WELCOME TO FAST START LITERACY Getting your students off to a FAST START in reading through an innovative at home program! Teri Trail Reading Support Teacher Waterloo Elementary

What is FAST START Literacy? It’s a fun, fast paced reading activity that improves fluency, sight word recognition, confidence and comprehension.

FAST START works because…….. Repeated reading of text improves reading performance. Reading short passages is one of the best ways to promote reading fluency.. Children experience reading words 4 ways…. Visually - They see the words. Auditorally - They hear the adult say the words. Orally - They say the words. Kinesthetically - They glide their finger under the words.

FAST START has two parts - reading the poem and working with the words. It only takes about minutes a day.

The Fast Start Routine Read the poem to your child. Sit together in a comfortable place. Hold the poem so you both can see it.

Read the poem to your child. Read it slowly and expressively. Glide your finger under the words as you read. Do this 2 or 3 times.

Read the poem with your child. Do this 2 or 3 times. Again, read it slowly and expressively. Glide your finger under the words or let your child do it.

Listen to your child read the poem by himself. Do this 2 or 3 times.

Be sure to tell your child what a good reader she is !! REMEMBER: READ TO…… READ WITH…….. LISTEN TO YOUR CHILD READ.

Then do an activity or two from the activity page.

What if…….? Your child gets stuck on a word? If your child struggles and gets the word right, show you are pleased. However, don’t let your child struggle for more than 5 seconds. If your child says the wrong word, just say the right word and make sure your child says the word right as well.

What if……? The poem is too long? If the poem is too long, you can read parts of the poem. Your child wants to do an activity from another word play set? That is okay. As long as the child is engaged in learning, any word play activity will do.

The poetry journal will always come home on Thursday. It will need to be returned to school on Tuesday.

Web Sites for Children’s Poetry The Children’s Literature Web Guide The Kids Page Poetry for Kids Giggle poems for Kids

References: Postlewaite, T.N. & Ross, (1992). Effective Schools in Reading: Implications for the Classroom. International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement. Rasinski, T. & Padak, N. (2001) From Phonics to Fluency: Effective teaching of decoding and reading fluency. Longman/Allyn & Bacon Publishers. Toppping, K. (1987). Paired reading: A powerful technique for parents to use. The Reading Teacher, 40 (7), U.S. Department of Education. Helping Your Child Become a Better Reader. Education Publishing Center, Washington, D.C.