How Books and Words Work Together (Concepts of Print)
Knowing how books work is one of the first steps to reading. Here are some concepts of print to work on with your child at home:
Want to know more? Click the below button for a helpful video for reviewing the concepts of print with your child at home.
- Identifying the front cover and back cover
- Reading from left to right
- Reading from top to bottom
- Identifying the author of the book
- Knowing that letters and words are used to convey a message
Want to know more? Click the below button for a helpful video for reviewing the concepts of print with your child at home.
Letter Sounds
Letter sounds are important tools for helping us decode words. Practicing letters sounds so that kids can recall them quickly and accurately will help make decoding more effective and efficient.
Finding letters in the community, printing letters in sand, and writing letters in shaving cream are just a few fun ways to practice printing letters and reviewing their sounds at home. One of the resources that we use at Shortreed to learn letter sounds is the Alphabet Jive. Click the below button for a video that introduces the Alphabet Jive.
Finding letters in the community, printing letters in sand, and writing letters in shaving cream are just a few fun ways to practice printing letters and reviewing their sounds at home. One of the resources that we use at Shortreed to learn letter sounds is the Alphabet Jive. Click the below button for a video that introduces the Alphabet Jive.
Sight Words
Sight words are high-frequency words that children need to memorize so that they can recall them automatically when reading. Being able to recall these words automatically will help with reading fluently, and allow readers to spend more of their energy on decoding less common words. At Shortreed, we have a list of sight words for each grade-level from Kindergarten to Grade Three. Click the below button to see the sight words for each grade-level.
Word-Solving Strategies (Decoding)
In Kindergarten we introduce word-solving strategies for reading unknown words. The strategies that we focus on are:
Click on the below button to see our "Word-Solving Strategies Bookmark" that we use with our students at Shortreed.
- Look at the picture
- Go back and reread
- Get your mouth ready with the first sound
- Stretch the word
- Find word parts or chunks that you know
- Skip the word, read on, then go back
Click on the below button to see our "Word-Solving Strategies Bookmark" that we use with our students at Shortreed.
After trying to read a word and making an error, you can support your child by asking them questions about their reading. The questions that we use at Shortreed are:
- Does that make sense?
- Does that sound right?
- Does that look right?
Understanding What We Read (Comprehension)
When reading with your child, you can help them think about what they are reading by asking questions about the text. Using the "5 W's" can help focus your questions and help your child engage with the stories they read. The "5 W's" are:
- Who? (i.e. Who are the characters in the story?)
- What? (i.e. What is happening in the story?)
- Where? (i.e. Where is the story taking place?)
- When? (i.e. When is the story taking place?)
- Why? (i.e. Why did that character act in a particular way?)
Reading with Appropriate Speed, Accuracy, and Expression (Fluency)
Reading fluently demonstrates that readers understand what they are reading and helps readers connect and engage with books in meaningful ways. When your child is in Kindergarten, you can model fluent reading by reading to them with lots of expression. "Acting out" stories helps make reading fun for young children and will help them to better understand the thoughts and feelings of characters in the stories they read.
