Reading Incentive
We have an exciting reading incentive program this year for the kindergarten students! Each month your child will receive a reading log where they can color in an object for each of the books you read with your child. As you read library books or books from your child’s home library ask your child to retell the story including as many details as possible. Your child will earn 1 sticker for every 5 books he/she reads. When you and your child read and discuss 75 books, your child will qualify for a special activity at the end of the year. We hope that all of you will participate in this program and help your children gain more advanced comprehension skills.
Please give your child a brief book introduction before reading a new book:
1. Read the title of the book. Have your child make predictions: “What do you think this book will be about?”
2. Before you begin reading, do a “book walk” through the book, and encourage your child to talk about what is happening in the pictures.
3. Briefly glance through the pages and ask your child to point out the popcorn words that she/he notices.
4. Introduce one or two unfamiliar but important new words that your child will encounter when reading the book. These should be common sight words such as was, went, this, he… words that you don’t think your child knows yet by sight. They should not be words that your child could figure out by looking at the picture, like “elephant”.
5. You are now ready to read the book together. Don’t jump right in if your child hesitates with a word. Give them a chance to try it on their own. It will be most helpful if you give your child prompts, like those listed below.
Reading prompts to give your child when he/she gets stuck on a word:
o Have your child reread the sentence and get his/her mouth ready for the first sound in the word.
o Ask your child to check the picture for a clue.
o Say, “What word would make sense there?”
o Ask, “Did that sound right?”
o Encourage your child to try and sound out the word if it is short.
Always have your child point underneath each individual word as you read these books together (do not allow your child to simply drag his/her finger along under the text). We call our index finger the “perky pointer” when we use it to read in the classroom.
Please give your child a brief book introduction before reading a new book:
1. Read the title of the book. Have your child make predictions: “What do you think this book will be about?”
2. Before you begin reading, do a “book walk” through the book, and encourage your child to talk about what is happening in the pictures.
3. Briefly glance through the pages and ask your child to point out the popcorn words that she/he notices.
4. Introduce one or two unfamiliar but important new words that your child will encounter when reading the book. These should be common sight words such as was, went, this, he… words that you don’t think your child knows yet by sight. They should not be words that your child could figure out by looking at the picture, like “elephant”.
5. You are now ready to read the book together. Don’t jump right in if your child hesitates with a word. Give them a chance to try it on their own. It will be most helpful if you give your child prompts, like those listed below.
Reading prompts to give your child when he/she gets stuck on a word:
o Have your child reread the sentence and get his/her mouth ready for the first sound in the word.
o Ask your child to check the picture for a clue.
o Say, “What word would make sense there?”
o Ask, “Did that sound right?”
o Encourage your child to try and sound out the word if it is short.
Always have your child point underneath each individual word as you read these books together (do not allow your child to simply drag his/her finger along under the text). We call our index finger the “perky pointer” when we use it to read in the classroom.