My class is located downstairs in Room 212 at Lake Forest Elementary School in Greenville, South Carolina. I have the fulfilling challenge to work with first and second grade children to help them become avid readers. I will be pulling children out of their homeroom daily and working with small groups of children. During this time I will work with both word recognition skills and comprehension skills.

I am excited about our curriculum for our reading intervention classes. The curriculum matches the Fountas and Pinnell reading curriculum that is used in your child's classroom. It teaches both reading comprehension skills and phonic and word attack skills. I also use hands on games and manipulatives, and songs and poems. I also use sandpaper, salt trays, magnetic letters and letter cards in an effort to make reading as multi-sensory as possible. We will also be using hand held CD players with books and matching CD's to help each child hear the language of books.

Our school wide language arts program is based on the " Balanced Literacy" model. Each child is tested individually to find their instructional reading level. I have a library of books where each child can choose a book to take home at his or her instructional reading level. I also have a separate library of "Children's Choice" books. These books are not leveled, but gives the child a chance to choose a book that he or she is interested in.

How can you help your child succeed in their reading class? Look at your child's folder every night. I have a weekly newsletter that writes out the sight words we will be working on each week. Have your child read through this list at home and initial. Then find the book your child has brought home and listen to him read the story. Ask him or her many different kinds of questions. Make your child think! i.e. "What do you think about what the character just did?" "Why do you think the character just did it? Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why?" You will find you will enjoy this discussion and your child will get the message that you care about his accomplishments in reading. Be sure to praise him every night and some aspect of his or her reading. Be sure to initial that he has read and write the book on his class reading log. (If your child's teacher does not use a reading log, I will have one in his folder. I don't want you to keep up with two separate logs.) See parent page on this site for more ideas!

I feel that communication is very important so that we can have a partnership to help your child achieve his or her own potential. If you have any questions, email me at jconard@greenville.k12.sc.us or call me at 355-4018.