Groups News

As we settle into spring, our Title 1 literacy groups have become very specific.  We work  hard on trying to fill in any missing knowledge students may be missing before they move on to the next grade. Through close conversations with the classroom teacher, as well as notes taken when students read, the instruction is now very specific to individual needs of each student. Even though we always strive to teach what students need, at this time of year the focus almost becomes hyper-focused on what students still need to learn.

As the weather gets warmer, please remember to read, read, read. You don't get to the Olympics in your sport, or the VSO with your instrument by only practicing once in a while. It is the same way with reading. There is only one way to get better at reading, and it is very simple. Lots of practice!

Check out the link below to find some new books about spring that might pique your child's interest!

Happy Spring!
The best spring books for kids

                                                           

New Groups, Conferences, and Reading Challenge

February has been a busy month in Title 1!

Due to assessments, groups have shifted. If you child will be having any changes to their services, you will be receiving a note. If you hear nothing then you can rest assured your child's Title 1 reading group has had little to no change.

Parent/teacher conferences are on the Monday and Tuesday that we come back from vacation. Due to a class I am taking, I will be at UMS those two days. You can expect to see detailed progress reports go home from Title 1 in their report cards. Please let me know if you wish to schedule a conference with me after meeting with your classroom teacher.

Title 1 is sponsoring a Reading Challenge over February Break. Your child will be bringing home a reading log where they should cut and paste attached "marshmallows" or draw their own marshmallows on the hot cocoa mug. Each marshmallow equals 10 minutes of reading. Once they bring the reading log (paper hot cocoa mug) back to school on the Wednesday or Thursday we get back, they will get to put a real marshmallow in their classroom jug. We will then combine all of the classroom jugs into a large school jug to see if we can fill it. If we can (which equates to half of the students in school reading over vacation,) we will have a school wide celebration. You'll see these reading logs this Friday.

Have a great break!

Happy New Year!

Wow! Time flies! We have been so busy working hard at reading, that I haven't taken the time to post on this blog in a long time. For that, I apologize!

First grade has been very busy learning about short vowels, blends, and diagraphs. Blends and diagraphs are those beginning consonant sounds that can occur at the beginning of words such as "tr" in "truck" or "cl" in "clock." Diagraphs are also knows in school as the "h" brothers. This includes "ch, sh, and th" like in the words "chick, wish, and this." It's tricky learning all about these different letter combinations!
Why is this important? You need to understand how words work in order to read them! Many people think the English language is very hard to learn, but in actuality, there are more patterns and rules than exceptions. Learning these can be the key to unlocking reading!

In second grade, we've upped the ante by discussing all long vowel patterns including magic "e" words as vowel teams (such as "ea" in "team.") These changes make the vowels say their long sound. We've also spent a lot of time discussing syllable types and how to break words down.
Why is this important? Believe it or not, once you learn the seven syllable types (closed syllables show us the vowel is short like in the word "cat", and both the magic e ad vowel team syllable tell us the vowel sound is long....we have learned 3 of the 7 syllable types so far,) and how to break a word apart, you can read almost any word in the English language! Of course, we're also introducing prefixes and suffixes (which have Latin and Greek origin,) but with yearly exposure to all of these things, there is no word in the English language you can't read and understand! Really! It's true! As students learn this, they can read anything someday!
                                                                       

Both first and second grade students are reading non-fiction text, and working on finding the main idea, as well as comparing and contrasting two books on the same subject (eg. sharks.)
Why is this important? It's not enough to be able to read the words, but you also have to understand the author's message and be able to think critically about what you're reading. This is just the beginning of the reading journey!
                                                             

The Holiday Season is a Great Time for Books!

With the Holiday Season upon us very soon, don't forget that books make great holiday gifts. Even students who don't "like to read" LOVE to explore their favorite subjects. Try a Lego Book, a Paw Patrol Book, or a book about horses. It doesn't always have to be at their reading level. Let the joy of books simply be in looking at the pictures! Happy Reading!

A HUGE Thank You to everyone that came to our Family Night last night. As promised, here is the short video showing how to do paired reading. Enjoy and thank you once again!

Cut and paste this URL

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5RJyUnAkWM

or click on this link

Link to paired reading experience

Parents guide to shared reading 1

Here's a preview of our parent night on Wednesday.We will also be playing math games! We hope you can join us and meet our new Title 1 Math Teacher!

Paired Reading workshop part of our Family Night on November 16th at 6:30!

The literacy portion of our Family Night will be on Paired Reading, a powerful way to help your child with reading, without tears! Here is some information FYI.

The following link a great description of Paired Reading and how to do it.

Paired Reading

I hope to see you next Wednesday! Please RSVP if you haven't already by returning the bottom of the flier or emailing me at lynn.mazza@colchestersd.org.