Reading Skills

Reading is the foundation of all that your child will learn in school, not just this year, but in all the grades to come. Because reading is so important, I try to instill a love for reading by making reading fun and exciting. Students will read a variety of high interest reading materials that tie in with the reading textbook as well as materials that relate to what we are studying in Science, Social Studies and Math.

My goals are to expose your child to a wide variety of literature, to develop comprehension strategies, and to teach children how to read material that becomes increasingly harder.

Students need strong reading skills in order to learn in all other school subjects, such as science, history, writing, and even math. The third grade reading STAAR (State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness) requires students to read stories that are about 350 words long and correctly answer questions about what they have read. It also requires them to be able to use charts, graphs, maps, and other materials to gather information to correctly answer questions.

Guided Reading

We are using the myView Literacy program. Teacher-directed Guided Reading lessons focus on comprehension. Your child will learn about characters, setting, and plot. Your child will also learn how to organize and compare information learned from informational text.

During Guided Reading, comprehension strategies are explicitly taught in teacher-directed lessons, and are applied as students read the selections in the reading textbook. During the reading of every selection, strategic reading is modeled by the teacher and applied by the students.

Accelerated Reader

Every student participates in the Accelerated Reader program. Through this program, children read a variety of books on their reading level, which is established by taking the STAR Reading test during the first two weeks of school. Look for a copy of the test results to come home in your child's folder.

After reading any book carefully, the student takes a comprehension quiz on the computer. The quiz is scored and immediate feedback is given to your child. Points are accumulated for each correct answer and prizes are awarded for different levels of points. Of course, the greatest prize for your child is improved comprehension!

Reading Homework

Research has shown the importance of reading at home daily. Each student is expected to read at home for at least 20 minutes a night during the week. Your child can read independently, with you, or you may choose to read parts of the book to your child. The important part is to just READ!

Fluency

Fluency is the ability to read quickly, smoothly, and accurately. Fluent reading has been shown to increase comprehension. Fluent reading frees students to focus their mental energy on comprehension. The less mental energy used in trying to sound out the words, the more mental energy available to understand what is being read. Fluency is important to comprehension because the meaning of a written passage comes from understanding phrases, not individual words. Fluent reading is also expressive reading. Because reading with expression requires comprehension, children who try to read expressively must also try to comprehend.