Parent Tips:CCSD Summer Reading Club 2012

Guide for Student Success in School

Sponsored by: Title 1

Topics

• Parent Involvement• Academic Readiness• Social Readiness• Independence• Listening and

Speaking• Play• Active

• Reading to Infants and Toddlers

• Reading to K-3rd

• Reading 4th-6th

• Reading to all• Homework• Conferences• Questions to ask my

child

Parent Involvement

• You are your child’s first teacher.• Talk, Talk, Talk to your child!!!• Instill a love of learning.• Be a partner with the teachers.• Monitor homework.• Volunteer to be a guest reader, parent helper or PTO member.• Communication is key: Read and respond to newsletters and

information sent home.• Plan to attend the Title I Parent Conference – Nov. 7• Know your child’s ThinkCentral Account info.• Create a Parent Portal Account.

Academic Readiness

• Read to your child daily and ask them about what you read.

• Help your child to learn to write their name.• Work with your child on puzzles and games that

require counting and problem solving.• Let your child scribble, draw, write, cut and paste.• Sing songs, rhyming and ABC song. Work with

letter magnets.• Talk about the sights and sounds of your day.

Social Readiness

• Set rules and give consequences for breaking them.• Establish regular mealtime and bedtime routines.• Encourage play and talk with other children.• Encourage your child to consider the feeling of

others.• Model and discuss positive ways for your child to

express his or her feelings.• Discourage hitting, screaming, and other negative

behaviors.• Show your child he/she is loved each day.

Independence

• Make sure shoes and clothing are easy for children to buckle and fasten on their own.

• Let your child get dressed and put shoes on by him or herself.

• Start allowing them to do simple chores like picking up toys or helping to set the table.

• Let your child work independently on puzzles.

Listening and Speaking

• Listening and speaking are the first steps to reading and writing.

• Have regular conversations with your child.• Encourage your child to listen when others are speaking.• Answer your child’s questions even if the answer may be

“NO!”• Help your child to learn and use new words.• Model the language you want your child to use.• Write notes to your child.• Help your child to write letters to friends and family

members.

Play

• Children need a variety of toys for dress-up, make believe and imitation.

• Help your child learn to take turns while playing with others. Try having a night where you play board games.

• Give your child opportunities to play with other children their age.

Active

• Aside from sleeping, children should not be inactive for longer than one hour at a time.

• Limit TV and video game playing to no more than 1-2 hours a day.

• No TV in their room.• Be active together as a family.

Reading to Infants and Toddlers

• Read with expression and different voices for the characters.

• Use pictures for vocabulary development to talk with your child about what is known.

• Encourage your child to ask questions by modeling a question and possible answer. “I wonder what is going to happen next?” “I think …what do you think?”

• Make reading a habit.• Let them choose their own books.• Read stories again and again!!

Reading to K-3rd

• Keep reading to your child even though they can read. Choose a book that is too difficult for them to read alone.

• Encourage your child to make predictions and connections throughout the story.

• Talk about which types of stories your child likes best. Have them explain their reasons for their preference.

• Talk about favorite authors and help them find other books by the same author.

• Take turns reading the story together. Do not correct small mistakes that don’t change meaning.

• Talk about what happens at the beginning, middle, and end.• Have fun! The most important thing you can do is show that

you enjoy and value reading!

Reading 4th-6th

• Take turns reading a book together.• Ask your child to compare the book to another.

How are the characters the same…different?• What part of the story did you like best and why?• Did you like the ending? Why or why not?• How does this book compare to others you have

read by the same author?• How was the mood created? Through words…

pictures?

Reading to all

• Set a good example. Read every day at home even if it is not a book.

• Make reading fun-a time when you look forward to spending time together.

• Access books and other materials from your local library.

• Share with your child’s teacher what their favorite type of book is to read.

• Ask the school for reading material.

Homework Dos

• Establish a routine.• Provide a quiet, well-lit space.

• Encourage, praise, advise, and supervise.• Take breaks.• Check work for accuracy, completeness,

and neatness.

Homework Don’ts

• Do the work for them.• Allow them to make excuses for incomplete or sloppy

work.• Change, criticize, or belittle the teacher’s assignment.• Allow them to skip an assignment because they don’t

like it.• Be involved in so many non-school activities that there

is no time for homework and play.• Relieve the child of the responsibility of returning the

work to school.

Conferences

• Start with a positive attitude. How can we work together to help my child achieve?

• How can I help my child at home?• Exchange information, the more we know, the better off we

are.• Be Specific. Bring with you any work that is of concern.• Take notes.• Support yourself. If you are not confident about

communicating, bring someone with you.• Leave with a plan in place to help your child succeed.

Questions to ask my child

• Tell me about the best part of your day.• What was the hardest thing you had to do today?• Did any of your classmates do something funny?• Tell me about the books you read.• Who did you play with? What did you play?• What’s the biggest difference between this year

and last year?• What rules are different at school than at home?• Can you show me something you learned or did

today?

Web Sites

• http://www.kn.att.com/wired/fil/pages/listcompreheta.html• http://guest.portaportal.com/flewis2 (Reading)• http://guest.portaportal.com/flewis (Math)• http://www.wordville.com• http://professorgarfield.com• http://www.storyit.com• www.thinkcentral.com• http://www.abcya.com/• www.starfall.com• http://primarygamesarena.com• http://www.readingbear.org/• http://www.theschoolbell.com

Thank you for sharing your son/daughter with us this summer!

• Kindergarten• Mrs. Lyn Geiger• Mrs. Pam Porter

• Grade 1• Mrs. Jennifer Simpson• Mrs. Melonie Courson• Ms. Danielle Hohmann

• Grade 2• Mrs. Lacey Hogue• Mrs. Phyllis Smith• Mrs. Cindy Zuccaro

• Summer Reading Club Coordinator• Mrs. Stacy Gjovik

• Elementary Curriculum Director• Dr. Ann Noonen