review a spooky
film or TV show.

Write a blog or a script

for a vlog about your Plan a Halloween themed
menu, or write a recipe for
favourite part of the half
pumpkin pie!
term.

Anything you can do to encourage writing will

mean it will feel far less alien on the return to
school.