The Reading Railroad 022

Potential challenges

• First-grade readers come in all ability levels. Some are already reading chapter books, while others barely know the alphabet. Your child may be embarrassed if he/she feels that others in class are ahead in reading. Try to be positive and encourage your child! Everyone learns at his/her own pace!

• Your child may feel disappointed if he/she is placed in a low reading group. Continue to practice at home, but don’t pressure your child. A slower pace that is thorough and appropriate for your child can provide excellent results. Ask your child’s teacher if there are other supplemental activities for you to do at home.

How to support your child’s reading development

• Continue to read to your child. Select a broad array of books. Expand out from simple stories to include poetry and nonfiction that interest your child.

• Encourage your child to read to you. Help him/her select books that he/she can read accurately and fluently. These books should be fairly easy in order for your child to begin gaining confidence and feel like a reader.

• Help your child write to friends and relatives. Don’t correct his/her errors; most grandmas love the letters just as they are!

• Limit the amount of TV that your child may watch. Be selective about the programming he/she does watch.

Activities

• Make a set of flash cards for the 150 most commonly used sight words. Play the Pile-up game. Start with the first 10 words. Ask your child to read the first word. If your child gets it correct, he/she gets to keep the card; otherwise, it goes back into your pile. Show him/her the next word. If your child reads it correctly, he/she gets to keep it. The goal is to transfer the "pile" of cards from your hand to your child’s. As he/she improves, gradually increase the number of cards you use. You can remove cards once they are mastered. At any time, play with 25 cards or fewer.

• Make a game about spelling out three-letter words. First, make flash cards of the lowercase letters on 3x5 index cards. Then, cut out pictures of common items that are spelled with only three letters (for example, cat, bat, pen, cup, hen, dog, pot, bag, tot, lip, leg, etc.). Paste each picture onto a sheet of paper, and draw three boxes the size of the index cards below it. Ask your child to "spell" the names of the items by placing the letters in the appropriate boxes (for example, under the picture of a leg, your child will place the letters "l," "e," "g,"). If this is too hard, just ask your child to place the first letter in the first box. To make it easier at the beginning, place the appropriate three cards in front of your child before he/she attempts to spell out the word. Once your child has spelled the word, ask him/her to read it to you.

• Make a game about long and short vowels. On 3x5 index cards, write individual words that have short or long vowels (cat, bat, rag, make, rake, take). Start with the vowel "a." Make a picture card for the short-vowel column (cat) and one for the long-vowel column (cake). Let your child sort the cards into the appropriate column. Have your child read each word as he/she places it in the right column. After "a," practice "i" (pig, kite), then "o" (pot, rope), then "u" (cup, mule), then "e" (leg, tree).

Favorite read-to books

• Little House on the Prairie
  Little House on the Prairie (boxed gift set-9 books)
• The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
• The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
  The Wonderful Wizard of Oz: A Commemorative Pop-up

• Hop on Pop by Dr. Seuss
• Go Dog Go by P.D. Eastman
• Frog and Toad Are Friends by Arnold Lobel
• Little Bear by Else Homelund Minarik
• Hooked on Phonics; Hooked on Phonics Companion Books Series

• Bob Books series by Bobby Lynn Maslen
  Bob Books First! Level A, Set 1 [BOX SET]
  Bob Books Fun! Level A, Set 2 [BOX SET]
  Bob Books Pals! Level B, Set 2 [BOX SET]
  Bob Books Wow! Level C, Set 1 [BOX SET]

• Easy-to-Read books by Puffin
  Good Night, Good Knight
There are so many of them that I just listed one. For other titles, put in the search box "Easy to Read Puffin" without the quotes.

III. Site of the Month

The Learning Planet
The focus is on creating learning activities and tools which empower homeschool parents as well as classroom teachers.

IV. Book of the Month for Kids

365 Days of Creative Play: For Children 2 Yrs. & Up
Why are children so active? Because they want to learn! And here are 365 simple but stimulating activities for parents, grandparents and child care providers that can turn a child's need for action into chances for learning, by themselves, or with others in the family. Sometimes it's hard for adults to come up with the right activities: here is your cookbook!

V. What’s YOUR Story? – Tell us!

How have the ideas in the Reading Railroad has been helpful? >We would love to hear your success story and put it in the newsletter so other can benefit from your experience!
thegoodlife(at)comcast.net

VI. Past issues of the Reading Railroad

Back Issues of the Reading Railroad