Reynolds Elementary School

Readi​ng

The best thing you can do to help your child with reading is to provide as many opportunities as possible to read a variety of texts.  Here are some suggestions for reading with your child:

Before Reading

• Look at the cover of the book and make a prediction about the story based on the title and the picture on the cover.
• Turn the book over and read the back of the book
• Take a picture walk and get your mind ready to read.

 During Reading

• If your child gets stuck on a tricky word while reading, give them a few minutes to try different decoding strategies such as skipping the word and using context clues, getting their mouth ready to read the word, stretch the word out and read through the word, looking for chunks, blends, digraphs, etc. that they know.  Then, after they figure out the word, or you help them figure it out, have them go back to the beginning of the sentence or paragraph to reread it.
• Stop to discuss parts that don't make sense.  Think about why it doesn't make sense and figure out a way to be able to understand what was read.
• Make connections.  Your child should stop to think about text-text, text-self, and text-world connections.  Text-self connections will be the most frequent but it's important to recognize how making these connections improve our understanding of the text.
• Talk about questions your child has about the text.  Model thinking aloud for your child too. You might wonder aloud about why the character looks sad in the picture.
• Make predictions as you read through and then talk about whether they were right or wrong.

 After Reading

• Think about the author's message.  Why did he/she write this story? What did he/she want the reader to know?
• Talk about if your child was surprised by the ending of the story and why or why not.
• Think about whether predictions made before reading were correct.
• Let your child use Post-its to stop and jot while they read.
• Reread the story many times.  Rereading the story allows your child to try different things on each read.  Here is an example of how multiple readings might go:

1. ​Read to decode tricky words.
2. Read more fluently now that tricky words are decoded.
3. Read with fluency and expression.
4. Read with meaning in mind; Change your voice to show the feelings of the characters or to represent different characters.

 Exposure to other reading experiences is beneficial too!  Here are some other avenues to explore:

• When shopping at a store, ask your child to read labels, signs, and anything else that might be available.  Talk about what the words are trying to tell the reader.
• When driving in the car, ask your child to try to read the street signs.
• Read more challenging books together and practice retelling the story, making connections, talking about the meaning of the story, and asking questions.  You may want to take turns reading pages or sentences with your child.
• Practice the same strategies used for Just-Right books.

Writing

Children's writing skills are improved by continued exposure to model texts.  As they begin to read more challenging and complex books, they will begin to notice things that good writers do and begin to mimic those strategies.  Providing your child with daily opportunities to write will be very beneficial. It is also important to show students the practical uses for writing to give it meaning in their own lives.  Here are some activities you can try:

• ​Provide your child with plenty of paper to write on.  You may want to provide more than one type of paper so that your child can choose a paper appropriate for their story's needs.  You may also ask your child to design their own paper and then reproduce it for them. I can also provide a copy of paper for you if you would like.
• Practice oral storytelling.  Ask your child about their day and prompt them to use words after that, then, because, in the beginning, at the end
• Let your child write down wish lists for birthday and holidays.
• If planning a party, have your child write the guest list, to do list, or supply list.