Reading Success at Home! Indian Hill’s First Grade Team Welcomes You!

Shared Reading looks like ??? Where? –Anywhere that is comfortable At bedtime tucked into bed On a comfy couch or chair At the park, in the library, at Grandma’s house How? –Limit distractions! Quiet – a great time to turn off electronics Focused attention of child and adult When? –Anytime! –Everyday! –The more often, the better Why? –Research shows how quality time spent reading at home each day helps improve reading performance, increase success at school, and develop the life-long love of reading.

Shared Reading with your child is ??? An easy and fun way to help your child increase their reading ability An opportunity to ‘take a break’ together and relax A great time to share ideas – get to know what/how your child thinks An experience that you will both look forward to each day A time for your child to be the center of attention (who doesn’t love that )! Thoughts? Challenges? Other ideas?

Shared Reading

How?? Begin by talking! –Explore the cover of the book –Talk about the title – make predictions –Picture walk through the book Talk about words that might fit the topic/story –  Vocabulary! Discuss what they think will happen, ask questions about why they think so – what are their reasons –  Critical Thinking! –Read story – use strategies to figure out unfamiliar words (bookmarks & poster in resources) –  Reading Fluency and Word Decoding! –Use Questioning Strategies to develop ‘thinking while reading’ –  Comprehension and Understanding!

Decoding – Figure out unfamiliar words! Students use strategies to figure out (decode) unfamiliar words! Practice each one while reading! Don’t forget to reread! –Get them in the habit of rereading sentence for understanding

Questioning – Thinking about reading! Talk about the book! Pause, ask questions, respond Check for understanding by using questioning bookmarks for each level –Questions get more detailed and thoughtful as reading level and text difficulty gets higher

Talking Points while reading Connect to real-life experiences whenever possible Talk about unfamiliar words – use similar words to explain meaning Refer to pictures/illustrations (and captions in non-fiction/true books) Make predictions/ask how the story might change if one thing were to change Have child retell the story (fiction) or ‘teach’ you (non-fiction) about what they read

Shared Reading Ideas in Practice!

Other KEY ideas! Make sure that text is at an appropriate level –5 finger test – student holds up five fingers and reads a page of their book choice. One finger goes down for every ‘too hard’ word. Count fingers left at the end of the page. One or two fingers down – good choice book Three, four, or five fingers down – too hard book Fluency! Key to good comprehension –Student must practice reading aloud everyday –Good reading sounds like a conversation – smooth and flowing without word-by-word reading Read with expression! –Encourage children to use ‘fun’ voices and expressive reading to create characters and do the same when its your turn to read!

Include ALL children for fun and learning! Even the youngest children love to participate in shared reading –Help them be rock-star ready for school! –Choose a story of appropriate length –Let each child choose a favorite book –Use the same strategies – modify for age/interest –Stamina increases over time! –Older students (even first graders!) enjoy reading to younger brothers and sisters – what a great way to get even more reading practice!

Encourage children to… Choose the right books! Be a word detective – crack the code and discover the mystery! Talk about what is being read! Make connections – to real-life experiences, to other books, to the world! Reread, Reread, Reread!

Move to Assisted Reading as they become more proficient Use with: More fluent readers who use good expression while reading Students with a good knowledge of high frequency words