7 years to 11 Years

Reading at Leamington

Your child will be using longer more complicated sentences to plan and explain their thoughts. They can tell exciting stories with a proper beginning, middle and end. They will be developing friendships independently of you. Now is a great time to encourage your child to read. Does they see you reading? It’s a great example for them. You could set aside a time for the whole family to read either after school or before bedtime.

By 9 years: By 9 years old your child knows the rules of talking and is using these to mix with others and build friendships. They can tell exciting stories with a clear beginning, an interesting middle and an ending and are starting to use this in their writing. Your 9 year old speaks clearly and fluently about the past, present and future events. They don’t make mistakes often when reading or speaking unusual word endings e.g. fish, brought, peace. They are using their voices to make their story come to life and changing the information they give depending on who they are talking to. Encourage your child to make up stories to tell you and other people in the family especially younger brothers or sisters.

By 11 years: Your 11 year old can listen for longer periods of time and notice how things are said. They get sarcasm when it’s obvious. Your child has a sense of humour and gets simple jokes even if they can’t explain why they are funny. 11 year olds have lots of words they know and can use. They can now talk about feelings as well as actions. Your child will use grown up words although they won’t always get it right. Your child knows that some words have two meanings e.g. Bark (like a dog and on a tree). Help your child by making lists of words for their school topic and use a dictionary together to find out their meanings. Story telling is important to your 11 year old for both their school work and their friendships. Your child can tell you long and entertaining stories full of details and description. They can put sub-plots into their stories and then return to the main story line. Ask your child to tell you about the books they are reading or the TV shows they are watching. Can they say what will happen in the next chapter/episode and can they say why they know this?

Reading at Leamington

Suggested Reads