Reading is an important part of our Third grade curriculum. The more children read, the better readers they become. In our first class we do several activities to help your child become better readers and to learn to love to read
Spelling Word Lists - Your child will be given a spelling word list each week. The student should be able to write correctly each spelling word. Every Friday the students will take a spelling test
Reading Log - Reading at home is a wonderful opportunity for you and your child to snuggle up with a good book. Inside the BEE binder you'll find a reading log to record the books they read to you. The logs are returned at the end of each month. Every time your child reads a book every day, I will put a check in our reading chart. At the end of the school year the students who have a check for each month will receive a special surprise. Remember, the more children read, the better readers they become. To help your child decode unknown vocabulary words use these easy vowel rules.
Easy vowel rules to remember:
1. First try the short sound for the vowel.
2. Then try the long sound.
3. An "e" at the end of the word will make a vowel say its name (take).
4. When two vowels go walking the first one does the talking (goat).
5. One vowel in the middle of a word will usually be short (cat).
6. One vowel at the end of a word will usually be long (me).
7. Sometimes "y" tries to be a vowel and it either says "e" or "i" (baby and fly).
8. If you have tried all of the above rules try sounding out only the consonants (mother would be mthr).
The following reading strategies are the basis of Guided Reading. Parents and teachers may utilize them when reading with children.
♦Tell the child to look at the picture. You may tell the child the word is something that can be seen in the picture, if that is the case.
♦Tell the child to look for chunks in the word, such as it in sit, at in mat, or and and ing in standing.
♦Ask the child to get his/her mouth ready to say the word by shaping the mouth for the beginning letter.
Ask the child if the word looks like another word s/he knows. Does bed look like red?, for example.
♦Ask the child to go on and read to the end of the sentence. Often by reading the other words in context, the child can figure out the unknown word.
♦If the child says the wrong word while reading, ask questions like:
Does it make sense?
Does it sound right?
Does it look right?
Sight Word Readers - Sight word readers will be sent home as a homework assignment. Fifty to seventy-five percent of all words used in school books, library books, newspapers, and magazines are in the Dolch Basic Sight Word Vocabulary of 220 words. Sight words are just what the name implies. They are words that you must learn to say when you see it. Some of them follow the phonics rules, some of them don't. Sight words are those words that you must see 35 to 45 times before it is stored in long term memory. After your child has read the sight word reader to you please sign it and send it back to school with your child the next day. It will then be returned to your child as part of their sight word reader collection at home. Sight word readers will count as part of your child's effort grade. Remember, the more children read, the better readers they become.
Scholastic Book Orders - Once a month your child will be given the opportuntiy to order from the Scholastic See Saw Book Club. This is a good way to increase home libraries at a reduced cost. Every time we order from Scholastic we earn books for our classroom.
Library - Every two weeks your child will visit the library to check out books. Library books should be returned by the next week in order to check out again and to avoid library fines. Please help your child get in the habit of putting library books in their bookbags after they have finished reading them. Children will be given other opportunities to visit the library after books have been returned.