How to read together

What ten minutes looks like

Sit next to each other, so you can both see. Let your child keep a finger on the word being read. That makes the line easier to follow.

Start with the words. Your child points at each letter, says the sound and blends the sounds together. If the word will not come, you say only the first sound and let your child try to carry on. Keep going until every word has been read, with or without help.

Then the whole text, all in one go. Read it twice if you can: the first time to get the words right and the second time to read it as a whole.

Finally the three questions under the text. The first one has its answer written in the text, the second has to be worked out from it, and the third is about your child's own life and has no right answer. That is where the conversation can carry on while you clear the table.

Then ten minutes have passed.

Wait

Let your child try alone. Blending the sounds into a word takes time, and the seconds that pass are not wasted. Count to five inside your head before you help. It feels longer than it is.

Help

If the word will not come, say only the first sound of the word, that is s in sol. Often that is enough for the rest to fall into place, and then it is your child who read the word.

Sounding out means putting a sound on each letter and blending them into a word. That is what happens when your child says sss-ooo-lll and then sol.

sol

Praise

Praise the effort rather than the result. "You kept going even though it was hard" says more than "you are so clever". Your child cannot decide whether they are clever, but they can decide whether to keep going.

Writing and spelling

When your child is going to write a word, say it slowly together and listen for one sound at a time: sss-ooo-lll. Your child writes a letter for each sound they hear.

On the first steps, the words are spelt the way they sound. Later come words that are not spelt the way they sound, such as hjem, where you cannot hear the h, and mand, where you cannot hear the d. Your child has to learn how those words look.

If your child writes a word the way it sounds, such as jem instead of hjem, they have heard the sounds. Show them afterwards how the word is spelt, talk about what is different, and let them write it again.

Every set has "Write the words", where you say the word and your child writes it on paper. Every step also has a worksheet you can print.

Read aloud to your child as well

Keep reading aloud, also after your child has started reading alone. The two things do different jobs. When your child reads alone, they practise decoding. When you read aloud, they hear sentences and words that are longer than they can manage themselves, and those are the ones that build the language.

Ten minutes of reading alone and a little reading aloud at bedtime makes a good evening.

To the word box

Talk about the book while you read

Stop a couple of times along the way and say something like this:

• "What do you think happens now?"
• "What is that called?" while you point at the picture.
• If your child says "dog", repeat the answer in more words: "Yes, a big, wet dog."
• "Have you ever tried anything like that?"

Read the same book several evenings in a row. Most children ask for the same book again anyway.

Your own language

If a language other than Danish is spoken at home, that is an advantage. Your child stores words and concepts in the same place whatever language they arrive in.

Say the word in your own language too when you come across one your child does not know. Talk about the book in whichever language comes easiest, and let your child retell the Danish story at home in your language. The bedtime story is welcome to be in your language as well.

The words on the steps and the texts stay in Danish. Every word has a sound button, so you can hear how it is pronounced before your child reads it.

Which step?

The teacher says where your child should start. If you are in doubt, start one step below where you think. A step that is too easy does no harm. One that is too hard makes your child give up.

Move on when your child can read the words without sounding them out. On step 1 that means the names of the letters. There is no timetable, and it is perfectly fine to stay on the same step for a month.

How much?

Ten minutes, seven days a week. Your child should be able to read most of the words alone, and you are welcome to help with the rest. If it turns into a fight, stop for today and try again tomorrow. A day that gets skipped means nothing. A week of arguments costs more than the ten minutes are worth.

The reading passport

Your child colours a star for every day you have read, and a moon when there has been a bedtime story. The passport covers four weeks, and the teacher collects the passports every fourth week. Nothing is at stake in it. The passport is simply the teacher's way of seeing how it is going at home.