Well let me tell you!

Reading actually has TWO parts!

1) Being able to “SAY” the words.

2) Being able to "REMEMBER" the words and what they meant!

Please keep this in mind for your at home reading practice.

If your child is reading word for word, then make them go back and re-read so they can hear what they are reading and that it makes sense, especially if they stumble a lot through the sentence.

They need to practice re-telling you what they read. This is called comprehension. If they can only “say” the words, they are not successfully reading. So don’t forget to have them tell you about what they are reading.

As I explained, the stronger they can read, the better off they will be when they have to read a test question and the answers they get to choose from. If what they read does not make sense, or they don’t understand what they just read, how will they be able to select the correct answer?

PRACTICE:

The books that you select for your child to read should be ones that they can that are not so hard they are struggling on every third word. If the book is too hard your child will only be practicing "saying" the words. If the book is just right they will be able to use both skills at the same time

Reading a book over and over?- SURE! You bet!   This will strengthen their FLUENCY! I call it their story voice where they practice reading with inflection and paying attention to the punctuation of the story as well. This is great practice!

All of the public libraries have lists of AR books and the levels of the books. If they are unable to assist you with that information, as always please feel free to request help from me! The better quality of practice at home you do, the stronger your reader will become!

Here are some questions you can ask your child as they read:

Questions for Author’s Purpose

(Why the book was written!)

“Why did the author write this selection?”

“The main reason someone would read this story is to…”

(What is the main reason someone would read this story?)

  “You can tell this is NOT a _____ because…”

(How can you tell that this is NOT a _____?)

  “You can tell this is ______ because …”

(How can you tell that this is _________?)

 “The purpose of this selection is to …”

(What’s the purpose of this selection?)

 “The author tells about (Maria Mitchell) by giving you facts about her life.  So that would make this selection _______.”

(How does the author tell you about (Maria Mitchell)?  In that case, what would this selection be?)

   “What kind of story is this?”

  “You can tell that this is NOT a true story because…”

(How can you tell that this is NOT a true story?)

 “The author most likely wrote this passage/poem/selection to …”

(What do you think is the most likely reason that the author wrote this poem/passage/selection?)

  “This passage would most likely be found in …”

(Where would you most likely find this passage?)

  Is this fiction or nonfiction?  Prove your answer.

 “The author probably wants the reader to …”

(What do you think the author probably wants the reader to do after reading this selection?)

  “You can tell that this selection is ____ rather than _____ because….

(How do you know that this selection is _____ rather than ____?)

  “The author entertains and informs the reader by …”

(How does the author entertain/inform the reader?)

“How does the sentence/paragraph ____ add to the author’s purpose?”

“You can tell that this selection is a poem because …”

(How can you tell that this selection is a poem?)

“You can tell that this selection is a play because …”

(How can you tell that this selection is a play?)