Tis the season for freezin' AND for reading!! I can't believe winter is here and the school year is half way over! I want to encourage you in this season, when daylight is short and we are indoors, to read with your children. Reading aloud is one of the best ways to improve your child's reading skills. Allow them to ask questions, to use the pictures to re-tell the story, and to draw what they remember. Enjoy the memories together that happen around a great story. Then watch the movie (if there is one) and compare how the two were alike and different.
First grade students are excelling in
vowel sounds. We are finished reviewing all 5 sounds and will be moving onto
blends (two letters said together but keep their sound like gl or tr),
diagraphs (two letters said together that make a new sound like sh or ch), and
R-controlled vowels (er,ir,ar). We are always working on
comprehension strategies with sequencing stories, finding characters, setting, events, and re-telling. And of course we continue to build their vocabulary with
high-frequency word knowledge. It is important that our first grade students get a strong foundation so they can be prepared for the following school years as the pace and difficulty increase.
Second grade students are continuing their work with
comprehension strategies, finding
main idea and details in stories, and reviewing
phonics (sounds letter patterns make like ear, ai, ing, etc.)skills from the classroom. We also spend a lot of time working on how we read-with
expression,
fluency and attention to the punctuation. For these students reading and writing are closely connected so if you can get them to read and write at home it will improve their reading level and comprehension. Allow them to write questions from the story or something the story reminds them of.
I want to assure you that your students love to come to Title and are challenged to do their best. They are so much fun to work with and a pleasure to get to know. I hope you are seeing some of the fruit of their efforts while spending time with me. Please contact me with any concerns or questions you may have and have a WARM winter :)
