Reading

Reading groups
We have been really enjoying our book for reading. On Thursday the monkeys reading group came across a book about volcanoes. This sparked an interest by everyone in the classroom so we looked at volcanoes more closely. With the help of youtube and national geographic we found out a lot more about volcanoes. We would really like to make our own volcano so we are on the hunt for chicken wire and a wooden plank to build our volcano on. If anyone knows where we could get chicken wire from please let me know.

We are VERY excited to make our own volcano and make it explode!

 The monkeys reading intently

 Watching a youtube video about volcanoes.

The book about volcanoes. 

Library corner
We love our library corner! Often in our spare time we like to grab a book and a chair and read it to the fish in our fish tank or sometimes we like to quietly read to ourselves.

It is a lovely place for us to relax and get absorbed in a good book!

Tips for guiding your child during reading

"Children are made readers on the laps of their parents."

—   Emilie Buchwald

Dear Parents and caregivers,

Becoming a fluent, effective reader is a highly important skill for your child to acquire. The quote above reminds us the important role that you play in your child’s reading.

10 minutes before bedtime or just before dinner, I encourage you to take the opportunity every day to listen to your child read. This re-enforces teaching and learning that occurs in the classroom.

When you read with your child, it is important that you encourage them to work out words they don’t know by themselves. You can encourage the use of strategies taught in class by getting them to:

Use the picture-Encourage your child to look at the picture to work out the word. Give them plenty of time to figure out the word.

Sound out the letters-Encourage your child to look at the beginning sound and the ending sound. Once the child has worked out the word it is a good idea to get them to reread the entire sentence in order to achieve fluency and understanding of the text they read. 

Look for blends, chunks or words-Knowing your blends makes reading so much easier. While our main focus isn't on blends in year 1, you can start getting you child to notice and practice blends they come across in their reading. 

One-to-one pointing: If your child struggles in their reading remind them to point to each word as they read. While the child is able to read the words confidently, sometimes children loose track of where they get up to. 

This is an excellent and exciting opportunity for you to be a part of your child’s reading development as you get the satisfaction of watching them grow!

If there is anything your have questions about or are not sure of, please don’t hesitate to e-mail me or come in and ask me.

Kind Regards,

Joy Kraan