Welcome to our Family Literacy Newsletter. We want to share information about reading development, reading instruction in Grand Erie, and ways you can support your developing readers at home.
Our board is working towards the goal of increasing the overall reading proficiency of all students, with a focus on students in grades 1-3, as early intervention is key in preventing future reading difficulties.
To support children’s reading development, we are using decodable texts. These texts are carefully designed to align with the phonics skills and high-frequency words that children have learned in class. They provide an opportunity for students to apply and practice their most recently acquired skills, encouraging them to sound out words rather than guess or rely on pictures. This helps consolidate phonics learning and supports children in becoming more accurate and fluent readers.
Once children have mastered phonics learning, all texts become decodable and they can move to reading texts chosen according to interest and topic. Reading texts that become increasingly complex will support children in learning vocabulary, expanding their background knowledge and applying comprehension strategies.
You may also be familiar with levelled readers, which are books assigned a difficulty level based on features such as word count, sentence structure, illustrations, and font style. While levelled texts may not always align directly with phonics instruction, they can still play a valuable role in supporting reading development. These books can be used to foster enjoyment of reading, build confidence, and provide exposure to a variety of genres and topics. Providing children with a variety of literary experiences can help to develop their love of reading.
When your child is stuck on a word, ask them to say each sound they can identify in the word in order from left to right (they may need help with some sounds, especially sounds that are made up of 2+ letters). Then have them blend the sounds together, saying the sounds as they move their finger along the word. This may take a few tries. When your child has to stop and sound out words, be sure to go back and reread the sentence to make sure they understand what it says (sounding out can be hard work).
If you are reading to your child, you can stop on words they are able to read or sound out and give them a chance to participate in the reading. Limit how much you do this, as being read to is a joyful experience.
Write your child notes including some words they can sound out.
Help you child find things to read about topics they find interesting or things they want to learn about.
Talk to your child about new words they read and help them understand or find the word meanings.
If your child gets stuck on a longer word, have them break the word apart into more manageable parts to sound out and then blend the parts together.
Have your child read out loud to you sometimes (even if they can read silently). This will help develop their fluency skills.
Literacy resources for families are available on the Grand Erie website. Here you will find information about the skills necessary for skilled reading and activities you can do at home to support your child’s development of these skills.
Check it out!