https://offspring.lifehacker.com/why-kids-stop-reading-for-fun-by-age-9-and-what-to-do-1833554143
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/may/11/how-do-you-turn-kids-into-bookworms-all-10-childrens-laureates-share-their-tips
A very interesting video about learning to read, digital media and dyslexia. What is fluency? Fluency is the ability to read smoothly and automatically with accuracy, expression and attention to punctuation. Fluency also means reading with an accurate pace, phrasing (scooping words), and expression.
A great tool for parents is this blog article "10 Ways to Improve Reading Fluency." https://www.themeasuredmom.com/10-ways-to-improve-reading-fluency/ www.kqed.org/mindshift/51281/whats-going-on-in-your-childs-brain-when-you-read-them-a-story
A great read about the power of reading together. Today, one of the most common issues when it comes to reading accurately, omitting end sounds. Some tips and tricks to try at home in the attached document.
Happy New Year. Our new goal is Accuracy, or in student friendly language: "I can read the words." Accuracy is important to develop as to comprehend text, it's important to be able to recognize words at sight. When students need to stop and decode, it impacts their ability to fully understand the text. The goal is for a student to read with 95% accuracy to be considered independent at a particular reading level. Beginning strategies include: using your finger to track print, looking at the pictures, looking at the first letter and ending sounds. Stay tuned for strategies to support this goal! Our first is Cross Checking. Please see the attached document, Parent Pipeline Cross Checking.
Most teachers approach reading from many different angles. Reading instruction is a combination of 5 elements: Comprehension, Vocabulary, Fluency, Phonics and Phonemic Awareness (see my last posts!).
Phonics and Phonemic awareness are truly the building blocks of literacy and it is important to master letter sounds and how to blend them together. As mentioned in my last post, we also want to engage as many of the senses and learning styles as we can: visual, oral and kinesthetic to promote retention. We play games for several reasons: they are fun, they are motivating, students acquire a lot of vocabulary while speaking in a spontaneous manner, they learn to be social and problem solve and they reinforce skills (often sounds or high frequency words). It's fun work. That being said, there is a learning intention behind them and we explain to students what the goal of the game is. Games provide families with short, meaningful and goal oriented ways to practice reading in a low stakes environment. Your main role is to be present and caring during "homework." Some links to games ideas and templates http://www.readingrockets.org/article/six-games-reading https://sightwords.com/sight-words/games/ (the link to this article is at the bottom of the page)
Now that we know what phonemic awareness is and how crucial it is to learning to read, what are some fun ways you can practice letter sounds at home? These are great activities for students from Kindergarten to gr 3. A note, it is very important that when you are teaching or modeling sounds, you are using the "pure" sounds (not adding a vowel sound). Ie in English T says "t" and not "ta" or "tuh" in French "t" and not "te" Students learn best through multi-sensory activities, consider the following learning styles: auditory, visual and oral-kinaesthetic. Many of the tools you need are already in your home or available at very inexpensively: flashcards, letter tiles, alphabet blocks, stamps or magnets, alphabet pretzels or noodles, sandpaper, Play Doh, paint, shaving cream etc. When students are moving around, tracing letters in different substances (sand, paint, shaving cream), building the letters out of Play-Doh, pipecleaners, painting them on paper etc they are using more that one sense to learn the letters and their sounds. This promotes better retention (and is more fun!). Alphabet magnets or blocks are very useful as they have raised letters. A fun activity to to have your child close his eyes and identify letters or words at touch. https://blog.teacherspayteachers.com/creative-ways-to-teach-letters-and-sounds/ |
AuthorHello! I'm Jennifer and I am the Literacy Teacher here at VAS. Archives
November 2018
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