Frequently Asked Questions: This page contains answers to common questions of students and parents.
Reading First Weakley County again received over $200,000 for Greenfield School in 2005-06 for Reading First in grades K-3. Reading First is a sub-grant from the State of Tennessee through a federal initiative authorized by the No Child Left Behind Act. At Greenfield School, we are already seeing excellent results from the initiative. Teachers, the Literacy Leader, the principal, and educational assistants have undergone numerous hours of professional development in scientifically based reading instruction, assessment, and materials. Students receive at least 90 minutes daily of intensive, uninterrupted reading instruction in all aspects of reading: phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension. All children undergo rigorous and frequent assessments to help determine the best instructional plans for each. In addition, struggling readers have daily intervention in small groups to help address their individual needs. Visitors to our classrooms can see new classroom libraries and other materials to aid in reading instruction and enjoyment. Our book room is filled to capacity with both fiction and nonfiction books at all reading levels. We continue to enjoy assistance from several high school students who volunteer during their study halls to help teachers so that they can focus on their students. We truly appreciate these fine high school helpers. Our work at Reading First is far from finished, but we are making great strides.Back to Top
What are some ways that I can help at home in reading?
1. Encourage your child to use his or her finger to point to the words when reading. 2. Allow your child �wait time� of 5 � 10 seconds when he or she has trouble with a word. Some prompts you can use after the wait time are: �What would make sense there?� �Go back to the beginning and try again.� �Use the picture to help you.� �Look at how the word begins. What sound does that letter make?� �What do you think the word might be?� 3. Another strategy is the help your child see �chunks� in a word. These include endings, compound words, rhyming words, prefixes, and little words within words. For example, if your child has trouble with playing, cover up the ing chunk and he might recognize play. If the word is into, cover up in or to and have her read each chunk. If he misses the word hay, say, �That word has /ay/ in it, just like the word may.� If she can�t get wagon, show her wag. 4. If these options don�t work and you have waited, tell the child the word and go on. 5. When your child has had trouble with a word or words, be sure to have the child go back to the beginning of the sentence and reread the entire sentence. 6. To help your child�s reading sound fluent (like talking), have him or her read the same book or passage several times. For example, say, �Read that sentence again as that character might say it.�Back to Top