Ways to Support Learning at Home
Home Reading Program ( Please note: The program will begin in January)
Until the Home Reading Program officially begins, please read with your child each night. There are many different ways you can make reading fun for your child. You can read to him/her first and then he/she reads the book to you. You and your child can alternate reading the pages. After reading, you can play find the keywords (i.e. find the page that has the word 'my' on it. Please also encourage your child to return his/her book daily so he/she can choose a new book to read with you.
The Reading Program is designed to help your child to learn the directionality of reading print and to become familiar with print. The Home Reading Books are very repetitive and help them with getting acquainted with some of their high frequency words. Helping them to learn and recognize these Kindergarten High Frequency Words will be very beneficial to them for their Grade 1 year. To help them practice their high frequency words, there is a key ring of words in their home reading book bag. These words are there for them to practice with you. Each week they will receive one or two more words to practice. The new words are words we focused on and worked on the week previous to receiving them on their key ring.
Letter and Sound Recognition
While reading with your child, this also presents a great opportunity to help reinforce their letter and sound recognition skills. It is important your child is able to recognize letters and identify the sound associated with each of them. This will help with his/her reading readiness and reading development.
1)You can use the book to play word/sound games. This would require you to name a word starting with a letter/sound and your child would use the book to find that word associated with the letter or sound you presented to them. This can also be done without the book during your everyday activities. It is a fun and engaging way for them to practice their recognition skills. Your child can be a letter detective!
2)Another way to practice their letter recognition is to cover a die with masking tape spots and print letters on each side. Your child can then roll a die to see what the letter of the day is. He/she can then roll a number die to see how many times that he/she has to print the letter and say the sound associated with it.
3) When you are reading a newspaper or your own book, have your son/daughter find a sight word he/she knows on the page.
4)I believe that working with your child or playing with your child is always more beneficial to their learning. With that in
mind, there are some great additional tools that can also help you with their learning. Leapfrog letter factory, talking words factory or
code word caper are great resources and can be borrowed from the public library. If you allow your child to go on the computer,
www.starfall.com is a wonderful, fun website for children.
There are so many ways for you and your child to make little games out of practicing the letters and sounds. It makes it fun for them and a bit more exciting for you!
Number Identification
Just like letter and sound recognition, number identification is also important. There are many different ways to practice their numbers.
1) Your child can be a number detective using a book or using environmental print. When you are out running errands or out for a walk, ask him/her to spot a specific number for you.
2) Ask your son/daughter what the date is on a calendar. We do this daily and hopefully he/she will remember from calendar time.
3) Play card games together. He/she can teach you some of the games we have learned in the classroom.
4) Play a board game together. This will provide practice for him/her to identify the dots on a die with how many spaces to move. It also helps with practicing his/her counting skills.
Encourage Creativity
When your son/daughter sits down to draw or construct a craft, let him/her explore his/her creativity. This is important to help your child build his/her imagination. When he/she is done drawing or constructing his/her creation, get your child to explain to you what it is and why he/she decided to create that picture/craft. Not only will your child get to develop a great imagination but telling and communicating with you on his/her creation helps with his/her oral language development. A simple, plain piece of paper can turn into his/her own little masterpiece that he/she will be proud of. In the classroom, the children are always so excited to draw and create their own stories at centre time and this will help bring that connection into the home.
I have many other tips for support that you can do at home to help reinforce the skills he/she has learned at school. If you would like more ideas, please contact me at the school or send me a quick message.
Until the Home Reading Program officially begins, please read with your child each night. There are many different ways you can make reading fun for your child. You can read to him/her first and then he/she reads the book to you. You and your child can alternate reading the pages. After reading, you can play find the keywords (i.e. find the page that has the word 'my' on it. Please also encourage your child to return his/her book daily so he/she can choose a new book to read with you.
The Reading Program is designed to help your child to learn the directionality of reading print and to become familiar with print. The Home Reading Books are very repetitive and help them with getting acquainted with some of their high frequency words. Helping them to learn and recognize these Kindergarten High Frequency Words will be very beneficial to them for their Grade 1 year. To help them practice their high frequency words, there is a key ring of words in their home reading book bag. These words are there for them to practice with you. Each week they will receive one or two more words to practice. The new words are words we focused on and worked on the week previous to receiving them on their key ring.
Letter and Sound Recognition
While reading with your child, this also presents a great opportunity to help reinforce their letter and sound recognition skills. It is important your child is able to recognize letters and identify the sound associated with each of them. This will help with his/her reading readiness and reading development.
1)You can use the book to play word/sound games. This would require you to name a word starting with a letter/sound and your child would use the book to find that word associated with the letter or sound you presented to them. This can also be done without the book during your everyday activities. It is a fun and engaging way for them to practice their recognition skills. Your child can be a letter detective!
2)Another way to practice their letter recognition is to cover a die with masking tape spots and print letters on each side. Your child can then roll a die to see what the letter of the day is. He/she can then roll a number die to see how many times that he/she has to print the letter and say the sound associated with it.
3) When you are reading a newspaper or your own book, have your son/daughter find a sight word he/she knows on the page.
4)I believe that working with your child or playing with your child is always more beneficial to their learning. With that in
mind, there are some great additional tools that can also help you with their learning. Leapfrog letter factory, talking words factory or
code word caper are great resources and can be borrowed from the public library. If you allow your child to go on the computer,
www.starfall.com is a wonderful, fun website for children.
There are so many ways for you and your child to make little games out of practicing the letters and sounds. It makes it fun for them and a bit more exciting for you!
Number Identification
Just like letter and sound recognition, number identification is also important. There are many different ways to practice their numbers.
1) Your child can be a number detective using a book or using environmental print. When you are out running errands or out for a walk, ask him/her to spot a specific number for you.
2) Ask your son/daughter what the date is on a calendar. We do this daily and hopefully he/she will remember from calendar time.
3) Play card games together. He/she can teach you some of the games we have learned in the classroom.
4) Play a board game together. This will provide practice for him/her to identify the dots on a die with how many spaces to move. It also helps with practicing his/her counting skills.
Encourage Creativity
When your son/daughter sits down to draw or construct a craft, let him/her explore his/her creativity. This is important to help your child build his/her imagination. When he/she is done drawing or constructing his/her creation, get your child to explain to you what it is and why he/she decided to create that picture/craft. Not only will your child get to develop a great imagination but telling and communicating with you on his/her creation helps with his/her oral language development. A simple, plain piece of paper can turn into his/her own little masterpiece that he/she will be proud of. In the classroom, the children are always so excited to draw and create their own stories at centre time and this will help bring that connection into the home.
I have many other tips for support that you can do at home to help reinforce the skills he/she has learned at school. If you would like more ideas, please contact me at the school or send me a quick message.