Suggestions for Reading:
BookFlix and TrueFlix: Available from our school’s website, this resource provides fiction and non-fiction e-books. Your child can use the read aloud feature in order to listen to the book while following along with the text.
Read alouds: Read to your child or encourage children to listen to a book on CD, while following along with text in a written copy of the book.
Repeated readings: Ask children to read and re-read a page or two of text from their favorite book or poetry. Research suggests that 3-5 repeated readings may help to increase reading rate and fluency (smooth reading with expression).
Read a variety of materials: magazines, joke books, e-books, picture books, chapter books, graphic novels, etc. Read both fiction and non-fiction texts.
Unknown words:
When your child comes to a word he/she does not know, do not identify the word right away. Rather, suggest a strategy:
- break the word into smaller word parts or chunks
- look for word endings (s, ed, ing, er)
- look for familiar word patterns (i.e. silent e at the end of the word which often makes the middle vowel say its own name)
- use clues in the sentence to determine what word would make sense
- Does it look right? Does it sound right? Does it make sense?
Questions to ask children before, during, and after reading:
What do you see on this page? What is happening here?
Do you know another situation in which you/the character would _______?
When the character said ________, was that a fact or an opinion?
What is the main idea? What details from the story support the main idea?
What was the overall theme in the story?
How do you think the character is feeling?
What would you change about the story?
What was _______________’s point of view?
What are the character’s traits?
