This year, your child will be focusing on various reading strategies and working on reading to learn. We will be completing various mini-lessons in class, doing Daily Five each day (listen to reading, read to self, read to someone, work on writing, and/or word work), completing various reading group assignments throughout the year, reading Virginia Studies Weekly, and completing monthly book projects. For more information on our book projects, please click on the Genre Study link.
Upcoming Dates:
Where We Have Been:
Get to Know You Activities
Whole Class Read Alouds
Introducing Daily Five and Reading Workshop
Making Connections
Reading Assessments
Homophones
Context Clues
Visualizing
Sensory Words
Reference Skills
Guide Words
Fix-Up Strategies
Prefixes and Suffixes
Multiple Meaning Words
Elements of Fiction
Nonfiction Text Features
Visualizing
Author's Purpose
County Assessment Practice
Mid-Year Assessments
Making Inferences
Main Idea
County Assessment Practice
Summarizing
Asking Questions
Cause and Effect
Determining Importance
Historical Fiction Vs Fantasy
Drawing Conclusions
Poetry
Comparing and Contrasting
Fact and Opinion
SOL Review
Ghost Cadet - Whole Class Novel Study
Where We Are Now:
End of Year Activities
Where We Will Be:
How to Help Your Child Choose "Good Fit" Books:
We teach children the I-PICK method for choosing books that are just right for them.
P stands for purpose. Students should ask themselves, "Why do I want to read this book?"
I stands for interest. Does the book seem like something that will hold their attention?
C stands for comprehension. Can they understand what they are reading?
K stands for Know. Do they know how to read the majority of the words.
3 Ways to Read a Book:
1. Read the pictures
2. Read the words
3. Retell the story
Daily Five
In Reading this year, we will be using Daily Five to structure our time block.
The Daily 5 is a way of structuring the reading block so every student is independently
engaged in meaningful literacy tasks. These research based tasks are ones that will have the
biggest impact on student reading and writing achievement, as well as help foster children who
love to read and write. Students receive explicit whole group instruction and then are given
independent practice time to read and write independently while I provide focused, intense
instruction to individuals and small groups of students.
When it is up and running smoothly, students will be engaged in the Daily 5, which are comprised of:
• Read to Self
• Work on Writing
• Read to Someone
• Listen to Reading
• Word Work
There are very specific behavior expectations that go with each Daily 5 component. We
will spend our first weeks working intensely on building our reading and writing fluency and
stamina, learning the behaviors of the Daily 5 and fostering our classroom community. I will
also spend time learning about your child’s strengths and greatest needs as a reader in order to
best plan for each student’s instruction. Your child will be taught to
select “Good Fit Books” or books they can read, understand and are interested in, which they
will read during Daily 5. They will be spending most of their time actually reading, which
research supports as the number one way to improve reading. I anticipate the motivation and
enjoyment of reading will skyrocket when this gift of choosing their own books is accompanied
by extended practice and specific reading instruction for each individual child.
To help your child choose "Good Fit Books" at home, use the acronym "I PICK." Encourage your child to think aboutPurpose (Why are they reading - to be entertained, informed, or persuaded?), Interest (Are they interested in the topic of the book?), Comprehension (Can they read a page or paragraph and understand what is going on?), and Knowing the Words (Can they read a page or paragraph finding no more than 5 unknown words?).
Along with Daily Five, we will learn important strategies that good readers use. These will be displayed on a "Café Menu" bulletin board as we learn and practice them. CAFE stands for the components of reading: Comprehension, Accuracy, Fluency, and Expand Vocabulary. Research shows that students who are explicitly taught these strategies will be more successful, independent readers. In addition, the entire fourth grade will spotlight one specific strategy each month to help supplement and focus our strategy instruction.
The Following Are Helpful Websites For You And Your Child: