Dear South Huckleberry Families,
What a wonderful evening we experienced Thursday at the BBQ and Literacy Night. Thank you for coming! It was heartwarming to see how excited the students were about choosing classes to attend. I hope all came away with an increased knowledge of how we teach literacy at school and how you can support you child at home. If you have further questions, please ask.
To aid in the development of our readers, I am beginning a nightly book exchange for some students. I know how difficult it is to find “just right” books for students who are emergent readers. At this stage, they need to quickly feel successful. In the beginning, students feel more successful when they can sound out unknown words while other strategies are still developing. I’ll be sending home controlled vocabulary books for your child to read. Each book should be read more than once, work towards fluency. As often as the books are brought back, new ones will be issued. The books will naturally get progressively more difficult. All books should be returned in the plastic bag in which they are sent home. I look forward to the difference this will make in the progress of our readers.
More developed readers should also be reading nightly. Book selection is very important at this level. Students are more independent in their reading and should have a definite voice in what they read. Tap into your child’s interest to keep them reading. At this stage, students can get books from home or friends, the bookstore and from the library,. Sitting with your child while they read gives the message that what she/he is doing is important. Preview the book together, ask questions about the characters and be sure vocabulary is understood. The goal is meaningful reading, not crossing off books from a list, which are poorly read. Enjoy this time together. It passes too quickly.
SHARING TOPIC: For the next two weeks the sharing topic will be about magnets.
Mrs. Harris
