TIPS FOR BECOMING A FABULOUS READER: 
* Great readers read EVERY DAY.

Get into the habit of reading for at least 15 minutes every night before bed.
* Start a book club with your friends or family!  

Agree on the pages that should be read each day and discuss at lunch or dinner :)
* While reading, keep a mental movie going in your mind. 

If the movie stops or gets confusing -- go back and reread.
* Read with a buddy!  Younger brothers, sisters, cousins,

or neighbors LOVE to be read to!

• Read to and with your child on a daily basis
• Discuss stories with your child
• Help your child find a quiet and special place to read, write and practice spelling
• Take your child to the local library
• Practice word wall words each daily
• Model good reading and writing habits- take time to read and write every day

The Reading Program:

Shared Reading
     During Shared Reading the teacher models (using think alouds) the habits, skills, and strategies proficient readers use to understand and enjoy reading. Each instructional unit covers one of the identified habits of proficient readers, so students learn to:
     *See themselves as readers
     *Make sense of text
     *Use what they know
     *Understand how stories work
     *Read to learn
     *Monitor and organize ideas and information
     *Think critically about books

Guided Reading
     Guided Reading lessons are designed to be used with small groups to address specific reading skills and strategies.  Guided reading allows me to instruct small groups of students with similar learning needs, using a text that is carefully matched to their current instructional needs. I provide direct instruction in reading skills and strategies and gather informal assessment information by listening to students read and discuss text.  
    I share questions and activities to help students activate and use prior knowledge, build background knowledge, make connections and predictions, set a purpose for reading, preview vocabulary, and explore a featured reading skill.  As students read independently, I use prompts that provide support. After reading, students revisit the featured reading skill and discuss the text.  Each lesson will usually include some type of activity to extend and/or reinforce one of the reading skills.

The Writing Program:

     The writing program supports and extends the strategies taught in the Shared Reading program,  and relies on real literature to model writing and highlight techniques used by published authors.  I work with the whole class to model the practices, skills, and strategies proficient writers use to express themselves and communicate in a variety of genres.  Students then work independently or in small groups to reinforce and extend what they've learned. 
     Each unit of the writing program focuses on a single genre of writing, for example, narrative writing.  Throughout the program, students use the writing process to generate ideas or topics to write about, plan their writing, write drafts, revise, edit, and publish their work.  They have frequent opportunities to work together to practice what they've learned and to share their writing.