• What types of materials do you use to support your students who need additional practice in reading?

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    In grades k-5, the district uses Fountas and Pinnell Leveled Literacy Intervention. Leveled Literacy Intervention is based on each student's individual reading level. Lessons are 30 minutes long and focus on independent and instructional reading level, along with phonics and word work and a writing component.
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  • What things can I (as a parent) do to help my child with their reading?

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    Read! Reading just 10 minutes a night adds up to over 2,000 minutes over the school year. Think of all the minutes you read if you add 10 or 15 more minutes!
    Ask your child questions about what they read. Model being a good reader and encourage your child to read many types of print (newspapers, magazines) and genres (poetry, biographies, nonfiction...).
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  • What are good questions for me to ask my child about the book they are reading?

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    As you read with your child, you will aide their comprehension by using a variety of questions. It's helpful if you model your thought process while you read and answer questions also. We call this "think-aloud". Students see us do it frequently. Try to make the questioning informal and make reading enjoyable.

    Knowledge questions:

    Where did the story take place?

    Who are the characters?

    What was the story about?

    Do you know what this word means?

    Did you learn something new?

    Comprehension questions:

    Describe in your own words what the main character was like?

    Tell three things that happened in the story and put them in order.

    How did this story end?

    What was the problem in this story?

    Application:

    What lesson did you learn from this story? 

    Tell about a time when something similar in the story happened to you.

    If you had the same problem what would you do?

    What kind of ending would you write for this story?

    Analysis:

    What was the author's purpose for writing this story? (persuade? inform? entertain?)

    Can you summarize this story?

    Tell 5 ways this character is like/not like you.

    Synthesis:

    How did your thinking change as you read the story?

    How does this story affect your thinking about______?

    What event in the story gave you the most vivid mental picture? Can you draw it?

    Evaluation:

    Do you like the way the story ended? Why or why not?

    Which character would you like to be? Why?

     

     

     

     
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  • What types of things can we do in the summer to maintain or even gain in our reading abilities?

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    There is little doubt that students can lose a huge amount of fluency and accuracy over the 75 days of summer vacation. It is important that children see the value in continuing to read and that they see reading is important to their family. More importantly, reading over the summer needs to be seen as a postive reward, not something we need to finish so we can move on to a more enjoyable activity.

    *Make reading a MUST-DO daily activity!!! 

    *Subscribe to a magazine that your child would enjoy.

    *Make the library your favorite destination!

    *Play reading and word games. One of my favorites is SLAM! from the makers of Scrabble.

    *Have your child keep a graph of the minutes read. After 60 minutes they can choose a treat!

    *Ask your child questions as they read. Reading is more than just sitting with a book. We want to make sure they are visualizing, inferrring, and making connections with what they read.

    *Ask your child's teacher if there are sight words for the next grade level. Practice the words.

    *Start a book club with some friends and discuss the book.

    *Check out the dadcando.com website. This site has directions for fun activities and experiments to do together.

    *READ! It is so important for students to return to school with a reading level that is at or better than the level they left with. It takes teachers months to help children regain their reading level-those that did read over the summer keep moving on!

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  • What are the differentiated word lists?

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    The word lists are numbered 1, 2, 3. They are introduced in kindergarten to word list 1. When students know by sight approximately 95% of words, they can begin learning word list 2. Some students learn all word lists in kindergarten and some learn them by second grade.
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