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Barbara Thomas Title I
Reading Room
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UPDATING
CONTINUES: PLEASE KEEP CHECKING BACK!!!!!
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Kindergarten Students have come a long way in learning the alphabet letters and sounds. We continue to practice and review the letters they have covered in their classrooms. High-frequency words have been another great accomplishment for the students. We continue to work on recognition and reading sentences with the words they have learned. Since they have learned many sounds, including short vowels, a, e i, o and u, we can make many words for them to read and use in sentences. You will notice the little books they bring home from their classroom have these in them, too. Please have you child read those little books to someone at home several times until they can read quick and smooth. These have all of the words in them to be ready for first grade next year. **************************** Please try out the following powerpoint to practice the high-frequency words. All kindergarten words for the year are included. High-Frequency
Words Powerpoint I have also made a powerpoint of sentences using the high-frequency words. You can find it here: Here’s a powerpoint for the alphabet letters. There are both capital and lowercase letters, just click for each new letter. ********************************* When it comes to reading, the old saying is
true: Practice makes perfect. According to research, the more a child
reads, the better she’ll be able to read.
And that goes for all ages and skill levels! Source: David A Sousa, How the Brain Learns to Read. ********************************* Quick
Tips! (Taken from *Take books everywhere and
make the most of every minute. *Read everyday items aloud:
food labels, maps, menus, cereal boxes, road signs, catalogs, magazines, and
newspapers. *Go to your local library and ask
for books that meet you child’s interests and needs. *Set up a home library. A good
way to start is with a few books on a special shelf. So it is not too expensive, look in used
book stores, yard sales, and flea markets for books your children will have
for years to come. ********************************** Book Bag Make visiting the La Plata Public
Library an exciting adventure. Make a
“library bag” from an inexpensive tote bag.
Decorate the bag with your child and go to the library to fill it up with
books you check out. You can share
your child’s bag and check out some books for yourself, too. Learn with Newspapers Newspapers are a great way to
build children’s skills. Grab a paper
& try some of these activities. Matching Game: Have your child cut out several photographs
and their captions, separately. Mix
them up and have him match them. This
will improve his reading comprehension. Scavenger hunt: List items in the newspaper such as a car
ad, crossword puzzle, weather forecast, etc. and ask your child to find and
circle each one. She’ll build research
skills as she looks through the pages. ABC Order: Together, find the names of 5-10 countries,
states, & cities in headlines or stories.
Let your child copy each onto an index card or piece of paper and
arrange them in alphabetical order.
This will help practice spelling & learn about geopgraphy. |
End of the Year
Benchmarks have begun! Students can
practice by reading every day. ********************************* What’s Going on
in My Room? We continue to
practice phonics skills and reading fluency each day. All students have made great progress so
far this year. Students will be reading
and using their reading skills as much as possible from now until the end of
the year to learn all they can to continue on to the next grade level. *****************************************
Students should be practicing reading whenever
possible. Remember: practice makes for
improvement. Reading Aloud to Your Children Check out ******************************************************************* Check out these ideas for anytime
learning fun: Second Grade We are continuing to do a phonics program for part of our reading time. The students review consonant and vowel sounds, do dictation, and do word making/high-frequency word practice. In addition to these routine activities we review and practice spelling and oral reading. It is still very important for them to know the first grade high-frequency words, so we have been going over the ones that go with the new reading series. We are going to be practicing more and more on oral reading fluency by using the “tub” books in my classroom. In addition we will be working on fluency phrases. Doing some readers’ theater stories is also on our list for the end of the school year. Students may be bringing copies home for their families to perform, also. I hope everyone will enjoy doing these with their children. These last two
weeks will be full of benchmarking, reading readers’ theaters, and reviewing
phonics skills. It is very important that students continue their reading practice
throughout the summer vacation. Third Grade We have been doing a lot of phonics work in order for the students to be able to apply what they know to decoding new words they encounter in their reading. Each week we add their spelling phonics rule to what we have already done and continue to review all of the sounds. We are also reading a variety of books I call “Tub” books, to use for comprehension, fluency, and vocabulary practice. We will also be benchmarking, doing readers’ theaters, and reviewing phonics skills during these last two weeks. Please get some reading practice in over the summer vacation. We often practice sight
word phrases to improve fluency. Here
is a powerpoint with some phrases to practice. All grade levels can
benefit from this practice.
Here
are some pages with ideas for what to do when you are reading. Click to find out what clues you can give
yourself or how you can help someone else: What
Good Readers Do When Reading Five
Finger Test – How to Choose a Book Some
Favorite Reading Web Sites:
Since Q &
A --- Real writing Q—My son doesn’t enjoy writing. He will write a few
words, such as his spelling lists. But
when it’s time to write a paragraph or a stor, he complains. Any ideas? A—Have your son try a few “real” writing tasks. It’s
often easier for kids to write about things that have meaning for them. Encourage your child to give those longer
writing assignments a try with ideas like these: *Have him write what he remembers about he day
(playing at recess, what he had for lunch, etc.) *Let him choose a favorite toy or animal and describe
it in a few sentences. *Ask him to write lists of favorite songs, or characters
in movies, or things he wants to do on the weekend. Ideas taken from Reading Connection Beginning
Edition |
First Grade First Graders have been introduced to many, many skills and high-frequency words so far this year. We have been practicing the words, doing word work with short vowels and now have been working hard on learning long vowels with the vce pattern, which I call the “Magic e”, and vowel pairs, too. It is a lot to remember and put to use when they are reading. I believe the only way to get better and to get it stuck in their brains is to read, read, read and use flashcards (or BOOM sticks) with the high-frequency words and the spelling words on them so the students can practice all of the phonics sounds they have been introducted to this year. Keep practicing all summer to be ready
for the next school year! ****************************** After School With Mrs. Thomas: This month we will continue
reading & math skills practice. Here is a
calendar for May 2012 **3:15-4:15**
What’s Happening in Garden Club? Garden
Club has done a variety of activities this winter. Each week we have some sort of
************************* Question
& Answer Q: My child
loves watching TV. Does it really
matter how much time he spends in front of the screen? A: Yes! Studies show that youngsters who watch too
much TV may struggle in school and can have difficulty learning to read. They’re also more apt to become couch
potatoes and to develop poor eating habits.
So make a “two hours of screen time per day” rule and stick to
it. Peplace some of that TV time with
reading time! Source: A. Gardner, “Too Much TV Early in Life May
Cause Problems Later” |
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