Dear Parents:
Developing good reading skills is an integral part of your child’s learning. In the primary grades, we are trying to foster a love of reading and create “bookworms.” By participating in our at-home reading program, your child can help build our school bookworm! As children complete the reading program each week, they will earn a circle to add to the St. James bookworm that will be winding his way around the primary pod. Students are expected to read 5 times per week in order to earn a new circle to add to the worm.
Students will have the opportunity to choose from a variety of books to read as a part of the at-home reading program. The goal is to choose “just right” books that your child finds interesting, so they may choose from the following each week:
- Books from the reading cart – students may choose up to 3 books from the leveled reading cart each week
- RazKids – available online
- Library Book
- Books from home
Raz-Kids...
Your child has access to hundreds of eBooks using the school's subscription to Raz-Kids, www.raz-kids.com. (Use tab on web-site to access link). Students can read, listen to, and even self-record reading these books. Reading-comprehension quizzes along the way show the progress that your child is making.
You can tell if your child has chosen a “just right” book by listening to your child read a page or two. Here is what to look for…
*The reading should be fairly smooth.
*Your child will have trouble with no more than 3-5 words on the first few pages.
*Your child should be able to tell you what they have read!
Each night your child may choose one of the following ways to read his/her book with you:
1. Listen to you read the book aloud.
2. Help you read the book.
3. Read the book to you.
Early in the school year, children may require more assistance with their chosen book. If a parent is reading the selection, you may ask your child to identify particular letters or words on the page, to anticipate what comes next, or to comment on the story.
The children will be given a duotang that will contain a cover, a Ziploc bag for the book as well as a log/comment sheet. It is your child’s responsibility to transport the books safely between home and school weekly. Each evening your child reads, please fill out the tracking form. Please return the reading duotang every Tuesday so that new books can be selected and I can track your child’s reading progress.
* Please read the following page for guidelines and tips when reading with your child.*Before You Read…
The home reading program is meant to be a fun reading activity. Before you or your child reads a book, some pre-reading strategies are useful. The following guidelines will help your young reader feel happy and successful:
1) Choose a quiet time and place to read.
2) Read the title and look at the cover together. Talk about what the book could be about, based on the information.
3) Take a ‘picture walk’ through the book. Flip through the pages of the book and look at the illustrations to gain information about the story.
4) The ‘picture walk’ is the perfect time to introduce trick names and vocabulary. You need not point out the challenging word, but instead use it in a sentence about the picture. For example, “Look at the crane in the picture. It is used to lift heavy things when building”.
5) Go back to the beginning and help your child to read the book, allowing him/her as much assistance or independence as he/she needs. Try these ideas when your child gets stuck on a word:
* Wait for a while so the child can think about it.
* Suggest that the child look at a picture for a clue.
* Remind the child to look at the initial letter/sound of the word.
* Encourage the child to go back and reread the line again.
*Ask the child if he/she can recognize any smaller words within a longer word.
6) If the child becomes tired or frustrated offer to finish reading the book yourself so that the remainder of the book can be enjoyed.
7) Praise and encourage your child for his/her efforts and successes.
A Note to Parents :
Reference: Priscilla Lynch, Ph.D. New York University, Educational Consultant
The support of your attention and praise is absolutely crucial to your child’s continuing efforts to learn to read.
- If your child is learning to read and asks for a word, give it immediately so that the meaning of the story is not interrupted. DO NOT ask them to sound out the word.
- On the other hand, if your child initiates the act of sounding out, do not intervene.
- If your child is reading along and makes what is called a miscue, listen for the sense of the miscue. Ex. If the word ‘road’ is substituted for the word ‘street’, for instance no meaning is lost. Don’t stop the reading for a correction.
- If the miscue makes no sense (for ex. ‘horse’ for ‘house’) ask your child to reread the sentence because you are not sure you understand what has just been read.
- Above all else, enjoy your child’s growing command of print and make sure you give lots of praise. You are your child’s first teacher- and the most important one. Praise from you is critical for further risk-taking and learning.
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