Ideas to help
foster a strong reader at home:
ü Read for at least 20 minutes every night.
ü Have your child read to you often.
ü Encourage your child to use the reading comprehension strategies learned in class: ie. Skip the word and go back (use context clues), look for familiar small words in large words, look at picture, think about meaning.
ü Do not give your child the word right away every time.
ü If sounding it out right away doesn’t work prompt him or her to use a different strategy.
ü Make predictions before reading.
ü Stop often at different parts of the story to discuss meaning. Talk about the beginning, middle, and end as well as characters, setting, problem, and solution.
ü Play “I spy” with different parts of the story.
ü Have child retell story using his or her own words.
ü Practice writing a meaningful response to the story.
Ideas
to help foster a strong writer at home:
ü Make a mailbox for people in your family. Write letters back and forth to each other. (building confidence and risk taking skills)
ü Ask child to make a grocery list for the store.
ü Label things around the house for fun!
ü Make up stories and write them down.
ü After reading a story, write the beginning, middle, and end on a page and cut them up to make a puzzle. Challenge someone at home to put it together after reading it again!
Ideas
to help build mathematical skills at home:
ü Make a clock face with moveable “arms” out of oak tag. Practice telling time. Emphasize time to the half hour and hour.
ü Practice identifying coins and counting them.
ü Play store and price items around the house. Add up money needed.
ü Go to the grocery store with set amount of money and ask child what they can buy.
ü Make up number stories for each other to solve.
ü Practice fact families.
Other important skills to work on:
ü Following and giving multi-step directions
ü Asking appropriate questions after hearing a story.
ü Making eye-contact with a person who is speaking.
ü Commenting on what someone else is saying relating their ideas to yours.
ü Bringing background and experiential knowledge to reading and conversation.
ü Setting goals and expectations for oneself.
