A Parent's Guide to Literacy
Click here to open 'Reading and Writing With Your Child K-6' - A Parent Guide pdf
At Home Reading Program
We encourage students to read at least 20-30 minutes per day at home. Our goal is to get our students interested and excited about reading.
The Reading Program - Program Structure
Your child will be exposed to a rich reading environment with a variety of fiction and non-fiction materials including picture books, novels, poetry, myths, fables, folk tales and much more! They will read for a variety of purposes including pleasure.
The reading program is structured around 5 key instructional approaches and provides a variety of learning environments in which your child will learn to read.
(1) Reading to Children
Capturing a child’s interests goes a long way towards motivating children to read. Reading aloud to children can be used to capture their interests and to help them make connections to what they read. I model the strategies that proficient readers use when reading. Students listen to a number of books read aloud for different purposes. They are engaged in the reading of authentic literature.
(2) Shared Reading
In shared reading, I read a text that can be seen by all students. The text is read several times by myself and then by students. As a group, we focus on specific strategies related to comprehension and word solving.
(3) Language Experience
To capitalize on the interests and experiences of children, the students are encouraged to reflect and talk about similar experiences they’ve had and how they relate to a text. They are provided with opportunities to record and express these ideas through oral and written expression.
4) Guided Reading
In Guided Reading, I work with a small group of students who have simular needs. I introduce the book to students and highlight key elements. The children then begin reading the
book independently. Each child reads aloud to me throughout the session, giving me an opportunity to monitor and guide them as they read. Guided reading occurs one to two times a week.
(5) Independent Reading
Students read “just right” books that they have selected. I observe and records individual reading behaviors so that I can use this information to guide instruction. They read independently several times a week.
* Just right books can be read by the student with a high rate of accuracy and comprehension.
Spelling
Please continue to practise spelling words from the Grade 3 word list in writing activities at home.