Simple advice for parents on helping a pre-school child to read.

Listen to stories about different homes for people and creatures and decide where they would like to live, Home by Alex T Smith, The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse by Helen Ward, and Diary of a Wombat by Jackie French and Bruce Whatley. Children write their own version of The Town and Country Mouse and use The Lighthouse Keeper’s Lunch by Ronda and David Armitage to plan best lunches. Keep diaries, make lighthouses and stormy music.

Learn another circle game and then find out lots of different ways to say hello. Practice saying hello making good eye contact. Work as part of a group to make a ‘hello’ flag. Teach the new hello to the rest of the class.

Simple advice for parents on helping a child with phonics.

Use a 'dinosaur egg' to stimulate discussion about eggs and dinosaurs. Have fun with a range of activities, count and sound out words (Harry and the Bucketful of Dinosaurs by Ian Whybrow and Adrian Reynolds, How do Dinosaurs Get Well Soon by Jane Yolen and Mark Teague), pelmanism, Top Trumps and Dinosaur Dash. Make various dinosaur-related objects, 'steal' dino eggs and draw and label dinosaurs.

Discuss families and the various roles within them, read the following stories My Mum, My Dad, Me and You, all of which are by Anthony Browne and Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus and Don’t Let the Pigeon Stay Up Late by Mo Willems. Children write a book about someone who cares for them using similes and also notices for family members. They learn their address too. Activities include paper people, house plans, family portraits and names.

Simple advice for parents on helping a pre-school child to write.