*A strong home support system is essential in helping children succeed. A great piece for parents to read is "106 Ways Parents Can Help Students Achieve." Read it here.
** For tips on how to help your child become a better reader, click here for English and here for Spanish.
*If your child is finding it difficult to remember and retell what he/she is reading, please make sure to use Good Reader Strategies as you read with them. Good readers read a little at a time (they don't rush through the book in one sitting) and as they read, they: Ask Questions (I wonder why... When... Will... Who...?), Make Predictions (they use the information they have gotten from the story to then predict what will happen next; they will also confirm if their predictions were correct or incorrect), Make Connections (They connect what they are reading to something else they have read, seen, or experienced- This reminds me of...), Retell/Summarize (as they read, they should be able to retell what has happened in the story. They should also do this at the end. If they can't remember, just remind them a good student goes back and rereads if they don't remember.) After making this a habit, your child will begin to internalize all the strategies a good reader uses and will be able to use them independently while reading.
**** Please remember: while it wonderful to read a lot with your children (and I do highly encourage this!), some students may wish to set a goal for Accelerated Reader (AR). They must read a certain number of AR books and pass the AR tests on them with 80% or higher to meet their goal. The goal in Kindergarten is to read 2 books per week for AR (so feel free to do extra reading as well- focus specifically on Good Reader Strategies with the AR books). So, if they do want to meet their AR goal, please just spend a few days reading 1 book with them and then have them take the test. Return the book to me and get another and then do the same. Since students at this point are not yet decoding, you are reading TO them. Therefore, the goal isn't to read a million books quickly- it is to read a few each week carefully while modeling HOW we read to understand.