Wiley Blevin Website
Five Big Ideas in Reading
http://www.readingresource.net/teachingreading.html
Teaching reading IS rocket science and unfortunately the difficulty of learning to read and teaching it has been underestimated, one reason why many children develop reading problems.
The highest predictor of a child's reading comprehension level is their ability to decode text!
If one can understand the meaning of spoken language, they should be able to understand the meaning of written language. And the only way to be able to understand the meaning of written language is to be able to read it accurately and fluently.
Because reading comprehension is the ultimate goal of reading, we can place too much emphasis on its direct instruction. This usually happens at the expense of teaching phonemic awareness, alphabetic principal and oral reading fluency. A mistake we have witnessed repeatedly in education. While traditional comprehension activities are important when teaching reading, they will not have any impact on a child's comprehension unless the child is reading accurately and fluently. When teaching reading, focus on creating fluent decoding skills as they underpin everything that follows!
Teaching reading IS rocket science and unfortunately the difficulty of learning to read and teaching it has been underestimated, one reason why many children develop reading problems.
The highest predictor of a child's reading comprehension level is their ability to decode text!
If one can understand the meaning of spoken language, they should be able to understand the meaning of written language. And the only way to be able to understand the meaning of written language is to be able to read it accurately and fluently.
Because reading comprehension is the ultimate goal of reading, we can place too much emphasis on its direct instruction. This usually happens at the expense of teaching phonemic awareness, alphabetic principal and oral reading fluency. A mistake we have witnessed repeatedly in education. While traditional comprehension activities are important when teaching reading, they will not have any impact on a child's comprehension unless the child is reading accurately and fluently. When teaching reading, focus on creating fluent decoding skills as they underpin everything that follows!
Teach a Child to Read - Literacy Facts
10 Steps to Teaching Your Child to Read
Frequently asked questions about Phonics
BACK-TO-SCHOOL TRANSITIONS: TIPS FOR PARENTS
By Ted Feinberg, EdD, NCSP, & Katherine C. Cowan
National Association of School Psychologists
Getting a new school year off to a good start can influence children’s attitude, confidence, and performance both socially and academically. The transition from August to September can be difficult for both children and parents. Even children who are eager to return to class must adjust to the greater levels of activity, structure, and, for some, pressures associated with school life.
The degree of adjustment depends on the child, but parents can help their children (and the rest of the family) manage the increased pace of life by planning ahead, being realistic, and maintaining a positive attitude. Here are a few suggestions to help ease the transition and promote a successful school experience.
Before School Starts (To read the entire article, see: http://www.nasponline.org/resources/home_school/b2shandout.aspx)
National Association of School Psychologists
Getting a new school year off to a good start can influence children’s attitude, confidence, and performance both socially and academically. The transition from August to September can be difficult for both children and parents. Even children who are eager to return to class must adjust to the greater levels of activity, structure, and, for some, pressures associated with school life.
The degree of adjustment depends on the child, but parents can help their children (and the rest of the family) manage the increased pace of life by planning ahead, being realistic, and maintaining a positive attitude. Here are a few suggestions to help ease the transition and promote a successful school experience.
Before School Starts (To read the entire article, see: http://www.nasponline.org/resources/home_school/b2shandout.aspx)
Ten Tips on How Parents Can Support Teachers
It’s Back to School time and HotChalk is committed to making life easier for educators. Feel free to copy them for professional development sessions or post on your school or classroom homepage (with attribution, please, to HotChalk).
The above article can be found online at:
http://www.hotchalk.com/mydesk/index.php/back-to-school-tips/303-ten-tips-on-how-parents-can-support-teachers
- Get on the radar. Introduce yourself to your child’s teacher(s) at the beginning of the school year. Let them know you’re planning to be involved in your student’s academic life and you’re looking forward to ongoing communication.
- Establish the best method for quick contact. Ask the teachers about the best, most timely method for contacting them, and tell them how best to contact you, as well. Options might be email, text messaging, instant messaging, cell phone or home phone.
- Attend scheduled school events. Show your involvement by showing up at as many school events as you can, including back to school, open house, holiday events, PTSA meetings, and especially parent-teacher conferences.
- Volunteer. If possible, volunteer a few hours a week or a month in your child’s classroom. Other possibilities include chaperoning field trips, school dances, car washes, fundraisers or other events.
- Stay updated on your child’s progress. Ideally, you will be able to see your child’s homework assignments, grades, test scores and progress reports online via an education portal, learning management system, class web site or other digital system set up by the school or district. If this is not available, encourage the school administration to set up an easy to use digital resource, such as classroom web pages. Set up regular times to visit the school and chat with the teacher informally, or check in regularly with friendly emails or phone calls to see how your students is progressing and what you might do to support his or her learning.
- Share your expertise. Organize a phone or email tree to parents in your child’s class. Ask parents about their areas of expertise and see if they might be willing to donate some time to help out the school with any needs they might have. For instance, if they have technology skills, they might help them build a web presence. If they have writing skills they might send out regular parent newsletters with updates on what students are doing in class, and what is coming up.
- Talk to your child about responsible Internet practices. Every school should have an AUP (Acceptable Use Policy) that’s sent home for parents to sign. Be sure to ask your child about this document, and then sit down with him or her and go over the different elements of the policy to be sure you both understand what is acceptable and safe behavior online.
- Spearhead a tutoring or homework help program. Math tutors, writing coaches and adults or older students who can help walk students through their assignments can often be the difference between success and failure.
- Help expand classroom resources. Point your child’s teachers to Web resources they’ll find helpful. For instance, there are numerous online tutoring sites (such as Hotmath.com) that offer free or low-cost help in core subjects, and HotChalk.com offers thousands of free, eacher-tested lesson plans in all curricular areas.
- Raise funds. In today’s cash-strapped world of education, fundraising can be crucial to schools’ ability to purchase the education resources they need. Beyond traditional methods, such as bake sales, writing and winning grants can mean serious money for technology, digital resources and other 21st century teaching tools. For detailed guidelines on how to write successful grants, visit HotChalk.com and see the Funding 101 series.
The above article can be found online at:
http://www.hotchalk.com/mydesk/index.php/back-to-school-tips/303-ten-tips-on-how-parents-can-support-teachers
Interesting website with activities for you to try to understand how it is for a student with an attention or learning disability. Try it!
Resources for Parents
103 Things to Do Before/During/After Reading
Use Words to Teach Words
By: Reading Rockets (2010) Students who comprehend the most from their reading are those who know a lot about words. These students know about word prefixes, suffixes, word roots, and multiple meanings of words. Families can help develop word knowledge through simple conversations focused on words.
Students who comprehend the most from their reading are those who know a lot about words. These students know about word prefixes, suffixes, word roots, and multiple meanings of words. This knowledge expands their vocabulary, which helps when they encounter new words during reading. As students reach the upper elementary grades and the reading becomes more complex, word knowledge becomes even more important.
Families can help develop word knowledge through simple conversations focused on words. For example:
Start at the root Begin with a simple root word, such as push. Ask your child to come up with words they know that contain that word, such as pushing, pushed, pushover, push-up. Talk about how all these words have some shared meaning related to the word push.
Multiple meanings Many words have more than one meaning. While sitting at the dinner table, choose a word and brainstorm as many meanings and uses for the word as you can think of. Some words to start with: spring, frame, check, light.
Consider the prefix Numeric prefixes like bi- and tri- are a part of many words kids know and use. Discuss words like tricycle, tricep, triangle. All these words share the prefix tri-, which means three. Can they develop a list of words that begin with the prefix bi- (like bicycle and binoculars)? This gives you a great chance to introduce new words, like bicentennial, bicep, and biped. You can generate similar word lists with the numeric prefixes uni, octo, and cent.
Word learning and vocabulary growth takes time and patience. Don't expect your child to learn each new word after one conversation. True word learning happens after being exposed to words several times. We all learn about words throughout our lifetime. You're getting your child off to a great start by developing an early interest in words.
Students who comprehend the most from their reading are those who know a lot about words. These students know about word prefixes, suffixes, word roots, and multiple meanings of words. This knowledge expands their vocabulary, which helps when they encounter new words during reading. As students reach the upper elementary grades and the reading becomes more complex, word knowledge becomes even more important.
Families can help develop word knowledge through simple conversations focused on words. For example:
Start at the root Begin with a simple root word, such as push. Ask your child to come up with words they know that contain that word, such as pushing, pushed, pushover, push-up. Talk about how all these words have some shared meaning related to the word push.
Multiple meanings Many words have more than one meaning. While sitting at the dinner table, choose a word and brainstorm as many meanings and uses for the word as you can think of. Some words to start with: spring, frame, check, light.
Consider the prefix Numeric prefixes like bi- and tri- are a part of many words kids know and use. Discuss words like tricycle, tricep, triangle. All these words share the prefix tri-, which means three. Can they develop a list of words that begin with the prefix bi- (like bicycle and binoculars)? This gives you a great chance to introduce new words, like bicentennial, bicep, and biped. You can generate similar word lists with the numeric prefixes uni, octo, and cent.
Word learning and vocabulary growth takes time and patience. Don't expect your child to learn each new word after one conversation. True word learning happens after being exposed to words several times. We all learn about words throughout our lifetime. You're getting your child off to a great start by developing an early interest in words.