October 1, 2009
Dear Parents,
I just wanted to let you know I will be tracked-out
all of next week (Oct. 5-9). I will be back on Monday
the 12th. During this time please have your child work
nightly on reading. Attached is a grade-appropriate
description of what your child is doing in Reading Club
and what he/she can continue to do at home over the
next week.
I have thoroughly enjoyed getting to know all of my
students. Watching the progress being made by all of
them is exciting. Your child does have to do the work to
make the progress. I am giving them tools, but they are
the ones who have to use those tools on their own.
It is very important that when your child brings home
a new book in the baggie from me, he/she rereads that
book that night. It reinforces all the work they did in
class. Words which they might have had to sound out or
use another strategy to figure out will hopefully come to
them more quickly when rereading. Fluency improves
tremendously through the repeated rereading of books!
Thank you for all you are doing to help your child
become a successful reader!
Have a great week!
Mrs. Guard-Pikulik
Dear Parents,
All students at Highcroft have gone through the Universal Screening the
County has recommended which assesses fluency of reading at each grade. (It
might be assessing letter name fleuncy all the way up to reading passages
appropriate to that specific grade level.) If your child showed up as having
some risk your child's teacher will be monitoring their progress as well as
working specifically on his/her needs. In addition, if your child is reading
and retelling below the expected level at this point in the year, I will have
completed additional assessments to see strengths and weaknesses.
If your child has qualified for support through the ALP II program then you
will recieve a permission slip which needs to be returned to school signed.
Students who see me, generally will come to my classroom 30 minutes a day 4
days a week (M-Th). I will be sending home books for the students in 1st and
2nd grade to reread to you. After your child has read the book, have the
retelling questions handy so you can see what the child might be leaving out
when retelling the story to you. Have a DISCUSSION about the book with your
child. This will promote good thinking about the book. Please sign the
reading log sheet so I know the book was reread for extra practice. Research
shows that repeated readings of books will increase the child's fluency.
Thank you for working with your child on the books I send home. Keep in mind
the book has been read in class a couple times before it is brought home, so
it shouldn't be too difficult. More challenging words have been introduced
and words which they see often have been worked on using magnets or white
boards.
Just to remind you, your child will continue to receive reading instruction
from their classroom teacher in addition to my instruction. My class is not
in replace of the reading lessons, rather it is in addition. (If you check
on the page that says Calendar Days, you will see the schedule for the month.)
Since I will be checking the reading sheet each day your child comes to me
you are welcome to send me a note on it if you have a question.
Also, please help your child remember to bring the baggie and book back each
day. Thank you so much for your support!
If you need to contact me, please email me at mguard@wcpss.net and I will
respond as soon as possible.
One website that has lists of books leveled which you can use to
help pick books for your child is
http://home.comcast.net/~ngiansante/ .
Wake Levels
County on
Levels Website
1 A
2 B
3-4 C
5-6 D
7-8 E
9-10 F
11-12 G
13-14 H
15-16 I
17-18 J
19-20 K
21-22 L
23-24 M
25-26 N
