Dogs and Puppies

Dogs and Puppies is a colourful, informative guide, packed with colour photographs and illustrations, that contains everything children want to know about dogs and puppies. It explains puppies' habits, talks about doggy communications and teaches elementary pet care. Perfect for children who own their first puppy, as well as those interested in dogs and puppies in general.

Aimed at young children from five years old, this book is also a great way to get young readers interested in different kinds of writing. A great source of information on dogs, this book can also be used to support Key Stage One English: Reading. Follow the tips below to make Dogs and Puppies a part of your child's daily reading routine. (Ages 5 to 11 years) --Amanda York

• children need to read at home every day to practise the reading skills that they have been taught.
• choose a time when you and your child both want to read, sit somewhere comfortable and quiet.
• before you begin to read, get a "feel" for the book by looking at the cover, front and back and talking about it.
• let your child hold the book and turn the pages.
• look at the pictures. Look for the little details--they help the child to understand what the book is about. Let your child "read" the book to you by talking about each picture.
• read Dogs and Puppies again and again. This helps your child to remember the information. It helps the child to recognise some of the words and they will gradually be able to read the book on their own.
• if your child comes to an unfamiliar word, wait a couple of seconds to allow the child time to work it out, then help by: either encouraging the child to sound out the word or saying the word and getting the child to repeat it before continuing. Alternatively, saying something like "let's miss it out and read to the end of the sentence... now can you guess what the word is?"
• as your child becomes a more confident reader, encourage them to use expression.
• if they make a mistake in a sentence when they have finished reading it, encourage them to go back and have another go at making the sentence make sense. If a mistake does not affect the meaning of the sentence then it is not always appropriate to correct every mistake that is made as this can undermine a child's confidence. However, if the mistake is not corrected and you feel it should be you could say something like: "that didn't make sense or "let's have another look at this bit".
• always praise your child while they are reading.
• read different kinds of books to keep reading interesting. Try storybooks, information books and poetry.
• also, print is all around us. Look at street signs, supermarket labels, posters etc.

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