Tips for Home
Reading at home:
Dear families!
To become proficient readers, children need to have a lot of experience with reading. We read every day in class, but it’s not enough! Children also need to be reading at home…every…single…day. Life happens- don’t feel badly if your kiddos miss a day or two-it’s not the end of the world but we can’t deny the research; voluminous reading is the best predictor for reading proficiency (Anderson, Wilson & Fielding); so read, read, read- as much as possible.
Easier said than done right?- some of our striving readers struggle with reading for enjoyment, some of you might even struggle with reading for enjoyment! Daily reading is your child’s “homework” but if it starts to feel like homework than we run the risk of stealing the joy out of it. For reading to be engaging and meaningful, children need to be reading books that they LOVE; books that they WANT to read; graphic novels, picture books, wordless picture books, non-fiction books (choosing topics of interest), chapter books, novels... The list goes on!
Don’t be discouraged if your child doesn’t seem to enjoy reading right now. They just haven’t found their catalyst book…yet. So let’s help them find it this year!
Here are some additional tips to help encourage/continue a love of reading at home:
• no matter how old your children are, read with or to your them! Listening to proficient readers read is very important!
• model healthy reading habits; read as a family-read your own books at the same time as your child’s reading time,
• start small, have your child read for 10 minutes, increasing the time as they become more engaged in reading.
• share your favourite books with your child,
• talk about the books you are reading together,
• create a comfy reading nook for your child to read in, buy your child a special book light,
• make tea/hot chocolate for your child during reading time, who doesn’t like to cozy up with a good book and a cup of tea!
• visit the public library regularly together (help them choose a wide variety of books (take as many books as they will allow!) to take home to create their own home libraries.
• for our more struggling readers, borrow audio books from the library,
• listen to podcasts before bed or in the car; here are some suggested podcasts for kids https://www.weareteachers.com/best-podcasts-for-kids/.
In addition, here are a few prompts you can ask your child after reading that can encourage a growth mindset:
• What did you do to become a better reader today?
• How did that reading make you more knowledgeable?
• What did you learn?
• What new ideas do you have?
• What do you still wonder about?
• What do you need to help you grow more knowledgeable?
• What more do you want to learn about this?
• How do you plan to keep learning more about this?
Thank you for your continued support at home.
Ms. St. Jean
Math at Home:
Dear families,
As with reading daily, regular math practice at home is essential. Modelling our own interests in numeracy will help our kids develop their identities as mathematicians. As with reading, math practice should be engaging. Math games are the best way create meaningful learning opportunities for your children at home-and they can involve the whole family!
"What books are to reading, games are to mathematics." -Daniel Finkel
You can help your child recognize math in the real world by:
• Grocery shopping: estimating totals, comparing prices, being aware of the various costs, amount of change
• Cooking: measuring ingredients, doubling a recipe
• Setting the table: how many ____ will you need?
• Clock: practicing time
• Calendar: awareness of dates, passage of time
• Schedules: keeping track of family events
Things your child should know:
• your phone number
• their address
• their birthday
• summer, fall, winter, spring months
• special dates, holidays and events important to your family
• how to tell time
If you are interested…I’ve attached a few links for you to explore regarding our basic facts:
This first link does a great job of explaining the difference between memorizing and understanding our basic facts (it focuses on multiplication but this is also true for addition, subtraction and division). It’s easy to think our basic facts need to be "drilled" into our heads (because of our own experiences in school) however there is a difference between automaticity and memorization:
https://gfletchy.com/2014/12/01/from-memory-and-memorization-there-is-a-difference/
This second link is a link to more information regarding mastering basic facts, published by the BC Association of Mathematics:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1yW3ytYsa7TxplWkl1OmhvDROX4OSXsYM/view?usp=sharing
Ms. St. Jean