Monday, February 8, 2010
Print Awareness and Reading.
This is a nice video that outlines simple things parents can do that help support print awareness an beginning reading skills.
Friday, February 5, 2010
Parent Workshop
The following workshop will be given by Sally Grimes a reading and learning disabilities specialist who consults and provides professional development nationally. Sally has consulted to the Burlington Integrated Preschool and has asked that we invite our parents to this workshop as well. It should be an interesting and informative evening.
Early Childhood Workshop
Monday, March 1st 7:00-9:00 PM
Swampscott Middle School Library
Predicting and Preventing Reading Success
The Swampscott Public Schools is pleased to offer an opportunity for parents to learn more about what parents and other caregivers can do to promote vocabulary and other Pre-Reading skills. Sally Grimes, a reading and learning disabilities specialist who consults and provides professional development nationally, will be in Swampscott on Monday night, March 1.
Sally will discuss the major findings of the National Early Literacy Panel and describe exemplary pre-literacy practices that provide a strong foundation for K-3 reading instruction. She will describe the Panel’s findings that outline what we now know about predicting reading success and failure and suggest activities that parents and others can do to promote oral language, phonological processing and print knowledge. Sally will describe the “red flags” that can alert parents to reading and pre-reading difficulties. Handouts and resource information will be distributed.
Sally’s work is based on scientifically proven material and 35 years of exhaustive and sophisticated studies, including brain and eye movement studies and her decades of experience in a wide variety of settings, ranging from pre-school to graduate school and from the classroom to the clinic.
The material in the presentation will be woven into an overview of the state-of-the-art of Reading instruction K-3 and explain how the five components of Reading (Phonemic Awareness, Phonics, Fluency, Vocabulary and Comprehension) work together and are linked with oral language development.
We welcome all parents, teachers, librarians, teacher assistants, community workers, school board members, social workers, and others. We hope that you will participate in this great opportunity with Sally Grimes.
** Please note that this workshop is intended for adults only. Please make alternative arrangements for children.
Early Childhood Workshop
Monday, March 1st 7:00-9:00 PM
Swampscott Middle School Library
Predicting and Preventing Reading Success
The Swampscott Public Schools is pleased to offer an opportunity for parents to learn more about what parents and other caregivers can do to promote vocabulary and other Pre-Reading skills. Sally Grimes, a reading and learning disabilities specialist who consults and provides professional development nationally, will be in Swampscott on Monday night, March 1.
Sally will discuss the major findings of the National Early Literacy Panel and describe exemplary pre-literacy practices that provide a strong foundation for K-3 reading instruction. She will describe the Panel’s findings that outline what we now know about predicting reading success and failure and suggest activities that parents and others can do to promote oral language, phonological processing and print knowledge. Sally will describe the “red flags” that can alert parents to reading and pre-reading difficulties. Handouts and resource information will be distributed.
Sally’s work is based on scientifically proven material and 35 years of exhaustive and sophisticated studies, including brain and eye movement studies and her decades of experience in a wide variety of settings, ranging from pre-school to graduate school and from the classroom to the clinic.
The material in the presentation will be woven into an overview of the state-of-the-art of Reading instruction K-3 and explain how the five components of Reading (Phonemic Awareness, Phonics, Fluency, Vocabulary and Comprehension) work together and are linked with oral language development.
We welcome all parents, teachers, librarians, teacher assistants, community workers, school board members, social workers, and others. We hope that you will participate in this great opportunity with Sally Grimes.
** Please note that this workshop is intended for adults only. Please make alternative arrangements for children.
Monday, February 1, 2010
Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain
This week in the preschool we will be reading Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain. Take a few minutes to watch this video with your son/daughter and then ask them simple questions about what is happening in the story. Enjoy!
Helpful Hints For Conversing With Preschoolers
Here are a few suggestions to help promote understanding and language development when talking with your preschooler:
1. Go slowly and pause often
2. Get down at their level - sit on the floor and physically crouch down to encourage appropriate eye contact and ensure that your child is attending to you
3. Be positive and unhurried
4. Choose words carefully
5. Demonstrate and model new words
6. Ask for your preschooler to repeat or comment on what you have said
7. Reward small gains
8. Extend even the smallest comment made - ask questions or provide a return comment
9. Rephrase and respond to your child's comments or questions
10. Wait - provide your child with enough time to respond
11. Listen, listen listen!
Author unknown.
1. Go slowly and pause often
2. Get down at their level - sit on the floor and physically crouch down to encourage appropriate eye contact and ensure that your child is attending to you
3. Be positive and unhurried
4. Choose words carefully
5. Demonstrate and model new words
6. Ask for your preschooler to repeat or comment on what you have said
7. Reward small gains
8. Extend even the smallest comment made - ask questions or provide a return comment
9. Rephrase and respond to your child's comments or questions
10. Wait - provide your child with enough time to respond
11. Listen, listen listen!
Author unknown.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Oral Language and Beginning Reading Skills
Oral Language: Expanding Your Child's Vocabulary
By: West Bloomfield Township Public Library (2006)
Talking to your child helps expand vocabulary, develop background knowledge, and inspire a curiosity about the world – all of which help with learning to read! Here are some simple activities you can do at home to get your child ready to read.
What reading experts say
Reading and talking with children plays an important role in developing their vocabulary. Typically, more words are used in written language than in spoken language. The more you read to children, the larger vocabulary they will develop. Research has shown children learn new words by:
Hearing a word over and over.
Hearing words spoken by the important people in their lives: Mom, Dad, siblings, grandparents.
Hearing words in a meaningful context – during conversation at dinner, in the car, while playing and while reading.
"Rephrase and extend your child's words, ask a clarifying question (tell me more about the man you saw), model more complex vocabulary or sentence structure (yes, I see the tall skyscraper you built with lots of windows), and ask open-ended questions," says Susan Hall and Louisa Moats of Straight Talk About Reading.
What good readers know
Good readers have a diverse vocabulary. They ask questions when they are unclear about what a word means, they use the context of a conversation or the happenings in a book to decipher the meaning of unfamiliar words and they use varied vocabulary in referring to familiar objects (this bird is big, but this elephant is gigantic).
What parents can do to help children Grow Up Reading™
Create or learn songs to expand your child's vocabulary. Use songs to describe your daily routines, periodically adding new verses that include new vocabulary words.
Read stories such as The Three Bears or Three Billy Goats Gruff. Act out the stories using small, medium and large stuffed animals. Find other items in your home that are large, medium and small. Ask your child to classify the items according to size.
Play "I Spy" with your child using words that describe an object's position. ("I spy something on the carpet, in front of the couch, next to the dog.") Expand this activity by playing "Simon Says" using directional words. ("Simon says put your hand above your head.")
Keep a journal. Spend some time every night discussing your activities from the day. Introduce new vocabulary words by elaborating on the day's activities. Write down your child's impressions of the day.
Bonus Activities
"The Picky Puppet"
Using a favorite puppet, explain that the puppet is picky – he only likes things that start with a certain letter. For example, "he only likes things that start with the letter T." Give your child some examples of things that begin with the letter. Then have your child look around the house (or around the neighborhood during a walk) and tell you things that begin with that letter. Introduce a new letter for the puppet to be picky about each day.
When learning about writing letters of the alphabet, give your child many opportunities to write or trace letters in a variety of media. Use a sand table to trace letters, write letters in shaving cream or finger paint, make letters out of play dough and pipe cleaners.
Create a "spinning wheel" using two cardboard circles of different sizes and a brass fastener. On the outer wheel write uppercase letters; on the inner wheel write lower case letters. Punch holes in the center of each circle and fasten them together. Have your child spin the wheel to practice matching upper and lower case letters.
Make an alphabet caterpillar by writing each letter of the alphabet on a circle and having your child put the caterpillar together in alphabetical order. Attach two pipe cleaners to the "A" circle to make the caterpillar's head.
Great Books to Read
Alphabet books are useful because they:
Support oral language development
Help children learn letter sequence
Help children associate a sound with a letter
Can help children build vocabulary
(from Phonics from A to Z: a practical guide, Blevins, 1998)
The links below to Amazon.com are provided for your convenience. A portion of your purchase helps support Reading Rockets. Thank you!
Matthew ABC by Peter Catalanotto
Cowboy ABC by Chris L. Demarest
Dog's ABC: A Silly Story About the Alphabet by Emma Dodd
Alphabears: An ABC Book by Kathleen Hague
Toot & Puddle: Puddle's ABC by Holly Hobbie
Kipper's A to Z: An Alphabet Adventure by Mick Inkpen
What Pete Ate from A to Z by Maira Kalman
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin, Jr.
ABC T-Rex by Bernard Most
Miss Bindergarten Gets Ready for Kindergarten by Joseph Slate
So Many Bunnies: A Bedtime ABC and Counting Book by Rick Walter
This article came from Reading Rockets. Reading Rockets is an excellent resource for parents and teachers on reading skills.
http://www.readingrockets.org/article/15566 and past the following link for more information:
By: West Bloomfield Township Public Library (2006)
Talking to your child helps expand vocabulary, develop background knowledge, and inspire a curiosity about the world – all of which help with learning to read! Here are some simple activities you can do at home to get your child ready to read.
What reading experts say
Reading and talking with children plays an important role in developing their vocabulary. Typically, more words are used in written language than in spoken language. The more you read to children, the larger vocabulary they will develop. Research has shown children learn new words by:
Hearing a word over and over.
Hearing words spoken by the important people in their lives: Mom, Dad, siblings, grandparents.
Hearing words in a meaningful context – during conversation at dinner, in the car, while playing and while reading.
"Rephrase and extend your child's words, ask a clarifying question (tell me more about the man you saw), model more complex vocabulary or sentence structure (yes, I see the tall skyscraper you built with lots of windows), and ask open-ended questions," says Susan Hall and Louisa Moats of Straight Talk About Reading.
What good readers know
Good readers have a diverse vocabulary. They ask questions when they are unclear about what a word means, they use the context of a conversation or the happenings in a book to decipher the meaning of unfamiliar words and they use varied vocabulary in referring to familiar objects (this bird is big, but this elephant is gigantic).
What parents can do to help children Grow Up Reading™
Create or learn songs to expand your child's vocabulary. Use songs to describe your daily routines, periodically adding new verses that include new vocabulary words.
Read stories such as The Three Bears or Three Billy Goats Gruff. Act out the stories using small, medium and large stuffed animals. Find other items in your home that are large, medium and small. Ask your child to classify the items according to size.
Play "I Spy" with your child using words that describe an object's position. ("I spy something on the carpet, in front of the couch, next to the dog.") Expand this activity by playing "Simon Says" using directional words. ("Simon says put your hand above your head.")
Keep a journal. Spend some time every night discussing your activities from the day. Introduce new vocabulary words by elaborating on the day's activities. Write down your child's impressions of the day.
Bonus Activities
"The Picky Puppet"
Using a favorite puppet, explain that the puppet is picky – he only likes things that start with a certain letter. For example, "he only likes things that start with the letter T." Give your child some examples of things that begin with the letter. Then have your child look around the house (or around the neighborhood during a walk) and tell you things that begin with that letter. Introduce a new letter for the puppet to be picky about each day.
When learning about writing letters of the alphabet, give your child many opportunities to write or trace letters in a variety of media. Use a sand table to trace letters, write letters in shaving cream or finger paint, make letters out of play dough and pipe cleaners.
Create a "spinning wheel" using two cardboard circles of different sizes and a brass fastener. On the outer wheel write uppercase letters; on the inner wheel write lower case letters. Punch holes in the center of each circle and fasten them together. Have your child spin the wheel to practice matching upper and lower case letters.
Make an alphabet caterpillar by writing each letter of the alphabet on a circle and having your child put the caterpillar together in alphabetical order. Attach two pipe cleaners to the "A" circle to make the caterpillar's head.
Great Books to Read
Alphabet books are useful because they:
Support oral language development
Help children learn letter sequence
Help children associate a sound with a letter
Can help children build vocabulary
(from Phonics from A to Z: a practical guide, Blevins, 1998)
The links below to Amazon.com are provided for your convenience. A portion of your purchase helps support Reading Rockets. Thank you!
Matthew ABC by Peter Catalanotto
Cowboy ABC by Chris L. Demarest
Dog's ABC: A Silly Story About the Alphabet by Emma Dodd
Alphabears: An ABC Book by Kathleen Hague
Toot & Puddle: Puddle's ABC by Holly Hobbie
Kipper's A to Z: An Alphabet Adventure by Mick Inkpen
What Pete Ate from A to Z by Maira Kalman
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin, Jr.
ABC T-Rex by Bernard Most
Miss Bindergarten Gets Ready for Kindergarten by Joseph Slate
So Many Bunnies: A Bedtime ABC and Counting Book by Rick Walter
This article came from Reading Rockets. Reading Rockets is an excellent resource for parents and teachers on reading skills.
http://www.readingrockets.org/article/15566 and past the following link for more information:
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