First and Fourth Grade Buddies-Out of This World!

This afternoon in Mrs. Harlow's ELA class we journeyed down to First Grade for a meeting with our Reading Buddies! First Grade is learning about the solar system, and we were happy to help.  Each pair of buddies created a model of the Earth, Moon, and Sun as well as a labeled diagram of the planets.

    Brendon and Juliana pose with their model of the Earth, Moon, and Sun.  Nice teamwork!

    Jennifer and Asya used a book to ensure that their planet labels were accurate. Very resourceful!

Having Fun with Organizing to Improve Comprehension

With the start of a new year, I always feel the urge to organize the clutter around my house.  If you are looking for another reason to get organized, chew on this: categorizing everyday objects is a great way to improve your child's comprehension.  In fact, before teaching kids to determine the main idea and details of text, teachers often start with categorizing words and objects.  

Try This at Home!

Does your child have a huge mess of Legos?  Try categorizing the Legos in more than one way: by color, shape, size, use etc. How about doll clothes?  These could be organized by color, season, skirts, pants, etc. The kitchen is also full of items that can be categorized from types of food, to utensils, and beyond!  

Things Organized Neatly

Below I have featured a few photographs from a website created by Austin Radcliffe titled, Things Organized Neatly.  The photographs featured on this website feature aesthetically pleasing arrangements of everyday objects.  In some of the photos, everyday objects are categorized in unique ways.  I hope that enjoy browsing these images with your family- they may even inspire you to organize your clutter in a new, beautiful way!

Finding Your Child's Next Favorite Book

This week our book fair will be open December 14th-18th in the school library.  As you browse books with our without your child, keep in mind these simple tips for previewing and selecting books that are sure to be a hit.

Will the book be an interesting and enjoyable read? Think about text features such as the title, table of contents, back or inside cover synopsis, illustrations/photographs to determine if the book will interest your child!  Genre is important to consider as well.  

Use the "Five Finger Rule" to determine if the book is an appropriate level for the reader:

• Have the reader open up to any page in the book and begin reading.
• Hold one finger up for each "tricky" word that the reader encounters.
• If there are 0-2 fingers up, this book may be too easy for the reader.
• 3-4 fingers up, this book is probably a "Just Right" for for the reader.
• 5 fingers up, it's likely this book will be frustrating for the child to read.

Consider Read Alouds: If your child is interested in a book, but it doesn't pass the "Five Finger Test"  consider selecting the book to read aloud  and discuss with your family.  Kids (and adults!) of all ages benefit from listening to books read aloud and having rich conversations about text!  

A special thank you to our librarian Rachel Small and her amazing team of parent volunteers for organizing the Scholastic Book Fair!  Check out Rachel's blog post about the book fair .

Great Gifts That Develop Word Consciousness!

Families that promote word consciousness encourage children to be curious about and aware of words. Word Play is a wonderful way to have fun with word consciousness.  Keep reading for gift ideas that will get your family excited about words!

Bananagrams is one of my favorite anagram games.  The winner is the fastest player to create a word grid with all of their letter tiles.  Pairs in Pears and Appletters  are also terrific word games created by the same company.

Originally created by a busy mom of seven, Namits- The Game of Think is the perfect gift for the family on the go!  Kids love listing as many related words as possible to the topic cards.

Featuring a double sided board, Scrabble Junior can adapt to fit your child's readiness level.   

And of course my favorite gift of all... BOOKS!  Children expand their vocabulary when they incidentally encounter new words in text. The Mitten by Jan Brett is one of my seasonal favorites, but the best gift for any kid is a book they will fall in LOVE with!

If you are interested in learning more about word consciousness check out this blog post, Creating Word Conscious Kids.

I am thankful for... Reading Buddies!

Today in Mrs. Harlow's ELA class we visited our First Grade Reading Buddies!  During the visit students worked with their buddies to create "I am thankful for..." turkeys.

Here is one of my favorites!  

Joan  and Christine are thankful for education, their teacher, family, food, and helpful friends.

And of course we had time for reading too!

How to Buzz About Books as a Family

In school we buzz about books to give students an opportunity to talk about what they are reading.  It's a great way to build excitement about reading and to develop speaking and listening skills.  The phrase "buzz about books" came from the audible buzz you hear in a classroom when many students are eagerly chatting about books.

At home, buzzing about books is an opportunity to share enthusiasm for reading as a family.  Your child may talk about book that they are reading in school or at home.  It's also a chance for parents and caregivers to chat about something that you've read recently.  What's that you say... you don't read?  Don't fret!  You can talk about a magazine or newspaper article, an email or letter from a friend, a recipe, or even a comic strip.  Reading is a part of our everyday lives.

Here are our useful tips for buzzing about books as a family:

• pick a time
• ask questions 
• have your book with you so you can refer to it if needed
• take turns talking
• have fun!

Here's a video clip of two Fourth Grade students buzzing about books. Our apologies- the audio is tough to hear.  Thanks Addison and Anastasiia for letting me listen in!

First Post

Welcome to the Memorial School Reading Room Blog! 

Our hope is that this blog will encourage families to read and learn together.  On this blog we hope to share information with families that will help them support their child’s reading growth.  We’ll also be posting videos and photos of Memorial Readers in action.  

Be sure to sign up for email notifications so that you can receive updates from the Memorial Families Read Blog.

Stay tuned for our next post... How to Buzz About Books as a Family!