Elementary School News
After School Tutoring
The After School Tutoring group has started. The group focuses on reading strategies to encourage academic success. One of the most important strategies we focus on is to go back into the text to find “evidence” from the text to support the answer to the reading comprehension questions that are being asked.
Did you know that according to www.Renaissance.com that “Fewer than one in five students averaged a half-hour or more of reading per day, and fewer than one in three read between 15 and 29 minutes on a daily basis. The problem is that 15 minutes seems to be the “magic number” at which students start seeing substantial positive gains in reading achievement, yet less than half of our students are reading for that amount of time.”
A few minutes of time spent reading each day can lead to a lifetime of understanding! These are a few suggestions to encourage and support reading together:
1. Read aloud together. Take turns reading and discussing what you are reading together.
2. Encourage your child to create a picture in their mind of what they are reading.
Can they describe it to you?
3. Ask questions while you are reading. Who are the characters in the story? Where does the story take place? When did it happen? What is going on in the story, is there a problem, how does it get solved? Why do the characters behave the way they do or why did the author write this selection for you to read?
4. Stop along the way while you are reading to ask your child what they think will happen next. Have them provide details of why they think that. Are their details connected to the information you are reading?
5. Is the book you are reading together on their level? Are there words that are unfamiliar that you can look up together? Many books use figurative language to relay the information. Take time to discuss figures of speech and what they mean with the content.
Taking the time to read together not only encourages academic growth but it helps to open opportunities to talk and grow together, building a relationship that will last far beyond their academic years.
