Home Reading Letter & Reading Strategies

Dear Parents:

We are starting a Home Reading Program in our class.  Home Reading Programs are widely used in classrooms throughout Canada. The idea behind it is that parents are children's first and foremost teachers. Home Reading Programs also foster the partnership between the home and the school - a partnership that brings success for all students.  We are very excited about this program and need your support for it to be successful.

Here is how it works: 

·       Each day your child will be bringing home their home reading bag with their reading book and reading log. 

·       Set aside a convenient and quiet time each evening when you and your child can read and discuss the book together.   

·       After reading for 15-20 minutes, please fill in the “Reading Log” and return the book to school the following day (Even if you aren't done to encourage the habit). 

·       You may keep it for a day but please return it to school, as your child will be reading it during Literacy Time.  If your child would like to bring it home again, he or she will have the choice.  

·       The books that the children are bringing home are chosen according to their reading level. It is important to read the book several times so that your child is familiar with the vocabulary.  At school we suggest reading it 3 times: 1 for reading/problem solving new words, 2 for fluency (how smooth they read) and 3 for understanding.  

·       If you are reading a book from the library or a book from home, that is okay! You don’t have to read the book sent home but it is always an option!

Reading at home will help your child become a successful reader.  Below is a list of strategies that you can use when reading with your child:

·     As you read your book you will be listening to your thinking voice and paying attention to the reading powers that are sparked in your brain.  It is powerful for parents to model these reading powers and discuss them out loud with your child.  

·     Be a thinking reader.  Start noticing when you have a “this reminds me of” moment (connection), or when you catch yourself thinking of a question and when you make an inference.  

Items in the home reading folder:  

Parent Letter

Home Reading Log

List of strategies for you to use while reading together

We thank you ahead of time for the support you are giving your child and the school.

Sincerely,  

Ryley Shaw

Kenneth D. Taylor School

Home Reading Strategies

1)    Make an inference/ prediction based on the title and cover of the book.

2)    Begin with a picture walk. Take a quick flip through the pictures. How do these picture connect to your inference?

3)    Students can begin to read aloud.

·      Stop to visualize (discuss the pictures you are seeing in your head while you read)

·      Stop to connect (what does it remind you of? Text to self, text to text, or text to world connections)

·      Stop to ask questions (what questions does the story make you wonder about?)

·      Stop to infer (what do you think might happen? Why might a character feel or act in a certain way?)

·      Stop for vocabulary (What can you do when there is an unknown word? Look for words within the word, look for morphographs, reread the sentences before and after, ask for help)

·      Look for transformations (How did the characters change? How did your thinking transform?)

4)    Summarize the main ideas from the story.

5)    Read the story again!