Getting the Most Out of Our Kindergarten Newspaper
Your child was chosen to take our "newspaper" home today to keep!
All of our newspapers start the same way:
Today is (day of the week).
It is (month, date, year).
It is ________ and ________ . (two weather words)
We are going to _________. (gym or the library)
Tape the newspaper on the back of a door or in your child’s room. Have your child point to and read each word, the same way we practice in school. Pointing to each word and saying the word will help your child learn to match one spoken word with one written word.
Beginning readers recognize very few words instantly. Through repeated exposure to
the same words, instant recognition vocabulary grows. It is particularly important that developing readers learn to recognize those words that occur very frequently in print. A mere 100 words make up a full 50 percent of the words read, even by adults. Reading our newspaper over and over will help your child learn some high-frequency words, such as: it, is, and, we, are, going, to, the.
Your child can learn other student’s names and some of the common things children do, for example, ____ went, ____ played, ____ watched, ____ read
Most beginning readers need many opportunities to practice and apply the phonics skills they are learning to the reading and writing of words. If they have opportunities to apply their reading skills to many meaningful, informative, and enjoyable reading and writing experiences, they will grow as independent readers.
• If your child gets stuck on a word you might say, "Let’s stretch out that word."
Have him/her say the sound of each letter and blend them together to see if they sound like a familiar word. With more practice, your child will begin to recognize familiar words easily and quickly, and he/she will know the patterns of spelling that appear in words and the patterns of words as they appear in sentences.
• If your child is still stuck supply the right word. This will allow him or her to continue to read. You might say, "Could this word be ‘ball’?"
• Always praise what your child reads correctly, and praise good tries too! "Way to go!"
Give your child lots of chances to read the newspaper again and again. This is the key to successful reading. It is called fluency. The more your child reads, the more confident he or she will become! I hope your child enjoys reading our newspaper to you and your family!
Mrs. Jones
