What Good Reader Do

Typically when you ask a child (at any age) "What is a good reader?" They will normally reply with, "They read fast." Well, that is the perceived answer, however good readers are skilled readers! Skilled readers use strategies to decode and comprehend written text.

Beginning Skilled Readers will: (from Dolores Hudson 2007)

1. Look at the pictures ~ pictures help beginning readers, so let your child look at the pictures!
2. Get their mouth ready to make the first sound of the word
3. Slide through the whole word ~ this is how we think of "sounding out"
4. Reread the sentence ~ and ask the questions Does it LOOK right? Does it SOUND right? or Does it MAKE SENSE?
5. Spell the word they are working on
6. SKIP the hard words and then go back and reread the sentence ~ sometimes hearing the rest of the sentence helps put the correct word in the "blank" spot
7. Try a different vowel ~ many children struggle with the correct vowel/letter relationship. Therefore, the word "coat" (with a long /o/) might be read as "cot" (with a short /o/ sound).
8. Think of a rhyming word ~ sometimes we call this reading by alliteration. This means if I know cat, then I can read rat, mat, pat, sat, etc.
9. "Chunk it" ~ look for smaller words within the word being read. For example, the word "into". I may know how to read "in" and then I need to use my letter/sounds relationships to read "to".

Posters of these skills are posted in each classroom here at Jefferson Elementary School. Talk with your child about these skills and demonstrate the skills by modeling while you are reading!

Raising a Reader

Raising a Reader

 

From the PBS's "Between The Lions"

 

Below you will find some tips to help children develop a love of reading!

 

1. Visit the local library!

Not only does the library carry books and movies to borrow FREE of charge, they also carry puzzles, books with puppets, magazines, newspapers and offer lots of special FREE events that are family friendly!

 

2. Let your child see YOU read!

Whether it's the newspaper, a book, or an online article. Children watch their parents to see what skills are valuable in life. YOU are their role model, so go ahead and dive into print!

 

3. Show your child how people use reading ALL the time!

Point out street and store signs, maps, billboards, menus and labels on packages. Environmental print is important to point out to children so they can generalize skills they are learning in the classroom to the community!

 

4. Set up an area in your home where a variety of reading materials are within easy reach!

Encourage not only reading a variety of texts, encourage children to respond to their reading through writing or drawing pictures.

 

5. Encourage a love of words!

Play rhyming and word games, singing silly song poems together and reading stories together!

 

6. TALK!

 About daily activities or tell stories about your family or culture to help children's language skills.

 

 

Visit pbskids.org for more tips on raising readers

 

Other ways to encourage your children to read is to:

 

*Create your own books (use paper, crayons, pencils, stickers, colored paper, self pictures, etc) to create funny stories, scary stories or biographies of each family member. Children LOVE being authors and illustrators!

 

*Check out books that are based upon your child's favorite TV show. Many Disney movies, shows and series are in book form.

 

*Allow children to read comic books! Many more graphic novels (comic books) are available to children at many different reading levels. The pictures help children continue to follow the story line and many use higher level vocabulary that is great exposure to the child reader.

 



October Already?

 

I cannot believe we are already in the month of October! The trees are changing, the wind is chilly, and fall is here! As the weather get cooler, remember to visit the library for fun indoor activities and check out a book to read in a warm cozy blanket at home!

Our readers keep getting better and better! They are becoming quite skilled in the art of reading.



Bear smiles go out to the following students:

* Jacob S.

*Ortheis H.

* Ahlon B.

* Estrella A.

* Aliyana R.

* Corey G.

*Deuce H.

*Matthew W.

*Elizabeth B.

 

Please remember the next Parenting for School Success is Monday, October 15th from 6pm to 7pm. The topic is Math. 

Keep warm and keep reading! We never know the world we can enter into, until we open a book!