Learning to Read

Reading Workshop:

 We believe that one of the most important school experiences for children is having unstructured time to read books of their choice at (or near) their reading level.  It is our goal to provide this time for your child daily. We will determine your child's approximate reading level so that you can support your child reading aloud to you at home every day. 

Phonics and Phonemic Awareness:

Sight Words:

 A sight word "is a word that an individual can instantly and effortlessly recognize as if 'by sight' without sounding it out." (95 Percent Group) For this reason, these words need to be memorized in the same way we memorize and then learn to recognize a person by his/her face. As soon as your child can readily identify these words, reading will become much more fluent. The words below are the 120 words we will learn by sight in first grade. Each week, your child will be introduced to four new words.

Weekly Reading Log:

In order for your child to progress with his/her reading skills, and for you to connect with your child's reading ability, we suggest that your child either read aloud to you everyday or, alternatively, that you read aloud to your child everyday for at least 10 minutes.  We believe it will be fun and good practice for your child to keep a "log" of the books s/he is reading at home. This log will then be turned in every Monday so I can learn about what your child is reading. Please let me know if you would like help finding or selecting books for your child to read at home!