HOME SCHOOLING PACK – RED
The Home Schooling Pack – Red is an early literacy read-aloud scheme designed for children aged 5 to 6 years. It involves parents reading aloud to their child and then engaging them further by following prompts appearing throughout each book.
This process is called PAIR – Parent Assisted Immersive Reading. It is based on world research that shows children who have been read to regularly at an early age grasp educational concepts more readily right through their schooling years. This positive influence is magnified when read-aloud sessions are accompanied by relevant questioning and meaningful discussion.
The eight read aloud picture books included in this pack are designed specifically for this purpose. Prompts in the corners of every spread include comprehension questions, discussion points, vocabulary building exercises and assorted craft activities. This extended engagement helps develop early literacy skills including reading readiness, comprehension, vocabulary as well as communication and expression skills.
PAIR books incorporate wholesome storylines with appealing, friendly characters.
All stories are values-based, i.e. they carry an important social theme or moral.
The stimulating artwork is detailed and full colour.
There are 8 different PAIR books in this Pack. It is recommended that each book be explored for an entire week, usually over 5 sittings.
PAIR books are designed for multiple re-tellings. On any given double-spread the parent need only visit one corner and ask just one or two questions. This way the story keeps its flow and ample questions are readily available for future sessions.
How to treat different book types
Prose:
SNIFF GOES CAMPING – Value: Friendship
SNUGGLES GETS A PET – Value: Taking Responsibility
SNIFF AND THE SCHOOL MOTTO – Value: Caring and Sharing
THE CATERPILLAR’S DREAM – Value: Self Belief
Parents should occasionally trace the lines of text with their finger as they narrate for their child to see – this will reinforce the left-to-right nature of reading. They should also try to be expressive – maybe giving each story character its own distinctive voice.
Rhyming Verse:
SNIFF AND SNUGGLES VISIT THE CIRCUS – Value: Practice makes Perfect
ADDITION WITH ANDEE – Value: Counting
SUBTRACTION WITH STEGGIE – Value: Subtraction
A number of the PAIR books are written in verse. Understanding rhyme is an important phonetic skill. Parents should highlight rhyming words. They should sometimes pause just before reading the second word of a rhyming pair.
Also they should be mindful of beat and tempo.
Wordless:
BIRTHDAY CUPCAKES FOR SNUGGLES – Value: Sharing
This a wordless book. The story is quite evident from the sequential graphics.
Parents should feel free to build and embellish the story with each telling.
Number:
ADDITION WITH ANDEE
SUBTRACTION WITH STEGGIE
These books also reinforce number concepts. Parent and child can refer to the counting corners and manipulate loose objects such as marbles, bottletops and pegs to facilitate learning.
The picture books are also accompanied by related worksheets that are divided into three main sets: early literacy, early numeracy and fine motor skills.
