Westwood Title I Newsletter
January 2017
Welcome to 2017!
The Benefits Of Reading Aloud To Your Child
(Helpful information about learning brought to you by Reading Rockets, Colorín Colorado, and LD OnLine)
Reading aloud is the foundation for literacy development. It is the single most important activity for reading success (Bredekamp, Copple, & Neuman, 2000). It provides children with a demonstration of phrased, fluent reading (Fountas & Pinnell, 1996). It reveals the rewards of reading, and develops the listener's interest in books and desire to be a reader (Mooney, 1990).
Listening to others read develops key understanding and skills, such as an appreciation for how a story is written and familiarity with book conventions, such as "once upon a time" and "happily ever after" (Bredekamp et al., 2000). Reading aloud demonstrates the relationship between the printed word and meaning – children understand that print tells a story or conveys information – and invites the listener into a conversation with the author.
Children can listen on a higher language level than they can read, so reading aloud makes complex ideas more accessible and exposes children to vocabulary and language patterns that are not part of everyday speech. This, in turn, helps them understand the structure of books when they read independently (Fountas & Pinnell, 1996). It exposes less able readers to the same rich and engaging books that fluent readers read on their own, and entices them to become better readers. Students of any age benefit from hearing an experienced reading of a wonderful book.
The Benefits Of Thinking Mathematically Aloud To Your Child
Building Your Child’s Vocabulary
All parents want their child to do well in school. One way to help your child is to help them build their vocabulary. Beginning readers use knowledge about words to help them make sense of what they’re reading. The more words a reader knows, the more they are able to comprehend what they’re reading or listening to.
Talking to and reading with your child are two terrific ways to help them hear and read new words. Conversations and questions about interesting words (“The book says, ‘The boy tumbled down the hill,’ and look at the picture! How do you think he went down the hill?”) are easy, non-threatening ways to get new words into everyday talk.
Sharing a new word with your child doesn’t have to take a long time: just a few minutes to talk about the word and then focus back on the book or conversation. Choose which words to talk about carefully – choosing every new word might make reading seem like a chore. The best words to explore with your child are ones that are common among adult speakers but are less common to see in the books your child might read.
When introducing new words to your young learner, keep the following four helpful hints in mind:
First, provide a simple, kid-friendly definition for the new word:
Enormous means that something is really, really big.Second, provide a simple, kid-friendly example that makes sense within their daily life:
Remember that really big watermelon we got at the grocery store? That was an enormous watermelon!Third, encourage your child to develop their own example:
What enormous thing can you think of? Can you think of something really big that you saw today? That’s right! The bulldozer near the park was enormous! Those tires were huge.Last, keep your new words active within your house. Over the next few days and weeks, take advantage of opportunities to use each new vocabulary word in conversation.
Take the time to share new words and build your child’s vocabulary. You’ll be enormously glad you did!
For more resources, visit the vocabulary section on Reading Rockets:
www.ReadingRockets.org/atoz/vocabulary
Building Your Child's Math Vocabulary
It is very important to work on math vocabulary during the school and at home. Any opportunity that you find, go ahead and throw those math vocabulary words in your daily activities. Elapsed time can be talked about many times throughout your daily routines along with terms like sum, difference, product and quotient. The more exposure students have to these terms the more solid they become in their understanding and the more fluent they become in the use of them.
Book Recommendations
The First Snow In The Woods
Photographs and simple text describe how the animals in the forest prepare for the first winter snows.
Winter Eyes
A collection of poems about winter, including "Sled," "Icicles," and "Ice Fishing."
Snowflake Bentley
A biography of a self-taught scientist who photographed thousands of individual snowflakes in order to study their unique formations.
Favorite Websites
Storyline Online
Between the Lions
Starfall
Your Title I Teachers
Mrs. Leisgang Title I Reading Teacher
Email: nleisgang@wdpsd.com
Website: https://sites.google.com/a/wdpsd.com/westwood/teachers/nleisgang
Phone: 920-337-1087 (1352)
Mrs. Pawelczyk Title I Reading Teacher
Email: npawelczyk@wdpsd.com
Website: https://sites.google.com/a/wdpsd.com/westwood/teachers/npawelczyk
Phone: 920-337-1087 (1385)
Mrs. Susie Zimmerman Title I Reading
Email: szimmerman@wdpsd.com
Website: https://sites.google.com/a/wdpsd.com/westwood/teachers/szimmerman
Phone: 920-337-1087 (1309)
Mrs. Gossen Title I Math
Email: pgossen@wdpsd.com
Website: https://sites.google.com/a/wdpsd.com/hemlock/teachers/pgossen
Phone: 920-337-1087 (1376)
Upcoming Events
Family Literacy Night
Thursday, Jan 19, 2017, 05:30 PM
Westwood Elementary School, Westwood Drive, De Pere, WI, United States
RSVPs are enabled for this event.
Noodles and Numbers
Tuesday, Feb 21, 2017, 05:30 PM
Westwood Elementary School, Westwood Drive, De Pere, WI, United States
RSVPs are enabled for this event.