Each student will receive a tracking log containing a list of titles that match the books in the first level (jaune). Your child will bring home one (or more, depending on how they're doing) book at a time to read with you. The idea is to read it over several times (not just once), until the reading is fluent. YOU are the teacher at home! You get to decide when to sign off on each book, and you do so simply by initialling beside the title in the tracking log. Once all books of a level have been completed, the student will show me their log, we'll celebrate their accomplishment and I'll give them the list for the next level. There are 6 levels in all, and I don't expect that everyone, or anyone, will make it through all of them in grade 1. Each child will move at a different pace, and it is much more important to read at a comfortable level, than to go too quickly in order to finish the books, and struggle. Whatever we accomplish is just fine by me. It's not a race and there is no prize for mastering books the fastest.
I will explain everything to the children, so they will know what to do, and it will be their responsibility to return and exchange their books when they need to. I'll try to remind everyone as well, but since everyone will be reading at a different pace, it's up to the kids to get a new book when they complete the last one. A good time to do this is at the beginning or end of the day when we're packing our pochettes and bags.
When reading at home, try to find a time when your reader can really concentrate. I'm sure many families have bedtime story routines - keep that as a time for cuddles and pick a different time for working on reading. It's also very helpful to insist that your reader point to every word as he/she reads so that we start to make the connection between sound and symbol.
Keep in mind, nobody should feel upset if it takes them a few tries to master a book, the important thing is that we improve our reading over time. There are ideas in the note I will hopefully send home (copied below) that can help keep things interesting if you need to read a book over and over again.
The other thing of note is that, of course, we need to keep our materials in good condition. Students will be told that they can colour on the books using pencil crayon if they wish, but please no marker or pen. Using the pictures is an important reading strategy, so we need to be able to see them clearly. In order to not lose any books, or our tracking logs, I will instruct students to please keep everything in their pochettes when not in use.
Thanks in advance for your incredible support managing this system at home. It doesn't need to be time consuming, just a few minutes at a time is fine. Trust that these minutes will contribute greatly to your child's progress as a reader!
Below is the full note that will hopefully come home when we start borrowing books.
Borrow a book – J’emprunte un livre
How it works
Your child now has a small tracking log in their communication pocket containing a list of books. We are beginning with simple books that usually have a pattern to them, making them easier for beginning readers to read and understand. Your child is responsible for bringing home books from this list, which are kept in colour-coded drawers in our class.
Once you’ve worked on a book at home (see suggestions for reading), please initial beside the title in the tracking log. Then, your child is responsible for bringing the book back and exchanging it for another from the list.
A good guideline is to read 2 books a week, but some children will need more or less time on each book and that’s ok. I will suggest that children exchange their books every Monday and Friday at the end of the day when we prepare our communication pockets. That way, you will have something to read over the week, and something to read over the weekend. However, children may exchange their books at anytime.
Please help your child keep track of the book they have taken. It should stay in their pocket or other very safe place in your home. We have a very limited number of books!
Once your child has worked with every book on this list (indicated by your initials), I will add the next list of slightly harder books and we continue in the same way.
Suggestions for reading
- Start by looking at the pictures to make sense of what’s happening. Ask your child to predict what the book is about. This will contribute greatly to your child’s understanding of the text, and that’s very important since the words themselves may be new.
- Looking at the pictures can also help us guess a word that we do not recognize.
- Refer to the blog to review the sounds we have learned and search for them, or other familiar words (such as the words of the week), in the text.
- Have your child point to each word as he/she sounds it out. Cover parts of words to isolate sounds that you know we should know!
- After reading, ask questions like What patterns can you see in this book?, What do you like/not like about the book?, Does this remind you of anything you did?, Does it make you think of anything/another book?
- Make sure your child has understood what the book was about – this is just as important as being able to say the words correctly!
- Make it fun by having your child read to their teddy in bed, or over the phone to grandma.
- Record (or video) your child reading it, and then let him/her listen to the recording over and over!
- You or your child can make a simple word search using words from the book. Ask your child to read each word that they find.
- Play hangman using words from the book.
- Read the book using different voices (in a whisper, with a fun accent…)
- Read the book to your child and let them correct you (they love this!)
The important thing is to read the book many times so that your child is building their vocabulary and developing confidence as a reader. These are just some ways that you can keep it interesting when you have to read the same book 27 times, but feel free to think of other cool ideas as well!
Reminders
- Please keep the tracking log in the communication pocket.
- While it is ok to colour a page or two in pencil crayon, please make sure that your children do NOT use markers or pens in the books. Many hours from patient parent volunteers went into copying, folding, stapling and labeling each book and we need to treat them carefully.
- Again, please help your child take responsibility for returning their book once they are through with it. We can’t afford to lose them!