READING LOGS
In an effort to encourage children to read at home, Carlton School has instituted a school-wide weekly reading log requirement. Each Monday your child's teacher will send home the weekly reading log. Children are asked to read approximately 20 minutes at home each evening.
Reading done BY, TO or WITH your child is all acceptable. The amount of time and material read are then recorded onto the log. Then the logs are returned to school on the following Monday. Children who return the log each Monday are entered into a drawing on Monday afternoons to win prizes. We have had a very good response to this in the past.
You should be proud to know that by encouraging your child to read at home, you will be helping them to do better in school.
Tips for Reading at Home
Reading at home can be a rewarding time when parents and children spend time together to simply enjoy a good story and learn something new. This should be a pleasurable activity for both of you. Make sure the reading material is within the child's interest and reading levels. Reading aloud is a great time to practice fluency, phrasing, tone, and expression and this can only be done using books that are easy or already familiar to the child. Reading the same story a few times can help to practice this.
If your child comes to a difficult word, help them to work out the word. If you stop to focus on a word, have your child go back and reread the whole sentence again so that he is reading it fluently and has not lost the meaning.
Talk with your child about what he or she is reading. Ask them to tell you about it. Talk about the meanings of new words. Talk about characters, places, and events in the story. Ask what new information they have learned from the book.
All children enjoy being read to, no matter what age. But you can also share the story. Take turns reading different pages and then stop periodically to talk about an interesting part. Developing readers in K, 1, 2, and 3 may need more support and interaction during shared reading sessions. More independent readers in 3, 4, and 5 may need less support. Encourage your child to read on their own but make sure you are available to talk about the story and help when needed.
Having the right book is so important for this to be pleasurable...and you want it to be pleasurable so that you will both look forward to the next time! Look for subject matter, genres, and authors that your child will enjoy.
A great resource for suggestions on "what to read tonight" can be found on online at Scholastic's Parent Update for October 2006.
The articles are called "Hook Your Child on Reading."
Ask your child's teachers or school librarian for help or suggestions.
Visit Salem Public Library, or your local bookstore.
OR
The Carlton Book-Mobile is available in the school lobby.
All books are $2.00. What a great deal!
Happy Reading!!!!
Please remember that the web addresses that appear on this page will take you outside of the Carlton School WEB site and the SPS WEB site.
| 
