Dear Parents:
Some of you have been asking me, “Nicole, what can we do as parents at home to reinforce the literacy lessons that you are teaching my child in school?” That is a very good question and I am excited to be able to answer it for you. Following are some family friendly at-home literacy activities that you can do together to maximize your child’s education:
· Interactive Read Alouds
o Read aloud to children everyday
o Take time during reading to ask questions, make predictions and talk about the illustrations
o Do retellings of the story through role play, using puppets and drawing pictures
· Traveling Book Bags
o Include three or four books on a topic and supplemental artifacts such as a stuffed animal or puppet and a writing journal to write responses to the books
o Spend a week reading these materials and writing responses to them in the journal
o Then return them to school and I will fill them back up again!
· Family Book Clubs
o Choose books as a family that you will read and discuss together
· Online Reading
o Use computers together to search the internet for:
§ Information
§ Articles to read
§ Play literacy games
§ Use e-mail or instant messaging to communicate with relatives or friends
· Family Journals
o Write back and forth in special family journals
· Family Reading/Writing Nights
o Parents and children come together for a night of reading or writing books together
o We can organize one at the school if there is enough interest, please contact me
o Various reading-related presentations and activities include:
§ Readers theatre
§ Book talks
§ Book give aways
§ Book writing workshop
· Family Literacy Portfolios
o Parents save samples of child’s reading and writing in a portfolio and then share them with teachers during parent-teacher conferences
o Samples include:
§ Drawings with captions
§ Notes
§ Stories and poems
§ Handmade birthday cards
§ Craft projects
§ Lists of books read
§ Photocopies of covers of favorite books
All of these activities are great for extending literacy learning beyond the classroom. If you would like me to begin putting together traveling book bags or want to organize some Family Reading/Writing Nights, please contact me through any of the following avenues:
· Email: ndeopere@mydcts.edu
· Phone: (480) 879-4526
· Cell Phone or Text: (480) 343-7886
Sincerely,
Nicole Deopere
3rd and 4th grade intern
