Curriculum Corner



Curriculum Corner

Guiding Your Child’s Reading at Home

Over the last few weeks, I have begun meeting with the children in small guided reading groups. I am so thrilled that the students are ready to begin reading! At this time of the year, I will mainly be using Reading A-Z books with the children in our guided reading groups and also for your child’s take-home reading. The simple repetitive text of the Reading A-Z books are perfect for beginning readers. Because I can make paper copies of the Reading A-Z books, they are also ideal for helping your child get in the habit of doing take-home reading. After your child has read a book with me, I will be sending it home for your child to read to you. In this way your child will get additional practice on reading books which he/she has already read. I have provided each child with a take-home book bag. Please look for these Reading A-Z books (or similar books) in your child’s take-home book bag. The Reading A-Z books are just black and white copies and are usually about 10 pages long.

Please get in the habit of setting ten minutes aside each night to listen to your child read to you. After your child has read his/her take-home book to you, please send it back to school in the take-home book bag. Once that book is returned, I will send another book home with your child. You can expect your child to bring a new book home at least four nights each week as long as he/she is returning the previous night’s take-home reading book to school.

I want this reading time at home to be as comfortable and productive as possible for you and your child. I am providing you with a guide to use while helping your child with his/her reading at home. This guide provides you with suggested phrases to use to help your child develop good reading habits. Good reading habits involve much more than the ‘sound it out’ approach that many of us were taught to read by. Please take some time to read this guide and keep it handy while listening to your child read to you. Using the phrases included on this guide will encourage your child to develop strong reading skills and strategies.

As your child gains more confidence as a reader, I will begin to let him/her select books from my take-home leveled book tubs. At that point, you will notice that the books are no longer just the Reading A-Z paper copies. When your child begins selecting books from the leveled tubs, your child will often be reading a book for the first time when he/she brings it home to you. At that point, your child may need more prompting and support from you, so keep the Guiding Your Child’s Reading at Home page handy.

As children begin to read, there are a number of things that they need to attend to in order to read successfully. With practice these things become automatic for children. However, as a beginning reader, your child will need you to remind him/her to attend to these things.

When reading, it is most critical that your child be thinking about whether what he/she has read makes sense. This must be the FIRST consideration; reading should always make sense. If what your child says does not make sense, please point this out and ask him/her if he/she can try again and fix it. The next factor that your child should attend to is whether or not what he/she read matches the pictures on that page. Lastly, your child should attend to the letter clues (words) on the page.

Please always allow your child to attempt to read the entire page on his/her own before you interrupt to provide support (I know this is hard!). It is important that your child have an opportunity to read a page fluently (without interruption) and begin to self-monitor. The goal is for your child to eventually monitor his/her own reading to determine if it made sense, matched the picture clues and matched the letter clues. If we, the adults, interrupt each time an error is made then your child will not develop the habit of monitoring his/her own reading.

If your child pauses in his/her reading and seems to need your help to continue with that page, please prompt your child with a question whenever possible instead of providing the word for him/her. For example, if your child stops and seems unable to tackle the next word say “What would make sense here?” or “Are there any clues in the picture that will help you figure that word out?”

As your child reads please praise him/her for the skills that he/she is using, this will help to reinforce the positive reading behaviors! I have included these positive reinforcements in the prompts, don’t forget to start with noticing the positive skills your child is using whenever possible.

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