Welcome to the Kindergarten Parent University Hunters Creek Elementary School September 25, 2012

What will we discuss? Strategies to use with your child before, during and after reading Kindergarten grading policies and expectations in reading, writing, and math

Strategies Used by Good Readers Early Strategies: Directional Movement: Reading words in the correct order (Left to right). One to one matching: putting finger under each word while reading. Hearing sounds in words: identifying small parts of big words. Using pictures and story clues to identify unknown parts.

Strategies Used by Good Readers Advanced Strategies: Self monitoring: Self correcting and indentifying unknown words by using multiple cues Knowing what to do at difficulty (using strategies) Phrasing and reading fluently: Reading the punctuation Putting it together like talk Reading progressively harder materials with less support. Identifying and understanding the meaning of high frequency words.

The ABC’s of Reading With Your Child Remember…… The purpose of reading is to make meaning. Reading with your child should be a happy time. Never do anything for your child the he/she can do for him/herself.

Before Reading……… Before you read, talk about the title and the cover. Take a “book walk” …. Read the introduction at the beginning of the book aloud. Look through the pictures together (picture walk) so that your child can see what happens in the story before reading the words. Make predictions: Ask “What do you think the story will be about?” or “What do you think might happen in the story?” Comment on how interested you are to learn what does happen in the story.

While Reading…… Let your child touch the words and read the rest of the story. Give him or her time to figure out the new word. As your child reads have him or her slide their finger under each word to flow the sweep of the text. Remember to wait until your child has read the complete sentence before helping him/her solve a word. If your child comes to an unknown word wait about 5 seconds for your child to use what he/she knows to figure out the word. It is important to give your child time to self correct. If your child gets stuck on a word you might say, “Try something. Look at the picture. What clues does the picture give about what’s happening. What makes sense?” (Reading Strategies Card)

Reading Strategies Card

Always praise your child Always praise your child. Praise what he or she reads correctly, and praise good tries too! “WOW!” You were able to stretch out that word.” “Yes, that’s one of your sight words from your weekly poem!” “I like the way you took time to think about the word, connecting it to what’s happening in the picture!” “Great job figuring out that word. That’s what good readers do!”

After reading …… When you finish a book, talk about it! Think back to the predictions made before the book was read. Did he/she correctly predict any of the story? Discuss the story elements --- characters, setting, important happenings, problem/solution, main ideas, theme. “What was you favorite part? Character? “What would you tell someone about this story who never read it before?”

Good Beginnings Never End…. Give your child lots of chances to read the story again and again. Rereading is very good practice. The more your child reads, the more confident he or she will become. Read every night for at least 15 minutes. This is the key to successful reading. It is called fluency.

Kindergarten Report Cards Kindergarten students will receive a report card about a week after the quarter ends. Check your school calendar for exact dates. Your child will receive either an O—on grade level, B—below grade level, or A—above grade level rating on the report card for reading, writing, math, and word study. Your child will also be given an S—satisfactory, or N—not satisfactory for art, music, P.E., several work habits, and conduct. For the first quarter, your child will only receive the S or N ratings and will not receive grades for reading, writing, math, and word study. We will hold individual parent-teacher conferences instead.

Beginning Assessments We have completed the first assessments that are required at the beginning of the year—Letter Knowledge and Print Concepts. Print Concepts include things like finding the front of the book, pointing to the first or last word on a page, knowing the difference between a word and a letter, pointing to words as the teacher reads, etc. There are 16 questions that we ask your child AND…

Print Concepts …because of the new standards, your child was already supposed to know at least 13 of these, or he/she is considered at-risk of failing!!! These standards are new this year and we are working hard to get your child up to the new standards. Even though many children came in “at-risk,” we are certain that they have drastically improved and will re-assess the students in early October.

Reading/Book Levels By January, your child should be reading at a level C. This is reading the words AND retelling the story. By May, your child should be reading at the level D (Non-fiction). Are these high goals? Yes! But with your help, they are very attainable. Please help by reading to your child.

Letter Knowledge The letter knowledge assessment tests your child on letter recognition. We also ask for the sound the letter makes and a word that begins with that letter Students need to get at least a 25/54 (all upper and lowercase, plus g and a) by January. Most students will know all by January. First assessments have already been completed and will be assessed at least quarterly.

Phonological Awareness Assessment Your child will need to: match rhyming words match words that start with the same sound match words that end with the same sound Count the number of syllables in a word Count the number of sounds in a word (wet, w-e-t, there are 3 sounds in wet) Blend word parts (m-at = mat) Segment word parts (mat = m-at)

Dictated Sentence In this assessment, the teacher reads two sentences, one word at a time, and the students need to write down what they hear. By the end of the year, the students should be able to correctly write many high frequency words and at least the beginning and ending sounds of unfamiliar words.

High Frequency Words By January, your child should know at least 15 sight words. The end of the year benchmark is 25 words. The more sight words that students know, the more independent they can be as readers.

Handouts We know this is a lot of information and have provided a few handouts for you. Please contact your child’s teacher with any concerns and look forward to receiving information about setting up the 1st quarter conference.

Questions If you have any questions or concerns now, or as the year goes on, please ask your child’s teacher. Thank you for coming! You are a very important part of our Kindergarten Team!