Assignments

READ! READ! READ!
The most important thing you need to do this year with your student is to spend 15 minutes each school night reading. Many children are still learning their letters and sounds so spend time reviewing the names of the letters and their sounds. I will send home a copy of the letters both upper case and lower case, and you can use them to review the letters. When your child is practicing their letters review 5 at a time. When they know those letters, begin with another 5. Make it fun by looking at the shapes of the letters, talking about what words or names of family members begin with those letters. Make the letters meaningful to your child by connecting it to something they know.  When your child knows their letters please send the plastic bag and the letters back and we will test them on the letters and sounds and begin sending home readers with them. You will need to now spend 15 minutes each night reading with your child from these readers. We will send home a record sheet and you can record their reading and send them back and we will send another set home. We usually send home 3 books home a night. You may keep the books more than one night. We are not in a hurry to get through all the books by the end of the year, but rather have the children solid in their reading skills.  Over the years the children who make the most progress are those that read consistently each night. The readers that we send home begin with short vowel sounds and basic sight words. They are research based and I have seen most of our students going to first grade on a C level or above. The students that are above grade level are those that practice with their parents the most. That said, you may have a child that is developmentally not ready to read. We will know that pretty quickly by how they react to the reading practice each night. Some children are not ready to focus for 15 minutes, or become frustrated because they have not put all the pieces together yet, and reading is not important to them yet. If you have one of these children then my suggestion is to back off and do other things with them, like writing the names of family members, easy words such as, cat, dog, mom, pig etc. You can spend your 15 minutes each evening by reading out loud to your child. Point to the words as you read. Show your child where you begin to read and how you use the return sweep to go to the next line. Make reading as fun and relaxing with your child as you can. I have seen many children show little interest in reading in kindergarten and then really take off in first grade. I would rather we slow down and relax about reading and end up with a child that loves reading then one that associates it to pressure and frustration. We need to remember that these children are only 5-6 years old and they are still very young to be reading. It seems like the last few years there is so much pressure on these children to read. When I started teaching 10 years ago we hardly addressed reading in kindergarten. We made sure they were very solid in the letters and sounds and taught them to blend short vowel words like cat, dog, pig, bug, etc. My own children were taught to read in a more relaxed time and they are all great readers and have a real love of reading.  We will send home a reading calendar each month. Please fill it out and send it back the first week of the new month. Your child will receive a reward for filling out the calendar and returning it to school.