Wow, it’s hard to believe that we have another snow day. To encourage some warm reading on this cold day, I have an incentive for my students. Email me a picture of your child reading today and I will add 200 stars to his/her Raz-Kids account!! Taking time to read every day is necessary for developing strong readers. Enjoy this day off and happy reading!
My email is dbast@hpseagles.net
Now that we have been back for two weeks and the vacation clouds have cleared, I can tell that students are ready to be reassessed! This week, instead of meeting with groups, I will meet with students individually to check reading growth. I will assess their decoding (reading words accurately), their use of varied strategies when they encounter unknown words, and their comprehension as they retell story details. This assessment information will help to guide my reading instruction. I am looking forward to this one-on-one time with my students! You are welcome to email me if you would like more information on your child’s progress.
In the meantime, please continue to encourage your child’s reading at home. Library books, WEB books, and Raz-Kids are all great options for daily reading practice. Thank you so much for your valuable help at home. You are an important part of your child’s continued success.
I hope that all of you have a wonderful vacation. Please remember to set aside some reading time every day. Thank you for sharing your terrific children with me!
This week, our groups will focus more intentionally on vowels and their different sounds. Vowels are often the trickiest part of a word. When trying to figure out an unknown word, readers have to be flexible and persistent, trying different sounds until they find the right combination that sounds right, looks right, and makes sense.
We will practice the short and long sound of each vowel, as well as the schwa sound, that crazy sound that sounds like you just caught a football in your stomach. Although our language is full of exemptions, there is one rule that does work most of the time. Some of you might remember, “when 2 vowels go walking, the first one does the talking.” This does actually hold true for many words. When there are 2 vowels together, the first one usually makes the long sound (says its name) and the second vowel is silent. This rule also works with a “vowel-consonant-e” word; the first vowel is long and the second vowel (e) is silent.
Our groups will practice applying this rule in isolated words and in books. At home, you can help build this understanding by asking your child about vowel sounds and finding words that may or may not follow this rule.
Happy reading!
Students have recently learned an important strategy called Making It Smooth. This is a helpful technique which strengthens comprehension and improves fluency. After figuring out a tricky word, a reader should reread the sentence to make the words sound smooth. At this point of the year, students are bravely stretching and looking for chunks, in order to decode unknown words in their stories. However, readers can get so bogged down with stretching that the thread of the story is lost. Making It Smooth encourages readers to reread the sentence, fitting in those newly discovered words and allowing the story to unfold. As you read with your child and he/she successfully figures out a tricky word, nudge him/her to also Make It Smooth.
Happy reading! 🙂