Our Reading Class
Mrs. Klingenberg's February News
Class Is In Full Swing!
We have completed mid-year testing, and our classes began on January 11th. If your child has been in Reading Improvement before, our program will work the same as it did in the first semester - 45 minute classes that meet Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. Students should be bringing home a nightly book in their reading book bag to reinforce our daily classroom lessons. I would appreciate your help encouraging your child to read his or her reading book on a daily basis. Daily reading is the key to overall literacy success!
What is a Good-Fit Book?
A Good-Fit Book is a book that is at your child's independent reading level. Your child should be able to read this book independently with little adult help. An independent book helps your child build his or her skills in the area of accuracy (decoding skills), fluency (words per minute), and overall comprehension (understanding of the text). It is most beneficial for your child to be reading an independent book when he or she is reading alone. However, at times, all readers hope to challenge themselves with more difficult reading material. I do encourage students to do this, too. This is most successfully accomplished when a child reads an instructional text (a more difficult text) along with a parent or adult who can help them decode difficult words and understand more challenging vocabulary. With adult help, readers can be equally successful with instructional texts.
What is The Home to School Communicator Form?
Are you wondering, "What is this document and how can it help me as a parent?" Well, I started sending home this document at the beginning of the school year to communicate my biweekly results on running records (assessments). It shares your child's most recent accuracy, fluency, and comprehension score. Additionally, you can find your child's guided reading level, which will aid them when choosing those Good Fit Books. It is always my goal to add behaviors and strategies that I note during the assessment in order to provide additional feedback. This serves as a simple communication tool between school and home. If you ever have a question or concern regarding this form, please don't hesitate to contact me.
February Writing Challenge:
There is so much history and excitement in the month of February. Therefore, I am challenging all of my readers to complete an at-home writing challenge during the month of February. I will be discussing directions in class and giving students several topics from which to choose. It will be my hope that they each spend a little time doing some internet research on their topic, and then put together a paragraph summary over their chosen topic. I will encourage them each to take some time editing before they turn it in to me. Writing is an important part of literacy development, and I just don't have nearly as much time for it in the reading classroom as I would like. This challenge will help my students grow, and it will give all of them the chance to share their writing samples, which is a wonderful opportunity for them all! I look forward to some exciting papers!
Happy Reading ~
Mrs. Jamie Klingenberg
816-436-9623 (x) 3165