Welcome Parents and Guardians of my Reading Class,
What a fun and rewarding job it is to teach your children! Most of them are responsible, bringing in homework, listening and following directions in class, and have many wonderful comments in class. So far the classwork, homework, and tests for both spelling and reading are very good.
But the spelling words will get much harder. Dr. Buys requests that spelling words be learned at home each week, with very little class time spent on practicing spelling. Please work with your child 10- 15 minutes each night. In fact, in my first Reading letter to you, I requested that spelling homework include writing the words 5 times each every night. Please send to school any of this practice you do with your child at night. That will let me know that indeed your child is working hard in this area.
The BEST way to help your child become a better reader is to have your child read 15 minutes (at least) every night. Vary the activity: child reads to you or a sibling, you read to child/children, talk about what you've read, talk about what you're reading (newspaper, magazine, novel, comics, etc.), have your child write 4-5 sentences about what s/he has read or what you've talked about and then read that work to you or another person. Use your imagination. Grandparents and uncles and aunts would be excellent resources for helping you in this area.
We're rapidly approaching the end of the first theme in our reader. Homework for 9-21 will be a review of the skills in Theme 1. This HW is due on 9-24, with the test on Friday, 9-28 (same day as school pictures are taken).
Please keep a folder at home for your child's reading for spelling list, vocabulary list, and the cover letters of all homework which lists important skills covered each week. I return the homework each week, after we go over some of it in class. Some of the homework, especially the pages on comprehension (understanding) and grammar would be good review for the Theme test. I will also return the review HW before we take the test.
Look for monthly updates on this link.
9-13